Domingo joins Nike Wagner: Does anyone like Bayreuth's new Tannhäuser?

Over at his rather enjoyable blog, (on my bloglist with many other fine Wagner related blogs and all worth visiting in my humble opinion) Paul Pelkonen reports on an interview Domingo gave recently. Seems he is joining members of the Wagner family. I reprint the first few paragraphs below. Please click on continue reading to read the full article:


Plácido Domingo Fights Regie Menace

Bayreuth, Salzburg stagings blasted by star tenor.

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Tenor/conductor/impresario Plácido Domingo has unleashed an attack on both the Salzburg and Bayreuth Festivals. In an interview with Austrian News Magazin, Mr. Domingo expressed his disapproval of new productions of Strauss' Die Frau Ohne Schatten and Wagner'sTannhäuser at the venerable summer festivals.

"This is beyond me," the tenor, 69, said in the German-language interview. "As an opera director I would never allow something (like this.)"

Christian Loy's production of Die Frau Ohne Schatten moves the opera to a replica of the Sofiensaal, the legendary Vienna ballroom converted into a recording studio. The Sofiensaal was the site of many famous Decca recordings in the 1950s and '60s with the Vienna Philharmonic. Ironically, Mr. Domingo sang on Decca's last major production in Vienna: Sir Georg Solti's studio recording of...Die Frau Ohne Schatten.

"In Germany and Austria it is unfortunately becoming a habit," Mr. Domingo continued. He added that he would intervene in productions that did not meet his approval. "If I don't agree with the production, I have the production stopped."

Click here to continue reading Domingo's detailed thoughts on Tannhauser