A scenic open-air production of Richard Wagner’s opera The Flying Dutchman will be the finale at the Birgit Nilsson Festival 2026, with world-class singers, the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra and choirs across Skåne – at the Tennis Stadium in Båstad on August 8.
Leading roles will be sung by Christopher Maltman (The Dutchman), Elisabet Strid (Senta) och Günther Groissböck (Daland), Stanislas de Barbeyrac (Erik), Katarina Dalayman (Mary) and Tobias Westman (Daland’s Steerman), with musical direction by Henrik Nánási.
“The Flying Dutchman is the obvious gateway to Wagner’s world. It is a captivating story filled with romance, longing and reconciliation, loaded with outstanding music that is difficult to defend against,” says Bengt Hall, the festival’s artistic director.
English baritone Christopher Maltman is one of today’s most sought-after opera singers, with regular guest appearances at opera houses such as the Staatsoper Berlin, the Bayerische Staatsoper, the Opéra National de Paris, the Wiener Staatsoper and the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
Swedish soprano Elisabet Strid is one of the foremost Wagner singers of our time, with appearances at opera houses such as the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London, the Deutsche Oper Berlin and the Teatro Real in Madrid. Her roles include Isolde, Salome and Senta.
Hungarian-born conductor Henrik Nánási, former music director of the Komische Oper in Berlin, regularly performs at Europe’s most prestigious opera houses and concert halls.
The Flying Dutchman is based on a legend about a condemned and deeply unhappy sea captain on a ghost ship, whose only salvation is a woman’s self-sacrificing love. Wagner was inspired to write the opera on the Norwegian coast during a dramatic and stormy sea voyage from Riga to London. With its catchy arias and powerful choruses, The Flying Dutchman is considered Wagner’s most accessible opera. It follows the festival’s production of Verdi’s Aida, which last summer set an audience record for the Tennis Stadium’s open-air opera.
The Flying Dutchman is part of the extensive Birgit Nilsson Festival programme (2-8 August 2026) which will be announced shortly. The Birgit Nilsson Festival is organized by the Birgit Nilsson Stiftelsen.
Senta: Elisabet Strid
Mary: Katarina Dalayman
The Dutchman: Christopher Maltman
Daland: Günther Groissböck
Erik: Stanislas de Barbeyrac
Daland’s Steerman: Tobias Westman
Helsingborgs Symphony Orchestra
Choral singers from Skåne
Conductor: Henrik Nánási
Christopher Maltman
One of the most sought-after dramatic baritones today, Grammy Award winner Christopher Maltman has appeared to wide acclaim on all the major operatic stages such as the Royal Opera House, Salzburg Festival, Wiener Staatsoper, the Metropolitan Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin and Teatro alla Scala in Milan. Initially associated with the works of Mozart and a globally renowned Don Giovanni, his extensive and ever-growing repertoire includes roles such as Iago in Otello, Wotan in Wagner’s Ring Cycle, Jochanaan in Salome, the title role of Verdi’s Rigoletto, Orest Elektra, Amfortas Parsifal and Scarpia Tosca. In the autumn of 2025, he made his debut as the Dutchman in the Bayerische Staatsoper’s production.
Elisabet Strid
The Swedish soprano is one of the most successful interpreters of Wagner and Strauss roles. After her successful debut at the ROH Covent Garden Opera London as Senta in Der Fliegende Holländer in 2024, she will sing Brünnhilde at this Opera House in the new production (2025-2027) of Der Ring des Nibelungen. In 2024 she was Isolde in Tristan und Isolde at the Royal Opera Copenhagen and the Grand Théâtre de Genève. In 2025, she sang Senta at the Tokyo National Opera and at the Palau de les Arts, Reina Sofia Valencia and Elisabeth in Tannhäuser at the Wagner Days in Budapest. Her most sung roles include Sieglinde and Senta. Other roles include Brünnhilde i Siegfried och Eva i Mästersångarna i Nürnberg.
Günther Groissböck
Austrian bass Günther Groissböck has established himself as one of the most sought-after singers of his time. Günther regularly performs major roles on stages such as Wiener Staatsoper, the Metropolitan Opera, Opéra national de Paris, Teatro alla Scala, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Bayerische Staatsoper, Semperoper Dresden, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Staatsoper Berlin, Arena di Verona and Bayreuther Festspiele. Recent highlights include Hermann Tannhäuser and König Marke (Tristan und Isolde) at Bayreuther Festspiele; König Marke (Tristan und Isolde) and Gurnemanz (Parsifal) at Deutsche Oper Berlin; Veit Pogner (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg), Gurnemanz (Parsifal), Orest (Elektra), Sarastro (Die Zauberflöte), König Marke (Tristan und Isolde), at Wiener Staatsoper; and Baron Ochs (Der Rosenkavalier) at Staatsoper Berlin.
