Dresden Festival Choir of the Richard Wagner Academy

The Festival Choir of the Richard Wagner Academy was founded as the vocal counterpart to the Dresden Festival Orchestra in connection with the original-instrument project “The Wagner Cycles.” It is part of the Richard Wagner Academy and, under the artistic direction of Matthias Jung, is dedicated to historically informed performance practice in the Romantic choral repertoire. The choir’s work is closely linked to the research and outreach activities of the Richard Wagner Academy. For example, the rehearsal process for Götterdämmerung is supplemented by accompanying workshops, among them language training based on historical sources. The idea of founding the Dresden Festival Choir had been under discussion since the beginning of the “Wagner Cycles.” This year, it makes its debut with Götterdämmerung — the only Ring opera featuring a chorus — and with Verdi’s Messa da Requiem. For the production of the Ring finale, the choir will be expanded to include singers from the Saxon Vocal Ensemble and the Dresden Chamber Choir. Most of its members, however, come from the KlangVerwaltung Choir, which was founded in 2000 by Enoch zu Guttenberg to mark the 250th anniversary of Johann Sebastian Bach’s death. For more than two decades, the KlangVerwaltung Choir has been an integral part of the Herrenchiemsee Festival, which grew out of the Bach Festival. In 2026, it performed Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony there. In the anniversary year of 2025, it also became part of the recently founded Saarpolygon Opera Festival, appearing in the festival’s opening production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute.

July 2026