Boston Wagner Society

04/21/2026

KIP CRANNA PRESENTS
SPOTLIGHT ON LEITMOTIVS:
ANOTHER LOOK AT WAGNER'S "RING"

The leitmotivs ("signature tunes") in Wagner's The Ring of the Nibelung are an endless source of fascination. San Francisco Opera's Dramaturg Emeritus Kip Cranna will use video and audio examples to explore the meanings, transformations, and interrelationships of leitmotivs in The Ring to offer some new insights into Wagner's genius.
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This will be a LIVE Zoom presentation, Sunday, May 3rd, 2 PM EST.
$10 for nonmembers
Free to BWS Members — No purchase necessary for BWS members, simply email us to RSVP. [email protected]

Clifford (Kip) Cranna, Dramaturg (Scholar in Residence) Emeritus of San Francisco Opera, served on the staff for over forty years and was Director of Music Administration for over thirty years. In 2008 he was awarded the San Francisco Opera Medal, the company’s highest honor, and in 2012 he received the Bernard Osher Cultural Award for distinguished efforts to bring excellence to a cultural institution. In 2014 he received the Star of Excellence Award for outstanding service to the programs of the San Francisco Opera Guild.
He holds a Ph.D. in musicology from Stanford University. For thirty years he was Program Editor and Lecturer for the Carmel Bach Festival. He has taught at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, lectures, and writes frequently on music.
Dr. Cranna currently teaches at the Fromm Institute at the University of San Francisco and the Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes at UC Berkeley, San Francisco State University, and Dominican University.

01/22/2026

Boston Wagner Society is delighted to welcome back Erica Miner to present: Mendelssohn and Wagner
January 25th, 2PM EST on Zoom.
Free to BWS Members — No purchase necessary for BWS members, simply email us to RSVP: [email protected]
$10 to Non-Members via bostonwagnersociety.org
Although there was a stark contrast between the music of Richard Wagner and his contemporary Felix Mendelssohn, the relationship between the two German geniuses was fraught with competitiveness, rivalry, and jealousy—mostly on the part of Wagner. Former Metropolitan Opera violinist Erica Miner's frank discussion shines a light on Wagner’s critical perspective toward his brilliant German colleague.

11/25/2025

11/10/2025

Boston Wagner Society is excited to have Jeffrey Buller present “Sleep in the Ring.”
Sunday December 7th 2025, 2pm Eastern Time, on Zoom.
Free to BWS members; please RSVP via email to register.
$10 for non-members, via bostonwagnersociety.org

"'Sleep in the Ring' explores one of the most haunting and overlooked themes in Wagner’s great tetralogy: the image of sleep. Sleep pervades the Ring even more insistently than does the ring itself: Wotan first appears asleep; Siegmund, entering Hunding’s hut, succumbs to sleep almost at once; Brünnhilde’s punishment is sleep; Fafner’s dragon slumbers on his hoard … and countless other figures drowse or dream their way through the cycle. Why does Wagner return to this image so obsessively?"

11/09/2025

APPLY TO THE AMERICAN WAGNER FESTIVAL ON YAPTRACKER!
Deadline: Monday, December 1, 2025

Program: JULY 27 - AUGUST 8, 2026
Hosted in Lexington, Massachusetts, with all rehearsals, coachings, classes, and performances held in town.
The American Wagner Festival — formally known as the Boston Wagner Institute — is an operatic training program presented by Jane Eaglen, Jonathan McPhee , and the Boston Wagner Society.
The program aims to educate younger generations of dramatic and Wagnerian voices. Hosted in Lexington, Massachusetts, with all rehearsals, coachings, classes, and performances held in town.

11/07/2025

Hear ye, hear ye! We're thrilled to announce Ride of the Valkyries! will be narrated by the one and only David Hyde Pierce! Join us November 12 for a one-night-only variety show mashing up Wagner, Mozart, the Great American Songbook, and more. There's arias, there's skits, there's a bar! Don't miss out on the fun - get your tickets while you still can at blo.org/valkyries.

11/07/2025

Beloved lecturer Saul Lilienstein returns with a powerful Zoom lecture on Wilhelm Furtwängler, a musical genius whose career became intertwined with one of history’s greatest moral dilemmas. Join us as Saul explores the artistry, controversy, and legacy of this extraordinary conductor.

🗓️ Thursday, Nov. 13 at 7 PM ET
🔗 Register: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_NzTOnGOSSpCqM-s6nst4mQ #/registration

11/05/2025

We are thrilled to welcome conductor and musicologist Michael Downes to lecture on his 2025 book release, Wagner and the Creation of the Ring.

This will be a private event for members only, graciously hosted by one of our members at their home in the beautiful Back Bay neighborhood of Boston. RSVP soon - we will have a limit of 50 attendees. Attendees will have the opportunity to purchase a signed copy and get to know Michael one-on-one.

Friday, November 21, 2025; 6:30-8PM.

Members interested in attending must RSVP via email: [email protected]

Become a BWS member today!

10/05/2025

Boston Wagner Society is excited to have MICHAEL STEINBERG present “Wagner and Verdi Together.”

[TODAY] Sunday October 5th 2025, 2pm Eastern Time, on Zoom

Free to BWS members; please RSVP via email to register.

$10 for non-members

The presentation will juxtapose the careers and some of the key works of Giuseppe Verdi and Richard Wagner as composers of national music in both content and style. In the age of nationalism, how did Verdi become the Italian icon and Wagner the German one? Are their nationalisms compatible? Radically different? Does Verdi deserve his continuously good press, and Wagner his consistently bad reputation?

09/11/2025

Boston Wagner Institute is now THE AMERICAN WAGNER FESTIVAL!

APPLICATIONS NOW OPEN ON YAPTRACKER
JULY 27 - AUGUST 8, 2026 | Deadline: Monday, December 1, 2025

Please submit a resume, headshot, repertoire list, and two video-recorded arias, one must be by Richard Wagner. There is no age limit.

Hosted in Lexington, Massachusetts, with all rehearsals, coachings, classes, and performances held in town.

American Wagner Festival combines the forces of soprano and director, Jane Eaglen, and conductor Jonathan McPhee; together, they present an education-forward program for singers with the potential to sing Wagner. With McPhee's American Wagner Festival Orchestra, and Eaglen's vocal and dramatic training, singers will perform semi-staged Wagnerian scenes with a full orchestra.

The program will be limited to a small number of participants, enabling the program to offer daily private sessions and scene preparation for each participant, rotating between Ms. Eaglen and Brett Hodgdon. Each student will have a private voice lesson with Ms. Eaglen. Participants will learn the style of Wagner’s music with master pianist coach, Brett Hodgdon.

Recognizing the need for training singers with similar voice types together, we will offer every participant an opportunity to learn from their colleagues in studio class and a masterclass with Ms. Eaglen. We are excited to have Wagnerian tenor Jay Hunter Morris come for a two-day residency filled with individual coachings and culminating in a public masterclass.

There will be daily dramatic sessions and stagings for students’ individual scenes. Aria and scene repertoire for study, which may be included in the final performance, will be assigned based on accepted participants. We are excited to announce that all our events' facilities will be hosted in Lexington, Massachusetts, including our final performance at the historic Cary Hall. All participants will receive a high quality video of them singing Wagner with orchestra.

The Boston Wagner Society, a nonprofit organization formed under section 501(c)(3), strives to promote the enjoyment and knowledge of Richard Wagner’s enchanting and profound operas, as well as his songs and instrumental music.