Wagner: Siegfried

In Siegfried, the “Second Day” or third evening of the Ring Cycle, we meet the pivotal hero of the epic tale. The energetic drive from Die Walküre is pursued here while Siegfried finally recaptures the mighty ring from Fafner the Dragon and awakens Brünnhilde from her penal sleep on the great rock. Lance Ryan, having interpreted this role on the greatest stages of the world including the Bayreuth Festival, portrays the naïve hero. His antagonists are Peter Bronder, great and agile as Mime, Terje Stensvold, an experienced Wanderer and Johann...

Mahler: Symphony No. 2 “Resurrection” – Lucerne Festival

“It would be hard to find anything greater, more significant or more moving anywhere in musical life today: total harmony of mind and heart, poetry and outcry, fear and consolation, knowing and feeling,” declared the Berne paper ‘Der Bund’ after this stunning performance of Mahler’s ‘Resurrection’ Symphony in August 2003 by the newly founded Lucerne Festival Orchestra. Claudio Abbado had formed this ensemble from famous instrumentalists, celebrated chamber-musicians and experienced soloists from the world’s best orchestras, and the event was...

Puccini: Il Trittico

Il tabarro is a tale of jealousy and murder between Michele, his young wife Giorgetta and her lover Luigi, set aboard a barge on the Seine. Suor Angelica tells the story of the nun Angelica’s familial loss, sacrifice and suicide. Gianni Schicchi is an opera full of trickery, greed and romance as a family dispute breaks out over a missing will. The Olivier-nominated Royal Opera production featuring a trio of one-act Puccini operas was first performed together on the same bill at Covent Garden in September 2011, and was acclaimed by the Tel...

Parsifal

A mythical performance from la Monnaie - Bruxelles. Parsifal is a strange and enigmatic work. At the end of his life, did Wagner wish to celebrate asceticism, which he himself had never practised? Did he fall upon his knees before the Cross, as claimed by Nietzsche? And what does the secret society of knights based on pure blood signify, desperately waiting for the saviour to regenerate it? What is the true nature of the opposition between the worlds of Klingsor and the Grail? What can Parsifal tell us today? In his artistic will and testame...

Wagner: Das Rheingold

In the words of the prestigious German weekly 'Die Zeit,' the stage production of Wagner's 'Rheingold' and 'Walküre' by La Fura dels Baus 'quite possibly shows us the path that musical theater will be taking in the future.' There's no doubt about it: the Catalan city of Valencia is setting new accents in 21st-century opera not only with its spectacular new theater designed by Santiago Calatrava, but also with its visually transfixing production of Wagner's 'Ring' staged by Carlus Padrissa and his theater group La Fura dels Baus.

Wagner: Die Walküre

It has been a long time since the events of Das Rheingold. Wotan has fathered nine Valkyries, warrior women who bring dead heroes to Valhalla (the castle of the Gods). Richard Wagner's dream of a Gesamkuntswerk becomes reality through La Fura dels Baus' visual fantasy and blending of video technology, lighting and props (often formed of human beings): Their 30 computer projections and organic structures built of athletic performers that recall Cirque du Soleil are predestined for Wagner's visionary expressive world.