iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

ᴡᴀɢɴᴇʀ & ʜᴇᴀᴠʏ ᴍᴇᴛᴀʟ @wagnermetal.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

"Visual waterboarding" This production seems to confirm all the fears that arose when this ‘Ring in AI’ was announced. At the very least, it makes for an engaging review (thanks for that, Mark, and lots of encouragement for the rest of this cycle) boulezian.blogspot.com/2026/07/bayr...

boulezian.blogspot.com

Bayreuth Festival (2) – Das Rheingold, 27 July 2026

Festspielhaus Wotan – Michael Volle Donner – Alexander Grassauer Froh – Siyabonga Maqungo Loge – Klaus Florian Vogt Fricka – Anna Kissjudit ...

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ᴡᴀɢɴᴇʀ & ʜᴇᴀᴠʏ ᴍᴇᴛᴀʟ @wagnermetal.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

Frau Ohne Schatten. New production from Festival d'Aix-en-Provence. Direction by Barry Kosky. youtu.be/s5yuAJakass?...

youtu.be

Strauss - Die Frau ohne Schatten (2026)

YouTube video by Lady Izolde

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ᴡᴀɢɴᴇʀ & ʜᴇᴀᴠʏ ᴍᴇᴛᴀʟ @wagnermetal.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

I’ve spent many hours recently enjoying HELLRIPPER’s discography. A Scottish one-man speed/black/thrash metal act from James McBain. He recorded his first album (in 2017), “Coagulating Darkness”, at home, with his parents on backing vocals. What a band 🤘 #metalsky

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ᴡᴀɢɴᴇʀ & ʜᴇᴀᴠʏ ᴍᴇᴛᴀʟ @wagnermetal.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

This is a song about environmental pollution. It's also my slogan for this edition of the Worldcup Football. #metalsky youtu.be/f9yb88fa4MA?...

youtu.be

Obituary - Don't Care (official Music Video)

YouTube video by MetalOnTV

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ᴡᴀɢɴᴇʀ & ʜᴇᴀᴠʏ ᴍᴇᴛᴀʟ @wagnermetal.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

The birthday of Wagner coincides with #WorldGothDay This is The Rhine Gothic. The story of Wotan and the cursed gold. A Gothic tale of madness, betrayal, and eternal lament, whispered in hushed tones by those who dared to remember. www.wagner-heavymetal.com/blog/the-rhi...

wagner-heavymetal.com

The Rhine Gothic

The moon hung low over the jagged peaks of the forested mountains, casting an eerie silver glow on the mist-shrouded Rhine. Deep within its inky waters lay the Rhinegold, a treasure of unimaginable...

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ᴡᴀɢɴᴇʀ & ʜᴇᴀᴠʏ ᴍᴇᴛᴀʟ @wagnermetal.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

And then, on the birthday of Wagner, there’s a new Ring cycle that’s been released. Recorded in Dallas under the baton of Fabio Luisi. #opera

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ᴡᴀɢɴᴇʀ & ʜᴇᴀᴠʏ ᴍᴇᴛᴀʟ @wagnermetal.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

On this day in 1911 (on the 98th birthday of Richard Wagner): The funeral of GUSTAV MAHLER in Vienna.

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ᴡᴀɢɴᴇʀ & ʜᴇᴀᴠʏ ᴍᴇᴛᴀʟ @wagnermetal.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

ORBI has a new album: THE AGE OF GREED With the central theme being the current state of the world, in which everything – democracy, civil rights and the environment – is sacrificed to big money and the authoritarian tendencies connected with it. www.wagner-heavymetal.com/blog/orbi-th...

wagner-heavymetal.com

ORBI — The Oscillating Revenge of the Background Instruments

There are instruments, and then there are instruments. Some are born for the spotlight: the violin, trumpet or lead guitar, magnetic centerpieces that naturally pull the audience’s attention toward...

