Written By The Wagnerian on Wednesday 9 May 2012 | 6:17:00 pm
We just like to keep up-to-date with future Wagner conductors - out there somewhere may be "another Furtwängler" Manchester students make international mark as conductor
A third year University of Manchester music student has signed up with one of the world’s leading music agencies Intermusica.
Jamie Phillips, who graduates in 2012, has also been invited to conduct a concert at the 2013 Salzburg Festival - one of classical music’s most prestigious events. He was given the opportunity after achieving second place in the 2012 Nestlé and Salzburg Festival Young Conductors’ competition.
Jamie will also be one of the finalists in auditions to find Sir Mark Elder’s new assistant conductor of the Hallé Orchestra.
Adding to the music department’s success, 2010 Manchester graduate Duncan Ward is celebrating the news he is to assist the world’s best known conductor Sir Simon Rattle in a concert performance of Wagner’s Die Walküre with the Berlin Philharmoniker.
Duncan is already on the books of Askonas Holt, the agency that represents Sir Simon Rattle and Daniel Barenboim. He has worked with both conductors.
Earlier this year he made his debut with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and in June he will appear with the Bamberg Symphony in Germany.
Both conductors are both products of the University’s elite conducting programme taught by Mark Heron, and are set to follow in the footsteps of other star alumni conductors, including Mark Wigglesworth and Paul McCreesh.
Jamie Phillips said: "I was so happy to perform in the Nestle and Salzburg Young Conductors Award in April - the opportunity to conduct in such a world-famous venue with an incredible orchestra was an amazing experience.
“I feel really honoured to have been invited back to conduct the Camerata Salzburg at the 2013 Salzburg Festival and I feel very privileged to be invited to perform at such a prestigious event."
He added: "The conducting opportunities at The University of Manchester are unrivalled anywhere else in the UK - the chance to have so much contact time with ensembles with the guidance of expert teaching is fundamental to developing skills required to stand in front of musicians with confidence."
Dr Rebecca Herissone, Head of Music at The University of Manchester, said: “We are absolutely delighted the department’s current and former conducting students are having such an impact internationally, and that we have been able to create an environment that has helped them break into this highly competitive career.
“Both of these young conductors have enjoyed the unique opportunities available to student conductors in Manchester.
“The combination of tuition and guidance, together with significant opportunities to conduct a wide range of orchestras and ensembles in very diverse repertoires is unrivalled in an undergraduate context.”
Mark Heron said “Given their age, Duncan and Jamie’s achievements are unparalleled, and credit must go to the music department at Manchester for having the vision to create an environment in which their undoubted natural ability has been able to develop so rapidly.
“Of course, having such talented conducting students has a very positive impact on the quality of music-making on offer to all of the students who play in the University orchestras and ensembles.”
Written By The Wagnerian on Tuesday 8 May 2012 | 6:40:00 pm
Would you like all of the latest Wagner related news viewable in Facebook (or have your time-line spammed as our continuous posts keep appearing - depending on how you look at it)?