Katarina Dalayman
Swedish soprano/mezzo soprano Katarina Dalayman has sustained a long and prestigious international career in the dramatic repertoire. Dalayman has performed a wide range of soprano roles including Isolde (Tristan und Isolde) and the title role of Elektra. With a particularly strong association to Wagner’s Brünnhilde, Dalayman has appeared in Ring cycles at The Metropolitan Opera, Opéra National de Paris, Wiener and Bayerische staatsoper, Teatro alla Scala, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Semperoper Dresden, Salzburger Festspiele and Festival d’Aix en Provence. Her repertoire is nowadays focused on roles as Kundry (Parsifal) in New York, Dresden, Paris and Stockholm, Ortrud (Lohengrin) with Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, and Brangäne (Tristan und Isolde) at The Metropolitan Opera.
Stanislas de Barbeyrac
After his acclaimed debut as Tamino in The Magic Flute at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Stanislas de Barbeyrac is one of the most sought-after tenors of his generation. He has performed at the Opéra national de Paris, Covent Garden Royal Opera House, the Salzburg Festival, the Teatro municipal de Sao Paulo, the Opéra national du Rhin in Strasbourg and the Chorégies d’Orange, La Monnaie in Brussels, the Nederlandse Opera in Amsterdam, the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich and the San Francisco Opera. Current engagements: Erik (The Flying Dutchman) in Turin, Siegmund (Die Walküre) at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London, Don José (Carmen) in Munich, Lensky (Eugene Onegin) at the Metropolitan Opera, and Max (The Free Shooter) at the Bayerische Staatsoper. At the Drottningholm Palace Theatre, Stanislas de Barbeyrac sang the role of Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni in 2016.
Tobias Westman
Tobias Westman is one of Sweden’s most promising singers. Season 2024-25 he did several roles at Gothenburg Opera includes Rodrigo in Otello, Horace Adams in Peter Grimes, Tomas Vogel in Der Schaupspieldirektor and Alméric in Iolanta. In season 2025-26 he started with Tamino in Die Zauberflöte at GöteborgsOperan.Tobias Westman has participated in productions such as Parsifal, Wozzeck and Die Zauberflöte at the Opéra National de Paris. Tobias has created the title role of Young Jussi in Silverfågeln by Mats Larsson Gothe in Vattnäs, Sweden. Concert Barn and played roles at The Royal Swedish Opera, Malmö Opera (including Pinterton in Verdi’s La traviata), Wermland Opera and Opéra Dijon as well as at the Potsdam Early Music Festival and Copenhagen Opera Festival. Birgit Nilsson Stipendium in 2018.
Henrik Nánási
Henrik Nánási is a regular guest at the world’s major opera houses including The Metropolitan Opera, Teatro alla Scala, San Francisco Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper Opéra National de Paris, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Opernhaus Zürich, etc.Aktuella engagemang: La traviata på Bayerische Staatsoper, Turandot på Bayerische Staatsoper och Opera Australia, Werther på Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona och Luisa Miller på Statsoper Hamburg. Henrik Nánási was General Music Director of the Komische Oper Berlin from 2012 to 2017. Since his appointment in 2012, the Komische Oper Berlin has been named “Opera House of the Year 2013” by Opera World Magazine and “Opera Company of the Year 2015” at the Opera Awards.On the concert stage, he has worked with a large number of orchestras.His recording projects include DVD recordings of Turandot and Jenůfa, Carmen and the CD recording of La Gazza Ladra. Henrik Nánási was born in Pécs/Hungary.
• Richard Wagner: The Flying Dutchman
• August 8 at 7:00 PM
• Tennis Stadium in Båstad
• Outdoor concert
• Running time: approx. 3 hours incl. 15 min. intermission
• Admission from 5:00 PM
• Catering available on site
• Own food and drinks not allowed
• Birgit Nilsson Festival August 2-8, 2026
• More info: www.birgitnilsson.com
Tickets juliusbiljettservice.se
PS. When Birgit Nilsson sang Senta, the audience is said to have felt the stormy nerve in the music and the romantic heart of the story. Her portrayal highlighted both Senta’s strength and vulnerability – and made the opera more than a ghost story. A drama about man’s eternal search for meaning and love.