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ᴡᴀɢɴᴇʀ & ʜᴇᴀᴠʏ ᴍᴇᴛᴀʟ @wagnermetal.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

Tonight The Oscillating Revenge of the Background Instruments From Mahler to Metallica

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ᴡᴀɢɴᴇʀ & ʜᴇᴀᴠʏ ᴍᴇᴛᴀʟ @wagnermetal.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

The magazine, published to mark the 150th anniversary of the Bayreuther Festspiele, includes a short contribution from Wagner & Heavy Metal. www.bayreuther-festspiele.de/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/bayreuther-festspiele-magazin-2026-en-small.pdf

UNIQUELY
The opera experience at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus is unique — and so is its audience. We asked three Wagner fans from very diferent backgrounds why they return to the Green Hill year after year.

*Wagner and heavy metal*
“For me, the music of Richard Wagner felt naturally connected to the rock music I grew up with. His music was a discovery – an ear-opener, a doorway to an entirely new musical world, endlessly fascinating.
From the moment that fasci-nation turned into obsession, a visit to the Festspielhaus be-came inevitable. I first came in 2014 (the rats in Hans Neuen-fels’ Lohengrin production were my introduction to the festival – the boldness of those produc-tions, and the Festspielhaus’s unique acoustics!). Since then, I’ve always been glad to return. Wagner inspired me to create a website (Wagner & Heavy Metal) where I write about my listening experiences. And it was in Bayreuth – this must be woven into the threads of the Norns – that I met my girlfriend. Alongside Wagner, she also loves heavy metal and tango.”

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ᴡᴀɢɴᴇʀ & ʜᴇᴀᴠʏ ᴍᴇᴛᴀʟ @wagnermetal.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

Tonight at the Dutch National Opera: Die Passagierin from Weinberg, directed by Tobias Kratzer. Very much looking forward to this.

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ᴡᴀɢɴᴇʀ & ʜᴇᴀᴠʏ ᴍᴇᴛᴀʟ @wagnermetal.bsky.social · 12/04/2026

On a visit to La Scala, at an exhibition of Der Ring des Nibelungen (and no, the photo was not my idea) Have a good Sunday everyone!

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ᴡᴀɢɴᴇʀ & ʜᴇᴀᴠʏ ᴍᴇᴛᴀʟ @wagnermetal.bsky.social · 05/04/2026

Soundtrack for Easter: A Resurrection One of my first CDs of Mahler’s 2nd Symphony, a performance by Hans Vonk and the Residentie Orchestra. I still agree with many of the observations I made nearly ten years ago. It's a performance I love to return to. www.wagner-heavymetal.com/classical-pi...

wagner-heavymetal.com

Return to Resurrection

There is an undeniable absence of common sense when one searches among recordings of a favorite piece of music with the assumption that there exists one version that can stand alone in saying all...

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ᴡᴀɢɴᴇʀ & ʜᴇᴀᴠʏ ᴍᴇᴛᴀʟ @wagnermetal.bsky.social · 04/04/2026

There is a new album out from SUNN O))) 🤘 With my head in clouds of heavy concrete, I head into the night share.google/GE65rsxTaeoe...

share.google

sunn O))), by SUNN O)))

6 track album

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ᴡᴀɢɴᴇʀ & ʜᴇᴀᴠʏ ᴍᴇᴛᴀʟ @wagnermetal.bsky.social · 04/04/2026

Another banger for the soundtrack for Easter: Bach the Romantic: Willem Mengelberg’s monumental St. Matthew Passion (1939) with a large orchestra and a 400+ choir. Slow Mahlerian Wagnerian Massive yet transparent. Thanks to the remaster: crank up the volume, and the sound remains stable. 🔥

Mengelberg's anotated score of the Mattheüs Passion

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ᴡᴀɢɴᴇʀ & ʜᴇᴀᴠʏ ᴍᴇᴛᴀʟ @wagnermetal.bsky.social · 03/04/2026

It's that day of the year again. Which version of Parsifal are you going to play? #GoodFriday

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ᴡᴀɢɴᴇʀ & ʜᴇᴀᴠʏ ᴍᴇᴛᴀʟ @wagnermetal.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

About a trip to Vienna and a visit to an 'anti-anti opera': Le Grand Macabre is a grotesque, absurdist meditation on death, the apocalypse and human folly. An opera that remains, at least in terms of its subject matter, effortlessly relevant in 2026. www.wagner-heavymetal.com/blog/le-gran...

wagner-heavymetal.com

Le Grand Macabre: Ligeti's anti-anti opera in Vienna

There is a moment in Le Grand Macabre where everything finally seems to fall into place: the interlude between scenes three and four. Here, the grotesque humor, the sonic collage, and the fractured...