The Dutchman may be one of Wagner’s most “accessible” works,
especially for those coming to him for the first time. While it represents the beginning
of his more mature work, it is still recognisably “operatic” in form. Add to
this it is, for Wagner, short in duration, it contains a small number of
characters to keep track of, its story is linear with few of the expositional “stops”
that seem to bother many people about Wagner - indeed dramatically it moves
forward with some momentum. Of equal
importance, with the rise of neo-gothic and urban fantasy, its themes are familiar
to nearly everyone, especially younger opera goers – unlike those of Parsifal,
or Lohengrin for example. If ever there
was a Wagner opera whose story needs no (or at the most, little altering) then
it is the Dutchman. Update it? Sure why not – if you feel the need. Minimalist
staging, Jungian staging, feminist/neo feminist staging? Go on then - if it sounds
interesting. But a re-write? Have the
text say one thing while the action on stage is in direct conflict? Change the
ending completely? Create an “interpretation”
that simply cannot be supported by the text or any reading of said text? Surely,
like all of Wagner’s work, there is enough going on under the surface that
makes such a move redundant? Of course,
this has never stopped an opera director, who - rather than go off and learn to
write their own - decide to completely “rewrite” someone else’s work. And
so we come to Kent’s Flying Dutchman, for whatever it might be it is certainly not Wagner’s
– in any of its versions. As Ann Pickard (AP) in the Independent puts it:
Written By The Wagnerian on Saturday 5 May 2012 | 6:13:00 pm
Given the shortage of good heldentenors in the international arena at the moment, it should come as little surprise that the internet is (to use another cliche) "awash" with questions as to his wellbeing. With that in mind perhaps any statement from Kaufmann is worth mentioning. His official website now contains the following:
"Dear friends,
I am very sorry that due to illness I had to cancel both Met
performances of Die Walkuere. Thank you for all your good wishes, and I
look forward to singing for you again soon. Jonas Kaufmann"
Not much, but there you have it. So, in the meantime, why not watch this:
Adam Klein will step in as Loge tonight (5/52012) replacing Stefan Margita who is ill
Kleine debuted at the Met as a boy soprano singing Yniold in Pelléas et Mélisande in 1972. His debut as a tenor for the MET came in 2001 as Count Elemer in Arabella. He is however, no new comer to Loge as he has previously sung the role at the Indianapolis Opera.
As we get ready for the first night of the WNO revival of Yannis Kokkos' Tristan und Isolde, I thought a photo preview might be called for - well, you know me and Tristan und Isolde. All images from the 2006 run and credited to WNO/Bill Cooper.(Clicking on an image will bring up a larger version)
Sung in German with English surtitles (Welsh in Wales Millennium Centre) First night 19 May 2012.
Written By The Wagnerian on Friday 4 May 2012 | 4:40:00 am
Fulham Opera's Wotan, Ian Wilson-Pope, is providing an unique opportunity for Wagnerians over at the "Ring Cycle micro site" as he takes us through - week by week - how he works on developing and preparing for the role of Wotan in their complete Ring Cycle. From" finding the character", to recordings and performers to whom he turns for inspiration, to the rehearsal method, to how one remembers that much German text!. This provides an unique insight into a process that none Wagner, or indeed opera performers, rarely get to see.
Reprinted below is part two: an insight to Ian's thoughts about who Wotan is, and how he develops throughout the course of the Ring. You can continue to read his insights each week by bookmarking the link below. And shortly, we will have an interview with Wotan himself.
Last week I mapped out the role and gave some background on the musical pitfalls of a role of this size. This week I am thinking about the character of Wotan.
Of course, Wotan is really a much bigger role than he appears in “Die Walküre”, if you think about the other two operas he appears in, “Das Rheingold” and “Siegfried”. In learning each role separately, we gain more of an idea of where he has come from, as his character changes in each of the operas. In “Das Rheingold” for instance, he seems full of his own self-importance, slightly immature, vain, arrogant and also knowing that he ought to be doing the “right thing” but not doing so… In “Die Walküre”, we meet a man whose earlier actions are about to catch up with him, with quite catastrophic results. He’s still quite sure of himself (the Gods are now firmly established in Valhalla, and Wotan has subjugated all the races on earth: giants; dwarves and men), but he’s now concerned with how he can put right what he did (or didn’t) do in “Das Rheingold”.
