Performance Database

Katharina Wagner

Katharina Wagner, the great-granddaughter of Richard Wagner, has been the artistic director of the Bayreuth Festival since 2015. She is also managing director of BF Medien GmbH, a subsidiary of the Bayreuth Festival.

Born in Bayreuth, Katharina Wagner studied theatre studies at the Free University of Berlin and now lives in Bayreuth and Berlin.

Her productions include "The Flying Dutchman" in Würzburg, "Lohengrin" in Budapest, "Der Waffenschmied" at the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz in Munich, "Il Trittico" in Berlin, as well as "Madama Butterfly" and "Tiefland" in Mainz, „Rienzi“ at the Theater Bremen and „Tannhäuser“ at Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Her directorial debut at the Bayreuth Festival followed in the summer of 2007 with "Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg." In 2015, she directed "Tristan und Isolde" at the Bayreuth Festival, with Christian Thielemann as musical director. Another highlight in 2018 was her "Fidelio" production at the New National Theatre in Tokyo. "Lohengrin" was to follow at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona in the 2019/20 season; the production is now expected to be shown in Barcelona in 2025.

Katharina Wagner has been Honorary Professor in the Department of Directing at the "Hanns Eisler" Academy of Music, Berlin. Together with her half-sister Eva Wagner-Pasquier, she was honoured with the "B.Z. Culture Award" in 2010 and the "Bavarian Culture Award" in 2012. In 2013, she was awarded the "Grand Decoration of Honour of the Province of Burgenland" by the Burgenland Regional Government. She is also an honorary member of numerous Richard Wagner associations. In 2019, Minister President Markus Söder awarded Katharina Wagner the Bavarian Order of Merit, in 2023, she was awarded the Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art.