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ᴡᴀɢɴᴇʀ & ʜᴇᴀᴠʏ ᴍᴇᴛᴀʟ @wagnermetal.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

Feeling a terrible need to play this song now: Chapter for Not Being Hung Upside Down on a Stake in the Underworld and Made to Eat Feces by the Four Apes

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ᴡᴀɢɴᴇʀ & ʜᴇᴀᴠʏ ᴍᴇᴛᴀʟ @wagnermetal.bsky.social · 14/02/2026

Happy belated Wagner & Heavy Metal day 🤘 On 13 February we look back in awe: 13 February 1883: Death of Richard Wagner 13 February 1970: Birth of Heavy Metal (Black Sabbath release their debut album) www.wagner-heavymetal.com/the-day-of-w...

wagner-heavymetal.com

The day of Wagner & Heavy Metal

Under the heavy constellation of history comes the date, the 13th of February , not just as any other day. Today is a day of weight, of a divine gift and a sudden death. On this day, history...

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ᴡᴀɢɴᴇʀ & ʜᴇᴀᴠʏ ᴍᴇᴛᴀʟ @wagnermetal.bsky.social · 13/02/2026

Still in the aftermath of Tristan. Dying is inherent to opera. We get used to it, but the way Tristan takes his time here (almost the entire third act) continues to capture the imagination and stir the senses. Jon Vickers tackles Tristan's fever dream with harrowing intensity here.

Tristan und Isolde. Studio recording under the baton of Karajan

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ᴡᴀɢɴᴇʀ & ʜᴇᴀᴠʏ ᴍᴇᴛᴀʟ @wagnermetal.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

After Giulio Cesare yesterday at the Concertgebouw (more than three hours of arias), today it's time for Tristan und Isolde, more than three hours without arias. Wagner. Live. Wonderful.

Jakob Orlinksi, he doesn't need to break dance to distinguish himself. Superb singer.

Tristan und Isolde. A retake of the production of Pierre Audi from 2018.

Tristan und Isolde. Poster from the Dutch National Opera

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ᴡᴀɢɴᴇʀ & ʜᴇᴀᴠʏ ᴍᴇᴛᴀʟ @wagnermetal.bsky.social · 07/02/2026

Operation Mindcrime Queensrÿche's masterpiece from 1988 "The rich control the government, the media, the law To make some kind of difference then everyone must know Eradicate the fascists, revolution will grow"

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ᴡᴀɢɴᴇʀ & ʜᴇᴀᴠʏ ᴍᴇᴛᴀʟ @wagnermetal.bsky.social · 05/02/2026

An opera by Olga Neuwirth & Elfriede Jelinek, staged by Tobias Kratzer. The story involves a King-President obsessed with shit (modelled on Donald Trump) who battles a monster named Gorgonzilla while two vampires comment on the action. This a severe case of FMO! www.youtube.com/watch?v=XI-7...

youtube.com

Monster’s Paradise von Olga Neuwirth und Elfriede Jelinek

YouTube video by Staatsoper Hamburg

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ᴡᴀɢɴᴇʀ & ʜᴇᴀᴠʏ ᴍᴇᴛᴀʟ @wagnermetal.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

In DIE SOLDATEN, Bernd Zimmermann encapsulates his idea of Total Theatre in an opera in which time collides. Past, present, and future coexist simultaneously, reflecting the way memory, trauma, and anticipation shape human experience. One of the most moving & fascinating operas of the 20th century.

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ᴡᴀɢɴᴇʀ & ʜᴇᴀᴠʏ ᴍᴇᴛᴀʟ @wagnermetal.bsky.social · 02/02/2026

Die Gezeichneten. An opera set by its composer and librettist Franz Schreker in 16th-century Genoa, because power, greed, lust and love transcend the boundaries of centuries. It also features an island where the rich elite abuse young women (...)

Die Gezeichneten - Franz Schreker. Recording of a performance under the baton of James Conlon

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ᴡᴀɢɴᴇʀ & ʜᴇᴀᴠʏ ᴍᴇᴛᴀʟ @wagnermetal.bsky.social · 31/01/2026

ANGEL OF DEATH AND THE MAIDEN It's the 31st of January This is your reminder that Franz Schubert and Jeff Hanneman (Slayer) share a birthday 🤘 #classicalmusic #@metalsky

Franz Schubert doing the Devil horns with his hand.