A bit of filler for those of you not so familiar with the story. Having promised his wife’s sister Freya (Goddess of Love) as payment to the giants Fasolt and Fafner in exchange for them building him Valhalla, Wotan is tricked by Loge into finding an alternative: Alberich the Nibelung dwarf’s gold, which he cursed love to obtain from the river Rhine and the Rhinemaidens. From this gold Alberich made a magic ring with the power to rule the world, and this too, Wotan tricked Alberich into giving him, but the giants then demanded this as part of their payment. Warned by the ancient earth goddess Erda to flee the curse Alberich placed on the ring when Wotan tricked him, he reluctantly gives it to the giants, and Freya is restored to the Gods. Alberich is building up an army to gain back the ring and destroy the Gods, and having sought out Erda and learned of the end of the Gods, Wotan now seeks to ensure that Alberich should never get the ring back, for if so he would destroy everything Wotan has created. But he’s now stuck in a dilemma: Wotan cannot take the ring from Fafner, (who slew his own brother and now lives as a dragon in the forest), as the ring and all the gold was payment to the giant for building Valhalla. So, he needs a free hero to kill Fafner and take the ring. But, he cannot create a free hero, because everything he creates is part of himself, therefore a slave to Wotan. He deceives himself that Siegmund, his son by a mortal woman will be this free hero, but when his wife Fricka demands justice for the marriage vows of Hunding, (who is married to Sieglinde, Siegmunds twin – and the twins have eloped as lovers!), he has to concede that Siegmund can never be that free hero.
So, in “Die Walküre”, Wotan is torn between wanting to make amends for his past deeds, but being unable to put right what he did, and then paying a very high price for both: the death of his son, Siegmund, and the anguished separation from his favourite Valkyrie daughter Brünnhilde, whom he instructs initially to fight for Siegmund, but after his fight with Fricka, has to recind this command in favour of Hunding. Brünnhilde, on seeing Siegmund and the love he has for Sieglinde, decides to pursue Wotan’s original wishes, and tries to protect him. Wotan has to intervene, and Siegmund is killed by Hunding. He then has to punish Brünnhilde for disobeying his commands. He decides to cast her out of the Gods, as a mortal woman she will belong to the first man who finds her. Begging him not to bring such dread shame on her, (and him), she persuades him to finally agree to protect her with magic fire, that only the free hero (who she knows will be Siegmund and Sieglinde’s child, Siegfried) can penetrate.
In this opera, Wotan’s tragedy is revealed. He could have easily averted all this strife, dilemma, and agony by returning the Ring to the Rhinemaidens, who would have cleansed it of Alberich’s curse. In trying to find the character of Wotan, it isn’t about thinking of him as a “God”, but rather as a man! Fallible, and totally human. The emotions go from complete tenderness and elation to terrible despair, rage, bitterness, sorrow, anguish, and almost violence. He’s in a terrible position, having made deceitful bargains and his guilt now brings him to a state of impotence. Only some other “agent” can avert the foretold downfall of the Gods, for Wotan cannot do this himself. He’s also a father; not only of Brünnhilde, but her eight Valkyrie sisters as well as Siegmund and Sieglinde. Psychologically, it’s a massive journey, and one that happens in the main throughout the first two scenes of Act II, as he is confronted with his own lies by his wife, and then reflects on how he came to be in this position. This is the reason why the monologue is so vitally important in the opera, it fills in some of the gaps between the events of “Das Rhinegold” and “Die Walküre”, but it also looks towards the end of the whole cycle. In it, we understand the agonising pain the events of “Das Rheingold” cause him, and how he is unable to attone for his actions. As Wagner himself put it: Wotan has to learn to die.
There’s no single tool one can use to find the essence of this character, other than reading the text through and through, understanding the words Wagner himself wrote, and by reading as much background as can be obtained in books and other reference materials, and this is not a quick process to go through. It takes a long time to assimilate this complex character, and understand where Wagner was going with him. Along with learning the music, one has to be constantly thinking about the character, and his interactions with other characters. Next week I’ll discuss how I use CD and DVD recordings in the early stages to familiarise myself with both the drama and the music.
To continue reading go here: Fulham Opera: Ring Blog
Written By The Wagnerian on Thursday 3 May 2012 | 9:04:00 pm
It’s safe to say that no opera production in modern times has created as much buzz and controversy as Robert Lepage’s $16 million, high-tech extravaganza Ring Cycle.
