Tannhäuser

About

This Mariinsky II production uses the Dresden version of Wagner's opera. The official production history distinguishes it from another version presented by the same team at the Concert Hall; this report covers only the Mariinsky II staging anchored by the supplied 22 September 2026 event page. The production relocates the opera's action from fairytale chivalric romanticism into a harsh contemporary reality. Its stated setting and imagery include backstage intrigue, a congress of a totalitarian party sect, and a run-down urban district with a public house. The visual language is built around allegorical images and a deliberately provocative associative context. A review of the same production describes the castle song contest as being assembled with knights and pilgrims in the manner of a 1930s fascist rally. The production premiered at the White Nights Festival on 17 June 2021.