Celebrating 43 years as a society!
© 2026 Wagner Society of Southern California
Events
The WSSC plans unique events
throughout the calender year…
Our events occur in several regular places throughout the year and sometimes in special locations which will be noted:NOTE: ZOOM Events are free for
WSSC members and guests who
purchased a $20,00 entry fee.
The Colburn School 200 S. Grand Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90012 Directions Parking The Chairman’s Home: 1630 South Barranca Ave.. #167 Glendora, CA 91740 Bayreuth Festival Festspielhügel 1-2 85445 Bayreuth
Artistic Foundations of Young
Wagner
with Joshua Borths
Sun., October 11th @ 1 PM PDT
Due to Wagner’s incredible legacy, much of the discourse surrounding him has focused on his artistic legacy following his death in 1883. Yet, Wagner was a man of the nineteenth century, firmly rooted to a specific time and place. Joshua Borths will explore the artistic influences on Richard Wagner to help audiences better understand Wagner’s art as a conversation between the old and the new, the conventional and the novel. Joshua Borths is Director of Opera Theatre at James Madison University (JMU) in Harrisonburg, VA. Last summer, Borths directed a highly acclaimed production of Der fliegender Holländer at Des Moines Metro Opera, and this summer he returns to direct a new production of Puccini’s Tosca. Other upcoming productions include Dialogues of the Carmelites and La traviata.
When Everything Stands
Perplexed
with Jasmin Solfaghari
Sun., Nov. 22th @ 11 AM PDT
When a director undertakes a stage project, especially in opera, the work begins largely alone. The next step is the careful selection of singers and performers, a process far more specialized than in typical theater. There are also notable differences between opera houses in Europe and North America in how this is done. Considerations include training, vocal and dramatic skill, and the artistic judgment required to decide whether to cast a performer debuting in a role or a seasoned artist for the sake of the production as a whole. Jasmin Solfaghari is an accomplished opera director with more than 30 years of experience, based in Berlin, Germany. Wagner has long stood at the center of her artistic life and work. Early in her career, she collaborated with Götz Friedrich and directed revivals of his productions. Her credits include Tannhäuser, the complete Der Ring des Nibelungen, and critically acclaimed performances of Parsifal at the Goetheanum over the past four years, with another production scheduled for 2027. She is also the author of three books and a teacher of masterclasses in music drama.
THE FINAL PERFORMANCES OF
THE GOETHEANUM PARSiFAL
Join us for the final performance of the unique PARSIFAL at the Goetheanum in Switzerland. The tickets are in short supply and will no longer be available after mid-September! If you would like to go, email me or click the link below to notify me! I have a only 9 tickets avaiable.
The Invention of a Monster
with Derek Hughs
Sun., Jan,. 17th @ 11 AM PST
via Zoom
Wagner has the most villainous reputation of any figure in the arts. He is often held to have inspired Hitler’s murderous anti-Semitism, and an army of ruthless mercenaries-the Wagner Group-has taken its name from him. Yet many of the worst things laid to his charge are based on misconstruction or even fabrication: on a letter he never wrote, or opinions he never expressed. Key passages in Cosima Wagner’s diaries have been misinterpreted through failure to check their background. In Wagner: The Invention of a Monster, Derek Hughes re examines this controversial figure, tracing the progressive falsifications of his opinions from the 1960s to the present day. There is much new research into the early reception and understanding of his operas, and Hughes contrasts modern assessments of the composer with those current in Wagner’s own era, and then during the Third Reich. Ultimately, the book reaches a perhaps surprising conclusion: many modern critics see more Nazism in Wagner than the Nazis ever did. DEREK HUGHES is Professor Emeritus at the University of Aberdeen. He has published an array of books and articles with an operatic or theatrical focus, including Culture and Sacrifice: Ritual Death in Literature and Opera (2007), and is a consistent contributor to the Wagner Journal.
Celebrating 41 years as a society!
© 2026 Wagner Society of Southern
California
Events
The WSSC plans unique events
throughout the calender year…
Our events occur in several regular places throughout the year and sometimes in special locations which will be noted:NOTE: ZOOM Events are free for WSSC
members and guests who purchased a
$20,00 entry fee.
The Colburn School 200 S. Grand Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90012 Directions Parking The Chairman’s Home: 1630 South Barranca Ave.. #167 Glendora, CA 91740 Bayreuth Festival Festspielhügel 1-2 85445 Bayreuth
Artistic Foundations of Young Wagner
with Joshua Borths
Sun., October 11th @ 1 PM PDT
Due to Wagner’s incredible legacy, much of the discourse surrounding him has focused on his artistic legacy following his death in 1883. Yet, Wagner was a man of the nineteenth century, firmly rooted to a specific time and place. Joshua Borths will explore the artistic influences on Richard Wagner to help audiences better understand Wagner’s art as a conversation between the old and the new, the conventional and the novel. Joshua Borths is Director of Opera Theatre at James Madison University (JMU) in Harrisonburg, VA. Last summer, Borths directed a highly acclaimed production of Der fliegender Holländer at Des Moines Metro Opera, and this summer he returns to direct a new production of Puccini’s Tosca. Other upcoming productions include Dialogues of the Carmelites and La traviata.
GALA DINNER 2026
THE WAGNER SOCIETIES OF THE WORLD & THE GESELLSCHAFT DER FREUNDE VON BAYREUTH Das Rheingold Gala 2026 Wed, August 12th after the performance at the New Festival Restaurant. For pricing and information, click the button below…
When Everything Stands Perplexed
with Jasmin Solfaghari
Sun., Nov. 22th @ 11 AM PDT
When a director undertakes a stage project, especially in opera, the work begins largely alone. The next step is the careful selection of singers and performers, a process far more specialized than in typical theater. There are also notable differences between opera houses in Europe and North America in how this is done. Considerations include training, vocal and dramatic skill, and the artistic judgment required to decide whether to cast a performer debuting in a role or a seasoned artist for the sake of the production as a whole. Jasmin Solfaghari is an accomplished opera director with more than 30 years of experience, based in Berlin, Germany. Wagner has long stood at the center of her artistic life and work. Early in her career, she collaborated with Götz Friedrich and directed revivals of his productions. Her credits include Tannhäuser, the complete Der Ring des Nibelungen, and critically acclaimed performances of Parsifal at the Goetheanum over the past four years, with another production scheduled for 2027. She is also the author of three books and a teacher of masterclasses in music drama.
The Invention of a Monster
with Derek Hughs
Sun., Jan,. 17th @ 11 AM PST
via Zoom
Wagner has the most villainous reputation of any figure in the arts. He is often held to have inspired Hitler’s murderous anti- Semitism, and an army of ruthless mercenaries-the Wagner Group-has taken its name from him. Yet many of the worst things laid to his charge are based on misconstruction or even fabrication: on a letter he never wrote, or opinions he never expressed. Key passages in Cosima Wagner’s diaries have been misinterpreted through failure to check their background. In Wagner: The Invention of a Monster, Derek Hughes re examines this controversial figure, tracing the progressive falsifications of his opinions from the 1960s to the present day. There is much new research into the early reception and understanding of his operas, and Hughes contrasts modern assessments of the composer with those current in Wagner’s own era, and then during the Third Reich. Ultimately, the book reaches a perhaps surprising conclusion: many modern critics see more Nazism in Wagner than the Nazis ever did. DEREK HUGHES is Professor Emeritus at the University of Aberdeen. He has published an array of books and articles with an operatic or theatrical focus, including Culture and Sacrifice: Ritual Death in Literature and Opera (2007), and is a consistent contributor to the Wagner Journal.