Metropolitan Opera general director Peter Gelb put not only his own career, but pretty much the fate of his whole, storied company on the line to make this happen. And famed Canadian director Lepage admits he had no idea what he was doing when he accepted the job.
It’s a high-stakes gamble that filmmaker Susan Froemke has captured in all of its breast-plate-and-spear glory in a two-hour documentary that has as many hair-raising, stomach-churning moments as a ride on Wonderland’s new Leviathan.
Wagner’s Dream, which screens on Monday as a prelude to four live, HD broadcasts from the Met to cinemas around the world of composer Richard Wagner’s full Ring of the Nibelung cycle, remarkably captures every salient detail of this crazy ride.
From wooden models in Lepage’s Quebec City workshop to the final curtain on the first performance of Götterdämmerung, the final opera in the cycle, no twist is left unexplored.
You don’t have to be an opera fan to appreciate the complexity of the massive set of turning wooden slats that are also home to video projections, acrobats and singers.
It is like seeing Peter Jackson’s over-the-top Lord of the Rings brought to the opera stage, but with better music
We see Lepage and his crew trying to actually make the 90,000-pound, computer-controlled monster, nicknamed The Machine, work properly. We get a clear sense of Gelb’s frayed nerves as glitch upon glitch piles up before the first dress rehearsal.
We witness the sheer terror on the faces of the Rhine Maidens when they realize that they will swim suspended above the stage, as a massive platform rotates under their feet.
We can collectively gasp as soprano Deborah Voigt, this production’s heroic Brünhilde, misses a singing leap on the treacherous set, falls flat on her face — and doesn’t miss a note.
And we can marvel at the sheer collective force of will that has an army of stagehands in blackout costumes make all the stuff of theatrical magic happen with split-second timing, while the handsomely suited and coiffed audience sits serenely in the gilded opera house.
"A lot of the guys I grew up with on the south side of Niles, they
didn't understand what I was doing. I didn't really understand what I
was doing, either."
From Niles to the Met Opera star to speak in Warren
He was a kid from Niles unsure of his direction, a guy who worked his way through school in Macali's grocery store in the Great East Plaza.
Flash forward to 2008 at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. That same kid stands on stage taking bows as the curtain falls on Richard Wagner's opera "Tristan und Isolde." He sang the role of Tristan.
Gary Lehman recalls that it was both "my house debut and role debut the same evening, with James Levine in the pit, a legend, and up on the stage some of the greatest singers. You just sort of go, 'Holy crap, what just happened here?'
"It was just one of those out-of-body experiences. You're up till 5 in the morning with a performance high."
Lehman repeated the role with the Mariinsky Opera, St. Petersburg, Russia, in June 2008, with Leipzig Opera in Leipzig, Germany, in January 2009, and gave concert performances with London's Philharmonia Orchestra throughout Europe in August and September 2010.
Further Wagner roles have been Siegmund in "Die Walkure," also at the Met, and a recording of the title role in "Parsifal."
Now considered one of the world's premiere heldentenor repertoire singers, he said his rise to prominence can be directly traced to growing up in Niles.
"I'm sort of like this area. I consider myself more of a blue-collar singer," Lehman said. "You learn the value of an honest, hard day's work. This is how I always approached my singing."
Lehman will take the stage May 15 at Packard Music Hall, not in an opera but as the third guest in the Tribune Chronicle's "It All Started Here" speaker series. He will discuss his career, growing up in Trumbull County and will perform a selection of arias with a pianist.
"I had a great support system here,'' Lehman, a 1982 McKinley graduate, said recently. ''My high school choir director at Niles McKinley (Michael Weiher) was instrumental in pushing me to go into college and go into music. He put me in touch with professor David Starkey, and he took me under his wing. He told me, 'You have the talent to make a career out of this' and put me on the path and opened doors that I didn't know existed."
