Rienzi in April/May 2009 and at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and Oper Leipzig in April/May 2010. In July 2013, the bicentennial year of Wagner's birth, performances of all three of Wagner's early operas, including "Rienzi", took place for the first time at Bayreuth, at the Oberfrankenhalle. This performance trimmed some parts, including the second-act ballet. The Australian premiere was a concert performance by Melbourne Opera in December 2013, as part of the bicentennial celebrations. The opera opens with a substantial overture which begins with a trumpet call (which in act 3 we learn is the war call of the Colonna family)
The Band Concert passes, the band (except Horace, Peter Pig and Mickey) is thrown into a tree and they finish the overture. Yet by this time the only remaining audience member is Donald Duck who applauds enthusiastically. Witnessing Donald playing "Turkey in the Straw" as an encore, the band members angrily throw their instruments at him from off camera. Although "The Band Concert" did not receive any Academy Award nominations, it has nonetheless become one of the most highly acclaimed Disney short films. "Esquire" magazine cultural critic Gilbert Seldes wrote that "[none of] dozens of works produced in America at the same time