In one of Saki’s stories (“The Game Bag”), a pair of his pompous suburban aristocrats explode over a social gaffe. After some time the louder and burlier one stomps off in a huff. “It was as though,” says the author, “one had come straight out from a Wagner opera into a rather tame thunderstorm.” Read more »
Until Tobias Kratzer’s new production of Tannhäuser opens this summer, the second of Wagner’s canonical dramas had been directed only six times since the Bayreuth Festival’s reinauguration in 1951. As a centerpiece of Wagner’s theatrically inclined institution, this makes Tannhäuser lag behind the Ring (seen in 11 different incarnations since Wieland’s revolutionary Neo-Bayreuth production), Lohengrin (eight productions, the most recent of which was spearheaded by Yuval Sharon last summer), and all the other operas (each having been directed seven times) in directorial novelty. Read more »
The gods get their kicks on Route 66. Read more »
In memory of Jason T. McVicker (August 13, 1962 – October 13, 2016.) We pause to remember how Jason touched and enriched our lives. Jason was an opera queen extraordinaire and is greatly missed.
Wagner’s Ring is an artistic masterpiece that is peerless in its ability to continually reveal layers of musical, theatrical, and philosophical insight
Yusif Eyvazov just let slip what we must assume is a very long-term project indeed for himself and Anna Netrebko: the title roles in Tristan und Isolde.
Whether you love the 2018 Berlin Staatsoper Tristan and Isolde depends on what you think the opera is about.
Live video stream from the Staatsoper Stuttgart starting at 11:00 AM.
I count myself as privileged to have witnessed Götterdämmerungat the Royal Opera House during this season’s revival of Keith Warner’s Ring.
Cher Public