Still, opera singer isn't the norm for a kid from Niles.
"I got some ribbing from a lot of the guys I worked with at Macali's," he said. "One time, a bunch of these guys came to see me at a show at YSU. They had the Penguin Pub back then and they hit the pub before the show. So those eight or 10 guys sat up front in the center row, and every time I came on stage, they were whooping and hollering the whole show."
It's not exactly the usual demeanor at an opera, he said. "But you always knew they were pulling for you, too."
"A lot of the guys I grew up with on the south side of Niles, they didn't understand what I was doing. I didn't really understand what I was doing, either."
Written By The Wagnerian on Wednesday 2 May 2012 | 11:00:00 pm
Still not better it seems, Kaufmann is unavailable for Mondays performance. After Frank van Aken rushed in at the last minute on Saturday it is now the turn of Stuart Skelton. Which doesn't leave him much time to recover from performing Erik in ENO's new Dutchman in London on the Saturday! Hardest working Heldentenor of the moment? Possibly.
But it must be said, with the spate of bad luck the MET is having at the moment it makes you wonder if they should just give the ring back to the Rhinemaidens now?
It has been brought to my attention that following the "make over" the search facility here had not been working very well. Well, after getting out my rarely used tool kit I have hit it with a rusty hammer (borrowed from Mime) and now all seems well. Sorry for that.
"...I don't see how you can deny the Will, as you are, by definition, the Will itself" Frederick Copleston
Philosopher Bryan Magee, is among many many other things, the author of two books on Wagner: Aspects Of Wagner (one of the best and most concise introductions to Wagner) and the probably even better known: "Wagner and Philosophy" (known in the USA as "The Tristan Chord".
The following is from is 80's BBC TV series "The Great Philosophers" wherein he discusses Schopenhauer with Frederick Copleston
Last year brought us the premiere of one of the most unusual Rheingolds in Wagner history: Fulham Opera's fully staged performance in a church - to piano accompaniment and with a cast of professionals. At the time I interviewed Fulham's Musical Director Ben Woodward (see here). During this we discussed the possibility of a full cycle in 2013. This was then later confirmed earlier this year and will take place during summer 2013. We also noted that Walkure would premiere this year (dates below). However, we can now also reveal that the Wagner Society are promoting a special one day "rerun" this year of Rheingold on Sunday 24th June (details below and tickets available from the Wagner Society). Also, as they gear-up for two full cycles in 2013 there will be a "half cycle" in September this year (again details below).
In the run-up to this, the Wagnerian will bring a number of "special features" on this project over the next few months including: A review summery of last years Rheingold, a further interview with Ben Woodward, a god and goddess speak and other items. In the meantime, check the links below and then book a ticket for a very extraordinary Ring Cycle.
DIE WALKURE:
22, 23, 25
and 27 May 2012.
Cast Siegmund: TBC | Sieglinde: Laura Hudson | Hunding: Oliver Hunt | Wotan: Ian Wilson-Pope | Brunnhilde: Zoe South | Fricka: TBC | Helmwige: Janet Fischer | Gerhilde: Lisajane Ellis | Ortlinde: Alexa Mason | Waltraute: Jemma Brown | Siegrune: Sara Wallander-Ross | Grimgerde: Nuria Luterbacher | Rossweisse: Rhonda Browne | Schwertleite: Cathy Bell
June 24 2012 CAST: Woglinde: Zoë South / Wellgunde: Alexa Mason Flosshilde & Erda: Sara Gonzalez Alberich: Robert Presley / Fricka: Elizabeth Russo Wotan: Ian Wilson - Pope / Freia: Jennie Witton Fasolt: Oliver Hunt / Fafner: John Woods Froh: Stuart Laing / Donner: Dario Dugandzic Loge: Brian Smith- Walters / Mime: Ian Massa - Harris
As part of Wagner's bicentenary in 2013, Boston Lyric Opera will premiere, for the first time in the USA, the 1841 critical edition of Wagner's Der Fliegende Holländer. The 1841 edition was written prior to the revision that premiered in Dresden in 1842 and which moved the location from Scotland to Norway, changed a number of the characters names and changed the opera from a single to three act drama. More as we receive it but below is the release from BLO.
