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This October and November, Brian Mulligan sings Alberich all through the
RING Festival at the Opéra Bastille. This event offers audiences the opportunity to discover the complete Ring cycle and enjoy dedicated events through a tailor-made cultural program.

He will first appear in Götterdämmerung, with performances on October 5 , 8, 11 and 18, which brings the Ring cycle to a close. Its most metaphysical chapter, Richard Wagner unleashes music as blazing as the pyre on which Brünnhilde immolates herself. Emotion runs equally high, as in Siegfried’s Funeral March, one of the score’s most striking orchestral passages. Premiered in 1876 at the inaugural Bayreuth Festival, the work is presented here in a production by Calixto Bieito, thus concluding his vision of the Ring Cycle for the Paris Opera, begun in 2025.

Pablo Heras-Casado will conduct all performances, and the most of the cast will sing the same character in several operas, or different characters in each.

The cast for Götterdämmerung also features Andreas Schager as Siegfried, Johannes Martin Kränzle as Gunther, Mika Kares as Hagen, Tamara Wilson as Brünnhilde, Sinead Campbell Wallace as Gutrune and Eve-Maud Hubeaux as Waltraute.

Director Calixto Bieito places Rheingold in a context dominated by digital virtuality and questions the impact of technology and science on human beings. The performances take place on November 6 and 15 and feature Christopher Maltman as Wotan, Florent Mbia as Donner, Matthew Cairns as Froh, Simon O’Neill as Loge, Mika Kares as Fafner, Gerhard Siegel as Mime, Eve-Maud Hubeaux as Fricka, Eliza Boom as Freia, Kwangchul Youn as Fasolt and Marie-Nicole Lemieux as Erda.

Siegfried takes place on November 10 and 19, with Andreas Schager once again in the title role, Gerhard Siegel as Mime, Christopher Maltman as The Wanderer, Mika Kares as Fafner, Marie-Nicole Lemieux as Erda and Tamara Wilson as Brünnhilde.

Mulligan will also sing in the last performances of Götterdämmerung on November 13 and 22.

This summer, Brian Mulligan will sing Barak, in a new production of Richard Strauss’ Die Frau ohne Schatten at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence.

The setting is dire: as dawn breaks on the terrace of the palace, if the Empress does not acquire the shadow she lacks within three days, her husband will be turned to stone. Teeming with symbolism and accompanied by the most sumptuous music, this most ambitious collaboration between Strauss and Hofmannsthal tackles, in the midst of World War I, a question that is more pressing than ever: what is the essence of humanity and why should it be perpetuated? In contrast to modern scepticism, it offers a vision full of hope and reiterates the urgency of storytelling in an age of disenchantment. Inspired by Barrie Kosky’s visionary ingenuity, Klaus Mäkelä chose this extraordinary work for his true debut in the pit, at the helm of the Orchestre de Paris and an exceptional cast, featuring Michael Spyres as Der Kaiser, Vida Miknevičiūtė as Die Kaiserin, Nina Stemme as Die Amme and Ambur Braid as Die Färberin.

The performances take place on July 3, 6, 9, 12 and 15.

Next on his calendar, Brian Mulligan joins the cast of Beethoven’s Fidelio as Don Pizarro on May 3, 6, 10, 14 and 16 at the Opernhaus Zürich.

Beethoven’s only opera is infused with an unwavering belief in the power of hope. Andreas Homoki’s production separates the plot from its bourgeois comic light opera context, focusing instead on the utopian idea of world brotherhood and the universal themes of humanity that Beethoven chose as his central focus. Conductor Axel Kober leads the performances, with Yannick Debus as Don Fernando, Klaus Florian Vogt as Florestan, Gabriela Scherer as Leonore, Christof Fischesser as Rocco and Anna El-Khashem as Marzelline

Brian Mulligan returns to Paris for another performance of Wagner’s Siegfried, this time as The Wanderer at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, after singing Alberich at Opéra Bastille this past January.

