Das Traumboot
Bayreuth scion-apparent Katharina Wagner‘s production of Die Meistersinger opened yesterday at the Festspielhaus.
As you can see, this production is rather curiously cast with David Beckham as Walther and Aprile Millo as Eva.
Oh, well, all right, La Cieca must have her little joke, you know. The tenor is in fact Klaus Florian Vogt, whom many of you heard sing Lohengrin at the Met back in 2006, and, if this photo is anything like accurate, is indeed the “Traumboot” above referenced.
Now, be honest, cher public. If you saw this fellow approaching on a boat, would you even notice that it was drawn by a swan? No, La Cieca didn’t think so.
Oh, and of course, that’s not La Millo up there with the paint-spattered decolletage. More’s the pity, La Cieca must say, because surely if it were Millo singing the soprano part in the quintet, it would be more nearly in tune than this snippet from the Generalprobe.
For those of you interested in Ms. Wagner’s Konzept, here’s a feature from German TV.
Swan? What swan??????? Oh, that one – LOL
“Traumboot” indeed! Maybe they should add “When My Dreamboat Comes Home” as an encore after the opera!
)
I remember Fraulien Wagner’s “touching” production of Suor Angelica: Angelica never left a four-poster bed/cage positioned center, above which the Virgin Mary perched, who took a pack of cigarettes out and began to smoke whenever Angelica complained or asked about her son. Durring “Senza Mamma”, the Madonna threw a box of kleenex to the suffering Nun.
The Beckmesser appears to be Nick Nolte.
Has anyone watched that rehearsal clip? If not, I suggest you do so before your hormones cloud your critical faculties. If you choose to watch the clip I hope you don’t have a coronary….and if you do have a coronary, I hope you have a great cardiologist…because in the face of heart failure “Nick Nolte” and “Hunkentenors” are not going to help you.
I saw the Trittico production with the smoking virgin (mentioned by Baritenor) at the Deutsche Oper Berlin last year, but I had no idea that Katharina was a Wagner-Urenkelin.
Also worth seeing is the clip with the public reaction, ranging from “true Wagner” to “neither creative nor intelligent.”
Since, to my knowledge, she hasn’t been mentioned in this forum yet…I think it is time to bring her up.
Ladies, Ladies, and those few Gentlemen…I must bring your attention to, whom I consider to be truly the current greatest voice on the operatic stage now (as in, who is not nearing retirement). A Dutch soprano by the name of Eva Maria Westbroek whom I heard sing the most amazing Sieglinde in Aix-en-Provence.
There are two videos of her on YouTube (pity there aren’t more) but they give you a mighty strong taste of what this woman’s voice does and can do! One clip is from her DVD of Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk…the other is the final 10 minutes of the very same Walkyre production I saw her in in Aix. Unfortunlately for us, the clip begins just AFTER the “Du bist der Lenz” which was quite possibly the most glorious moment in the whole production (every night!).
The technique is flawless – the tone is perfect – always in tune – and the voice is LARGE – I kid you not when I say that EVERY NOTE was perfectly placed and resononant and even…I swear I could give up my own career just to follow this woman around to hear her sing!
There is also a clip of her singing the final part of Andrea Chenier on a website called http://www.DutchDivas.com – which will give you a taste of how she sounds in Italian opera (AMAZING!).
La Cieca, I’m rather shocked that you haven’t come across this woman yet – and if you have that you haven’t mentioned her on here yet!
Folks, this is the real deal. This is the kind of voice we have been WAITING for in this kind of literature! She does have a website which, unfortunately, does not provide any media clips (although please check out fabulous Nancy Fabiola Herrera’s recently updated site which does provide some incredible clips of her performing!).
It’s time for us to rid the opera world of the Gheorghiu’s and Alagna’s and start directing the fame and credit to the true artists who work so hard for this art and for bringing to life these capolavori consistently with passion and noblesse.
P.S. Did you all hear that AG cancelled the rest of her La Scala debut run of Traviata? *gasp* What a SHOCK! I am so ashamed of the AG supporters out there who tolerate her antics and her disgustingly disgraceful attitude towards this art and business.
I have spoken.
Happy Summer to you all!
Ok, ok. What about coming back to the actual issue here???
I was in Bayreuth but had to left after Walkure since I wasnt feeling well.
Klaus Florian Vogt is a not only a hunk but I love his style and singing. He’s extremely musical and the color of his voice fits perfectly into Lohengrin and Siegmund (he was singing Siegmund in Nurnberg last week). I dont know how his Met debut went but there is a DVD of this Lohengrin from Baden Baden, that is for me, one of the best Lohengrin available on DVD (Nagano conducts, Kringelborn and Waltraud Meier join the cast).
Now, Die Walkure came out very very well indeed better than last year and most of it is due to Mtro. Thielemann fantastic reading of the score.
About K. Wagner’s Neuinszenierung of Meistersinger, for I have seen in the video seems very interesting to me. Just my thoughts.
Whaaaaaat?!!!! Gheorghiu cancelled a performance?! OMG, call 911! Drop whatever you’re doing and head for the nearest church since the end of the world is coming near! LOL, Il Tenore. And, yeah, you should be ashamed of us.
I thought KFV’s Lohengrin was amazing as well. His singing is othrworldly/ethereal in that part. I bought the Baden-Baden dvd a few months back. It has replaced the Thomas/Grummer/Ludwig Lohengrin for the time being. And if KFV wasn’t enough you also had Waultraud Meier’s performance as well.