US premiere of the 1841 critical edition
An evocative exploration of love as redemption and escape concludes
BLO’s 2012/2013 Season. In honor of Wagner’s bicentennial year, the
Company has selected the original 1841 edition of The FlyingDutchman, set in a 19th century Scottish fishing village, as the musical foundation for its new production.
Michael Cavanagh directs andBritish soprano Allison Oakes makes
her BLO debut as Senta, the romantic heroine, who in her desperation to
escape her constrictive and claustrophobic life, conjures up the
mythical figure of The Dutchman. Also making their BLO debuts in Dutchman are tenor Chad Shelton as Erik and bass-baritone Alfred Walker as The Dutchman. New sets and costumes by John Conklin mirror Wagner’s dramatic vision of the uncontrollable force of the sea.
Written By The Wagnerian on Tuesday 1 May 2012 | 8:25:00 pm
Alberich may not be the only one being bullied by the "Gods"
The English speaking opera houses have often had a strained relationship with opera bloggers - both independent and now it would seem professional bloggers. Last year the MET demanded that Brad Wilber take down his "MET Futures" blog, which had, for around fifteen years, published what were often very reliable rumours on future MET productions not yet officially announced (For more details on this, see this article over at: Observer.Com). Prior to that, the owner of the long established London based blog "Intermezzo" had received a legal notice from the ROH telling her to remove photographs of their productions - an intervention so bungled by the ROH that it lead to coverage in the UK's "broadsheets" (See this Guardian article for more details). One would assume from the negative publicity generated by these two events alone, both opera houses would have have learnt their lesson, be a bit more sensitive and even attempted to work with bloggers (as most, other houses, - with one or two exceptions - do and who in turn receive what is ultimately free publicity) but alas this seems not to be the case.
Over at Parterre.com the somewhat legendary New York opera blogger, "La Cieca" is reporting (and as originally reported at the New York Times) that the MET have had a blog pulled at NY Metro radio station WQXR. This blog (by a professional critic in this instance - Olivia Giovetti) was, according to La Cieca:
"... in large part a rebuttal to Gelb’s interview with Anthony Tommasini, which in turn was transparently a response to the Alex Ross‘s harsh critique of Lepage’s production in The New Yorker" (The full post can be read here.).
It seems that the MET's own general manager, Peter Gelb had personally intervened with the management at WQXR.
Although the blog in question has now been removed, Parterre Box has made it available as as a PDF which can be viewed here.
First the conductor, now Tannhäuser has pulled out of Sebastian Baumgarten's "controversial" production, as Lars Cleveland is replaced by Torsten Kerl
Little information is available but a statement from Festival spokesman Peter Emmerich reads: "Lars Cleveland has been released from his contract at his own request,"
As already reported, conductor Thomas Hengelbrock withdrew from the production earlier this this year to be replaced by Christian Thielemann.
Written By The Wagnerian on Monday 30 April 2012 | 8:39:00 pm
Cast
Daland: Clive Bayley
Senta : Orla Boylan
Erik: Stuart Skelton
Mary: Susanna Tudor-Thomas
Der Steuermann: Robert Murray
Der Holländer: James Creswell
Conductor: Edward Gardner
Director: Jonathan Kent
Set Designs: Paul Brown
Costumes: Paul Brown
Lighting: Mark Henderson
Written By The Wagnerian on Sunday 29 April 2012 | 7:44:00 pm
Alex Ross has just posted the following:
"The 'Liebestod' as Fremstad sang it was a paean to annihilation," Samuel Chotzinoff said of her legendary Isolde under Mahler, at the Met in 1908. "By her rapturous otherworldly smile as she gazed at her dead lover, she illuminated the hidden idea of the story — that it was not King Mark who had stood between her and Tristan, but life itself."