Joining him in the cast are Clay Hilley in the title role, Ya-Chung Huang as Mime, Samuel Youn as Alberich, Rebecca Nash as Brünnhilde, Wiebke Lehmkuhl as Erda, Soloman Howard as Fafner and Julie Roset as Waldvogel. Yannick Nézet-Séguin leads the Rotterdams Philharmonisch Orkest on April 19.

For his first engagement of 2026, Brian Mulligan returns to the Opéra Bastille and the role of Alberich in Wagner’s Siegfried. The new production by Calixto Bieito will have conductor Pablo Heras-Casado at the helm. The performances take place from
January 17 to 31, with an additional performance for young audiences on January 14.

The rest of the cast features Andreas Schager in the title role, Gerhard Siegel as Mime, Derek Welton as the Wanderer, Mika Kares as Fafner, Marie-Nicole Lemieux as Erda and Tamara Wilson as Brünnhilde.

Brian Mulligan will sing Amfortas in Wagner’s Parsifal at San Francisco Opera. This opera returns to the venue for the first time in 25 years in a brand-new production by Matthew Ozawa. Music Director Eun Sun Kim leads the performances on October 25 and 28, and November 2, 7 and 13, and the cast features Brandon Jovanovich in the title role, Kwangchul Youn as Gurnemanz, Tanja Ariane Baumgartner as Kundry, and Falk Struckmann as Klingsor.

On June 27, Brian Mulligan joins San Francisco Opera for its Pride concert, a vibrant tribute to queer voices in music. Conducted by Eun Sun Kim and Robert Mollicone, the program brings together soloists Mulligan, Jamie Barton, and Nikola Printz with the San Francisco Opera Orchestra.

The 80-minute concert features a mix of classical arias and queer anthems, with music by Tchaikovsky, Jake Heggie, Harold Arlen, and the Indigo Girls, among others. The performance will feature vivid video projections by Tal Rosner and will be followed by a post-concert dance party, setting the stage for an evening that celebrates pride, self-expression, and community through music.

On June 15, Brian Mulligan makes his debut at Leipzig’s historic Gewandhaus, performing with the MDR Klassik Orchestra and Chorus under the baton of Keri-Lynn Wilson as part of Bachfest Leipzig. He joins the ensembles for Shostakovich’s powerful cantata The Execution of Stepan Razin, which tells the harrowing story of the 17th-century Cossack leader who rebelled against tsarist rule. The program also features Sergey Taneyev’s John of Damascus, and orchestral arrangements of J.S. Bach works by Leopold Stokowski.

The concert will be broadcast live on MDR Klassik and repeated at 19:30.

This June, Brian Mulligan makes his highly anticipated debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra as Kurwenal in a duo of concert performances of Richard Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, conducted by Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin. He joins an internationally acclaimed cast featuring Stuart Skelton as Tristan, Nina Stemme as Isolde, Karen Cargill as Brangäne, Tareq Nazmi as King Marke, Freddie Ballentine as Melot, Jonghyun Park as the Sailor’s Voice and Shepherd, and Nathan Schludecker as the Steersman.

Performances take place on June 1 and 8 at the Marion Anderson Hall in Philadelphia.

Photo: Dario Acosta

 

Brian Mulligan takes the stage as Jochanaan in a new production of Richard Strauss’ Salome at the 87th Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Festival in Florence. This highly anticipated staging, directed by Emma Dante and conducted by Alexander Soddy, opens the renowned festival.

Based on Oscar Wilde’s scandalous play, Salome tells the gripping story of obsession and desire at the court of King Herod. Mulligan plays Jochanaan, the imprisoned prophet whose rejection of Salome seals his fate.

The electric cast also features Allison Oakes in the title role, Nikolai Schukoff as Herodes, and Anna Maria Chiuri as Herodias. The production features set designs by Carmine Maringola, costumes by Vanessa Sannino, lighting by Luigi Biondi, and choreography by Silvia Giuffrè.

Performances take place on April 13, 16, 23, and 27, with the April 13 performance being broadcast on Rai Radio 3.

Photo: Dario Acosta