<sod>Boulez also conducted a number of operas, often in landmark productions by leading stage directors. His first was the Paris première of Berg's ''[[Wozzeck]]'' in a production by Jean-Louis Barrault at the [[Opéra National de Paris]] in 1963.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Randel|first1=Don Michael|title=The Harvard Concise Dictionary of Music and Musicians|date=2002|publisher=Belknap Press|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts|page=84|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7iuZ6HaEMmoC&pg=PA84&|accessdate=7 February 2016}}</ref> He conducted a second production of the same work in a production by Wieland Wagner at the Frankfurt Opera in 1966.<ref>Vermeil 1996, 190</ref> Wieland then invited him to join the [[Bayreuth Festival]]'s roster for 1966's ''[[Parsifal]]'', after [[Hans Knappertsbusch]] died.<ref>Steinegger 2012, 273</ref> They discussed other collaborations, including ''Elektra'', ''Boris Godunov'' and ''Don Giovanni''<ref>Gilly 2002, 14</ref> but Wieland was already gravely ill by the time of the ''[[Parsifal]]'' production and he died in October of that year. Boulez returned to Bayreuth to conduct revivals of ''Parsifal'' in 1967, 1968 and 1970<ref>Vermeil 1996, 192-198</ref>  (when the production was recorded for DG) and he replaced Karl Böhm for performances of Wagner's ''[[Tristan und Isolde]]'' by the Bayreuth company at the Osaka Festival in Japan in March and April 1967.<ref>Steinegger 2012, 279-282</ref> Birgit Nilsson, who sang Isolde, was less than complimentary about Boulez's conducting, describing him as 'obviously unprepared' whilst acknowledging that he was faced with a Japanese orchestra which had also never played the piece before.<ref>Nilsson, Birgit. 2007. ''La Nilsson: My Life in Opera''. Northeastern University Press, 172</ref><eod>
<sod>Boulez also conducted a number of operas, often in landmark productions by leading stage directors. His first was the Paris première of Berg's ''[[Wozzeck]]'' in a production by Jean-Louis Barrault at the [[Opéra National de Paris]] in 1963.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Randel|first1=Don Michael|title=The Harvard Concise Dictionary of Music and Musicians|date=2002|publisher=Belknap Press|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts|page=84|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7iuZ6HaEMmoC&pg=PA84&|accessdate=7 February 2016}}</ref> He conducted a second production of the same work in a production by Wieland Wagner at the Frankfurt Opera in 1966.<ref>Vermeil 1996, 190</ref> Wieland then invited him to join the [[Bayreuth Festival]]'s roster for 1966's ''[[Parsifal]]'', after [[Hans Knappertsbusch]] died.<ref>Steinegger 2012, 273</ref> They discussed other collaborations, including ''Elektra'', ''Boris Godunov'' and ''Don Giovanni''<ref>Gilly 2002, 14</ref> but Wieland was already gravely ill by the time of the ''[[Parsifal]]'' production and he died in October of that year. Boulez returned to Bayreuth to conduct revivals of ''Parsifal'' in 1967, 1968 and 1970<ref>Vermeil 1996, 192-198</ref>  (when the production was recorded for DG). He also replaced Karl Böhm for performances of Wagner's ''[[Tristan und Isolde]]'' by the Bayreuth company at the Osaka Festival in Japan in March and April 1967. Conducting the piece for the first time with a Japanese orchestra which was equally unfamiliar with the piece, Boulez was frank that the experience was not a success, although the video of the performances remains important as the only surviving filmed record of a Wieland Wagner production.<ref>Steinegger 2012, 279-282</ref><eod>