Continue reading at: The Rest Is Noise
Which reminded me of this youtube video:
Recorded 5 November 1913. Unidentified orchestra and conductor
ORF is presently broadcasting the Thielemann lead Vienna State Opera production of the Ring Cycle from 2011. They began Friday with Rheingold, continued Saturday with Walkure These are now available at ORF on-demand for the next seven days. The cycle will continue with Siegfried on Tuesday 1 May and conclude on Saturday 5 May.
To listen click either link which will launch the ORF mediaplayer
Albert Dohmen (Wotan), Markus Eiche (Donner), Herbert Lippert (Froh), Adrian Eröd (Loge), Janina Baechle (Fricka), Alexandra Reinprecht (Freia), Anna Larsson (Erda), Tomasz Konieczny (Alberich), Wolfgang Schmidt (Mime), Lars Woldt (Fasolt), Ain Anger (Fafner), Ileana Tonca (Woglinde), Ulrike Helzel (Wellgunde) und Zoryana Kushpler (Flosshilde)
Orchester der Wiener Staatsoper, Conducted: Christian Thielemann
(1. November 2011 in der Wiener Staatsoper)
Die Walküre
Christopher Ventris (Siegmund), Eric Halfvarson (Hunding), Albert Dohmen (Wotan), Waltraud Meier (Sieglinde), Katarina Dalayman (Brünnhilde), Janina Baechle (Fricka), Donna Ellen (Helmwige), Ildikó Raimondi (Gerhilde), Alexandra Reinprecht (Ortlinde), Aura Twarowska (Waltraute), Ulrike Helzel (Siegrune), Monica Bohinec (Grimgerde), Zoryana Kushpler (Schwertleite), Juliette Mars (Roßweiß)
Orchester der Wiener Staatsoper; Conducted: Christian Thielemann
(6. November 2011)
A great, blond bear of an Australian, with a voice of unparalleled beauty and strength, Stuart Skelton has made his career playing the man who is loved too little, too late or not at all.
Sailing to his death in Peter Grimes, stumbling into the arms of the woman whose beauty he has destroyed in Jenufa, taking his pleasure with another man's wife in Wozzeck and Kat'a Kabanova, predestined to suffer in Die Walküre and Parsifal, he is a compelling presence. Last night, he will have watched his fiancée leave him for a ghost in Jonathan Kent's new production of The Flying Dutchman. This morning, however, he will be enjoying a leisurely breakfast with his sweetheart, Sarah, who writes on opera for the Australian press, and the most well-connected, hard-partying, social media-savvy plush-toy mascot in classical music: Pigmund the Rock Pig.
Chowing down on a tuna sandwich between rehearsals in a sinister, strip-lit room in Three Mills Studios, Skelton, who likes the odd cigar, is pleased as punch to be back in London, where the walk from the stage door of the Coliseum to his apartment in Southwark lasts "exactly one Cohiba long". He flew in from New York less than 24 hours earlier but doesn't seem jet-lagged. Far from melancholy or brooding, he is in his own words "pretty gregarious". (Bryn Terfel is a drinking buddy.) A foodie and amateur mixologist, Skelton meticulously documents the development of his cocktail recipes. When he makes a Negroni, he squeezes orange zest over a lighted match so that the oil puddles, just so, on the cocktail. His recipe for key lime pie Martini stipulates crushing Graham crackers "to the consistency of sand" using a bottle of Grey Goose vodka as a rolling pin. Is he a bit of a control freak? "I am a bit nuts," he admits. "I also hang my shirts left to right in colour order."
Written By The Wagnerian on Saturday 28 April 2012 | 11:45:00 pm
Should be available for the next 7 days or so. While there are always a number of options from various radio stations I find RTE Lyric in Ireland a good source.
