About
The Bayreuth Festival Orchestra is a seasonal German orchestra based at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus for the annual summer festival Bayreuth Festival. It is reconstituted each season in order to perform Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen and other of his stage works, as envisaged by the composer and festival founder. The festival occurs annually, although in some years it was cancelled because of war or other reasons.
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Although otherwise entirely devoted to the works of Wagner, the inaugural festival in 1876 was opened with a performance of Beethoven's Choral Symphony, and this practice has often been followed subsequently. It has become something of a tradition since Wilhelm Furtwängler reintroduced it in the 1930s.
The Bayreuth Festival Orchestra does not have a permanent membership but each year the festival organisers recruit leading musicians from other German orchestras, depending on their availability. Some musicians always arrange their schedules so as to be available for the orchestra; others participate less frequently.
Members
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Erich Trog timpani
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Norbert Dausacker horn
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Mathias Baier bassoon
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Michael Neuhaus viola
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Roland Henn viola
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Tilo Nast violin
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Thomas Rohde oboe
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Thomas Sonnen horn
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Joachim Hans bassoon
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Gudrun Hinze piccolo
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Bernhard Krug horn
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Barbara Mayr-Winkler harp
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Peter Michael Borck viola
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Veronika Wilhelm cello
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Henry Pieper viola
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Elke Bär viola
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Rainhard Lutter viola
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Ruth-Alice Marino harp
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Bodo Werner horn
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Frank Stephan horn
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Ingo Klinkhammer horn
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Anikó Szathmary violin
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Harald Winkler double bass
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Alexander Bartha violin
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Bogdan Dumitraşcu violin
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David Petersen bassoon
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Daniel Geiss cello
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Thomas Strey double bass
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Tilbert Weigel viola
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Dániel Ember horn
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Frank Dumdey viola
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Kilian Fröhlich cello
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Florian Grube oboe
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Matthias Kowalczyk trumpet
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Lukas Beno trumpet
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Uwe Füssel bass trombone
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Michael Hasel flute, principal
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Sorin Ciprian Ionescu violin
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Johanna Kölmel violin
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Pascal Thery violin
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Dorothea Hemken viola
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Joachim Welz clarinet
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Andreas Wittmann oboe
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Hans-Ulrich Breyer viola
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Detlef Weiß bassoon
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Martin Lauer viola
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Razvan Hamza violin
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Andreas Kuhlmann viola
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Henning Rasche double bass
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Franz Lichtenstern cello
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Klaas-Jan de Groot task
Discography
Albums
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Die Meistersinger von Nurnburg
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Die Walkure, Act 3
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Tristan et Isolde
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Lohengrin
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Die Walküre
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Götterdämmerung
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Parsifal
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Der Fliegende Hollander / Höhepunkte
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Siegfried
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Götterdämmerung
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Das Rheingold
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Lohengrin (Highlights)
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Fun at the Festspielhaus
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Götterdämmerung
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Rudolf Kempe, Bayreuther Festspielorchester, Regina Resnik, Jerome Hines : Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen (Live)
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Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
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Parsifal
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Die Walküre
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Tristan und Isolde
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Lohengrin
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Parsifal
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Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
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Parsifal - Bayreuth 1957
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Lohengrin (Chor und Orchester der Bayreuther Festspiele feat. conductor: Woldermar Nelsson)
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Das Rheingold
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Tristan und Isolde
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Der Ring des Nibelungen
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Symphony No.9 "Choral"
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Tristan und Isolde (Bayreuth 2009)
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Lohengrin
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Symphony no. 9 in D minor, op. 125
Live
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Parsifal
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Symphony no. 9
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Wagner at Wahnfried
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Tannhäuser, WWV 70 (Live)
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Wagner: Die Walküre, WWV 86B & Siegfried, WWV 86C (Highlights)
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Lohengrin, WWV 75 (Recorded Live 2011)
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Wagner: Lohengrin, WWV 75
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Der fliegende Holländer, WWV 63 (Live)
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Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, WWV 96
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Lohengrin
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Symphony No. 9 "Choral"
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Tannhäuser, WWV 70
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Der Ring des Nibelungen: II. Die Walküre (1953)
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Der Ring des Nibelungen: I. Das Rheingold (1953)
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Der Ring des Nibelungen: III. Siegfried (1953)
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Der Ring des Nibelungen: IV. Götterdämmerung (1953)
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Götterdämmerung
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Götterdämmerung (Bayreuth 1958)
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Siegfried (Bayreuth 1958)
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Die Walküre (Bayreuth 1958)
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Das Rheingold (Bayreuth 1958)
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Der Ring des Nibelungen
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Siegfried
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Götterdämmerung
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Das Rheingold
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Der Fliegende Holländer
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Die Walküre
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Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen
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Der Fliegende Holländer: Bayreuther Festspiele 1985
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Lohengrin [Bayreuth, 1953]
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Der Ring des Nibelungen (Bayreuth 1953)
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Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
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Parsifal
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Der fliegende Holländer
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Parsifal
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Der Ring des Nibelungen
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Der Ring des Nibelungen
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Lohengrin
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Siegfried
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Der fliegende Holländer
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Parsifal
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Das Rheingold
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Der fliegende Holländer
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Tannhäuser
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Parsifal
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Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
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Die Walküre
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Chöre: Lohengrin / Götterdämmerung / Parsifal / Der fliegende Holländer / Tannhäuser / Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
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Symphonie No. 9 (Orchester und Chor der Bayreuther Festspiele feat. conductor: Wilhelm Furtwängler)
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Götterdämmerung (Bayreuth 1957)
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Das Rheingold (Bayreuth 1957)
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Siegfried (Bayreuth 1957)
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Die Walküre (Bayreuth 1957)
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Parsifal (Bayreuth 1953)
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Der Ring des Nibelungen
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Tristan und Isolde
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Der Ring des Nibelungen: Höhepunkte
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Siegfried
Links
Official
Reference
Also known as
Bayreuth Festival Orchestra · Bayreuther Festspielorchester · Das Bayreuther Festspielorchester
Identifiers
- MusicBrainz
- d90e3313-7a9e-43ee-aae8-769a53f65e92
- ISNI
- 0000000119418763
Data from MusicBrainz, saved 12 Nov 2026. Photo from Wikimedia Commons, covers from the Cover Art Archive and Apple Music.