Sharon Yuval, a native of Chicago, came to prominence in the opera world in Berlin and Los Angeles, and becomes the first American to direct a new production at Bayreuth. His new Lohengrin replaces the Hans Neuenfels staging which was quite controversial when it debuted at the Green Hill (you might remember the chorus members dressed as rats). By the time I got to see this production in 2012, the boos that greeted the production the first year gave way to bravos. Mr. Yuval's rookie year at Bayreuth has not been an easy one. In late June Roberto Alagna, scheduled to sing the title role, left the production claiming he had not learned the role. In early July, the Bayreuth Festival announced that Polish tenor Piotr Beczała would replace him. Mr. Beczała sang this opera in 2016 under the baton of Christian Thielemann, who will conduct this production this summer.