Punk Rocker Does Parsifal

The American singer, who along with the likes of The Ramones pioneered the New York punk scene in the 1970s and 1980s, has been swapping her own hits of "Redondo Beach" and "Birdland" for the works of Richard Wagner. Smith is taking in high-brow culture as a critic for German heavyweight broadsheet Die Zeit.

The 58 year-old rocker has been covering this year's Bayreuth Festival for the paper and has been experiencing the works of the great German composer in the live setting of the legendary month-long summer musical festival.

The singer, songwriter and poet attended the festival for the first time and saw performances of "Tannhaeuser" and "Parsifal" during the glitzy premiere week.

Amazing conductors and excellent bratwursts

Her column in the paper also details her visit to the mythical Green Hill during the hour-long intervals armed with a camera.

"It's very exciting and interesting," she said. "The conductors do amazing work."

It seems that Wagner is not the only thing Smith has been getting her teeth into. The hospitality on offer around and in the Festspielhaus, the opera house built to the composer's designs, has also appealed. Her particular favorite bite is apparently the bratwurst which she describes as "excellent."