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ᴡᴀɢɴᴇʀ & ʜᴇᴀᴠʏ ᴍᴇᴛᴀʟ @wagnermetal.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

Combining clean vocals with grunts is not unique in metal, but Tatiana Shmayluk is in a class of her own. With her, the two voice types really are two different personalities. Like hearing two different singers. The Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde of metal land. #metalksky www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMbG...

youtube.com

JINJER - Hedonist - Tatiana Shmayluk - One Take Vocal Performance

YouTube video by Napalm Records

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ᴡᴀɢɴᴇʀ & ʜᴇᴀᴠʏ ᴍᴇᴛᴀʟ @wagnermetal.bsky.social · 29/01/2026

For the shifting time signature loving metal fan JINJER from Ukraine is a treat. Very good musicians and an amazing vocalist #metalsky youtu.be/tRHTkdELyo8

youtu.be

JINJER - Duél (Official Live Video)

YouTube video by Jinjer Metal Band

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ᴡᴀɢɴᴇʀ & ʜᴇᴀᴠʏ ᴍᴇᴛᴀʟ @wagnermetal.bsky.social · 28/01/2026

Wednesday=Wotan's day Today the chief god faces the music when his politics of sperm hits rock bottom. After having to let Siegmund killed he says farewell to Brünnhilde.

Hunding kills Siegmund, Sieglinde watches in horror (pic: Ferdinand Leeke).

Wotan takes away Brunnhilde's divine powers by kissing her on the eyes. Brunnhilde falls into a deep sleep (pic: Ferdinand Leeke).

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ᴡᴀɢɴᴇʀ & ʜᴇᴀᴠʏ ᴍᴇᴛᴀʟ @wagnermetal.bsky.social · 24/01/2026

Hilariously informative this is: A HISTORY OF HEAVY METAL according to Andrew O'Neill. Indestructibly entertaining and kind of a sentimental journey. 🤘🥴🤘 #metalsky youtu.be/pzmHmtSbfOk?...

youtu.be

Andrew O'Neill's History Of Heavy Metal

YouTube video by Andrew O'Neill

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ᴡᴀɢɴᴇʀ & ʜᴇᴀᴠʏ ᴍᴇᴛᴀʟ @wagnermetal.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

More metal for piano. A balls-to-the-wall piano cover of Metallica’s Master of Puppets. It captures the dynamics of the original remarkably well. 🤘 youtu.be/HIJPxxoF7dw?...

youtu.be

Live in Zurich - Metallica - Master of Puppets | Vkgoeswild piano cover

YouTube video by vkgoeswild

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ᴡᴀɢɴᴇʀ & ʜᴇᴀᴠʏ ᴍᴇᴛᴀʟ @wagnermetal.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

Death metal for piano demonstrates Chuck Schuldiner's versatility as a composer. A wonderful way to ring in the weekend. #metalsky youtu.be/AjwYMjZRkIU?...

youtu.be

'Crystal Mountain' by Death (piano cover)

YouTube video by Catherine Fearns

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ᴡᴀɢɴᴇʀ & ʜᴇᴀᴠʏ ᴍᴇᴛᴀʟ @wagnermetal.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

It's Friday, the day of Freia www.wagner-heavymetal.com/blog/judging...

Freia is taken by Fasolt and Fafner as a reward for building the Valhalla. Scene prior to Das Rheingold. Cover from a (imagenary) comic book

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ᴡᴀɢɴᴇʀ & ʜᴇᴀᴠʏ ᴍᴇᴛᴀʟ @wagnermetal.bsky.social · 20/01/2026

With Richard Wagner, you can look ahead to the future. To the music that came after him (film music, heavy metal). With Pygmalion's arrangements of Wagner's music, you look back to the music that came before him. As if Thomas Tallis were paying a visit to Das Rheingold. youtu.be/AQC06AqPnDw?...

youtu.be

Das Rheingold, WWV 86A , Act I, Scene 1: Vorspiel "Auf dem Grunde des Rheines"

YouTube video by Raphaël Pichon - Topic

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