Wagner
Siegfried
Harding

Duration: approximately 5 hours, with two intervals

Siegfried arrives at Santa Cecilia to inaugurate the new 2026/2027 symphonic season: the project to perform Richard Wagner’s Tetralogy in a staged production continues, an endeavor that will see the Accademia engaged until 2028, presenting this time the second day of the Ring on Wednesday, October 21, Saturday, October 24, and Tuesday, October 27, in the Sala Santa Cecilia.

The baton of Music Director Daniel Harding will lead the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia through the Wagnerian score, while the stage direction is once again entrusted to Vincent Huguet, who has conceived a journey that associates the various days of the Ring with three great periods in the history of Rome. Huguet writes in his director’s notes: “Wagner composed the Tetralogy in the second half of the nineteenth century, the era of the great European empires. The libretto describes the rise and fall of Wotan’s empire. Historically, Rome is one of the very few cities that can boast of having been the capital of at least three empires: the ancient Roman Empire, the Vatican State, and, finally, the Italian colonial empire between the 1930s and 1940s. Three moments in Italy’s long history, three different configurations that for us will serve as the backdrop for the ‘three days’ that make up the Wagnerian cycle.”

Alongside Huguet, completing the creative team, is designer Pierre Yovanovitch, who already last season conceived a stage design capable of transforming the Sala Santa Cecilia with an entirely new look. The costumes are designed by Edoardo Russo and created in collaboration with Tirelli Trappetti Costumi.

Siegfried tells the story of the hero’s coming of age: the forging of the sword, the slaying of the dragon Fafner, and the winning of the Ring mark the protagonist’s path of growth, which culminates in his encounter with Brünnhilde. Standing out in the cast is Clay Hilley, an American tenor and one of the most acclaimed Wagnerian interpreters on today’s scene. Praised by international critics for his ‘vocal power and stamina’ (New York Times), Hilley takes on the role of Siegfried, the ‘fearless’ hero who reforges the sword Nothung. Alongside him, bass-baritone Michael Volle returns to the Santa Cecilia stage in the role of Wotan, reconfirmed after his acclaimed success last season in Die Walküre. The cast is completed by Swedish soprano Elisabet Strid (Brünnhilde), Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke (Mime), Wolfgang Koch (Alberich), Falk Struckmann (Fafner) and contralto Anna Kissjudith (Erda).

Tickets on sale online and at the box office starting September 10, 2026.