In May and June 2026, Pablo Heras-Casado conducted two complete cycles of Richard Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen at the Vienna State Opera, in Sven-Eric Bechtolf’s repertoire production and with a cast led by Camilla Nylund (Brünnhilde), Michael Volle (Wotan), Andreas Schager (Siegfried) and Michael Spyres (Siegmund). Each evening was met with sold-out houses and around 20 minutes of applause, including standing ovations. Austrian and international critics alike celebrated both his command of the orchestra and the originality of his Wagner.
A distinctive vision
The press repeatedly singled out the clarity and individuality of his interpretation, as well as the exceptional playing he drew from the Vienna State Opera Orchestra.
The Kronen Zeitung, Austria’s highest-circulation newspaper, wrote that Vienna’s Wagner fans “have not been this thrilled in a long time,” praising a concept that “differs substantially” from readings “from Karajan’s days through to Thielemann.” It described a gripping mix of “sharp contrasts, seething masses of sound and stormy climaxes” alongside “chamber-music-like, lovingly shaped moments.” Especially in the five-hour giants Siegfried and Götterdämmerung, it found him “a commanding shaper of the music,” conjuring “touching, frightening, deeply shattering moments.” In Die Walküre, it called him “the ideal partner for these top-class singers.”
Der Standard described the orchestral playing under his baton as a force of nature, memorably calling the Götterdämmerung “heavy metal on the Opernring,” while praising how he “spurs the orchestra on to vital, precise playing.”
Die Presse highlighted his sensitivity towards singers and orchestra alike, noting a “calmer, naturally unfolding pulse, in which text and music could flow in the most natural way.”
Der Opernfreund praised the conviction and temperament of his reading, concluding that “the Wagnerian ‘whirlwind’ was perfect.”
bachtrack observed how his broader tempi opened up new expressive space, allowing “a surprisingly intense chamber play” to develop in which euphoria and fear were “far more powerful than usual.”
The Online Merker found that Heras-Casado revealed “unheard nuances, new colours and inventive tempi” in scores one believes one knows intimately. Reviewing the final Götterdämmerung, it praised an orchestra “once again magnificent, from sublime solos to the overwhelming full sound that the Spanish maestro audibly shaped,” and a conductor who “has his own concept of the Ring” and “carries it through with clarity.” Its verdict: “a conductor of great stature, whose future performances one already looks forward to.”
A personal milestone
For Pablo Heras-Casado, the two cycles were not only a critical success but also a deeply personal experience. “Vienna is one of the most important homes of the Ring, with a tradition and an audience that make performing it here especially demanding,” he reflects. “To share such an intense musical experience evening after evening, and to feel the warmth of the audience’s response each time, was something extraordinary. The whole experience is one I will carry with me for the rest of my life.”
Looking ahead
Pablo Heras-Casado returns to the Bayreuth Festival this summer with Parsifal (directed by Jay Scheib), which he has conducted there every year since his triumphant, internationally acclaimed debut in 2023. Next season he is back at the Vienna State Opera with Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer, and in 2028 he will conduct a new production of Der Ring des Nibelungen at Bayreuth.