Clicking the link below will open RTE's online player. Give it 30 seconds or so for the broadcast to start. As always, you may need to disable any popup blocker or allow this one link.
The dying Wagner reflects on his unfinished Buddhist opera, and is reconciled with his wife. Martyn Brabbins conducts a superb British cast, BBC Symphony Orchestra ensemble and IRCAM electronics.
For decades, Wagner pondered an opera on a Buddhist theme. Starting from the sketches he left behind, Harvey has built a rich operatic fantasy. It mingles scenes from Wagner's domestic life with the myth of Prakriti, whose love for the Buddhist monk Ananda is at first thwarted, but finally reaches a chaste fulfilment.
The UK premiere of Jonathan Harvey's opera was recorded during the Total Immersion Weekend at the Barbican in London in January. Presented by Tom Service with Professor Jonathan Cross.
Jonathan Harvey: Wagner Dream (UK premiere).
Simon Bailey (bass) ..... Vairochana
Claire Booth (soprano) ..... Prakriti
Richard Angas (bass) ..... Old Brahmin
Andrew Staples (tenor) ..... Ananda
Roderick Williams (bass baritone) ..... Buddha
Hilary Summers (mezzo) ..... Mother of Prakriti
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Gilbert Nouno & Franck Rossi (IRCAM) electronics
Martyn Brabbins (conductor).
Tom Service: This, for both of you, is your first professional Wagner production. Is it a good place for Wagner-virgins in the audience to start?
Jonathan Kent: On the simplest level, it's a fable – the story of the ghostly Dutchman and how Senta dies for her love for him. Surprisingly, there's actually quite a small opera encased in all this vast music, because it's really about just four people: the Dutchman and Senta, her father Daland, and former lover Erik. That simplicity makes it a good way to start with Wagner. And the experience of hearing the piece is just a single, headlong thrust – a white-knuckle ride. Early works by geniuses such as Wagner, or, say, Chekhov's Seagull, fascinate me – these pieces have a rawness, written before their creators had the sophistication of being completely in charge of the medium.
Edward Gardner: I've always loved the heightened fairytale of the story too. And musically, I love composers' beginnings. This piece is really more a beginning for Wagner than any of the operas he'd written previously, like Rienzi.There's a question with Dutchman as to which version you do. We were convinced that it has to be the very first, from 1841, the one that is cast in a single sweep, without an interval. That way, you hear the influence of Beethoven and Weber, especially in the overture. But then the music changes to become arrestingly empty with the first entrance of the Dutchman himself, and suddenly we're somewhere else completely.
TS: Much of the scariness of the sea music in the opera was inspired by Wagner's own experience of a terrifying, stormy sea-journey he made in 1839 with his wife when they were escaping his creditors in Riga and fleeing to London: they even had to shelter in Norwegian fjords before they made it to England. Does all that leave its mark in the music?
EG: I love the terror of the music in the Dutchman, there's a sustaining tide throughout the whole piece. The pacing of it is very cunning: the first act just sweeps you along, in act two there's more space for the characters to develop, and then the third act is just a thrust to the end. It's a visceral experience. And it's completely knackering for the string players! I had no idea before the orchestral rehearsals, but the music has this kind of nervous energy that's incredibly exhilarating. Some pieces leave you drained when you work on them, but this one just makes you slightly manic.
JK: Yes, we're high on it! It's astonishing.
EG: I think Wagner does cut a couple of corners, though, when it comes to the drama. That description of the bond between the Dutchman and Senta – it's very hard to get a sense of that, don't you think, Jonathan?
JK: The way we've done it, it doesn't matter who the Dutchman really is. The point is, he's an escape for Senta, a respite from her own life. Whether it's a genuine love for him that she feels is another question; he is the embodiment of her fantasy of escape. The Dutchman is in eternal exile on the seas – a curse for invoking Satan – and he'll only be freed if he can find someone to love him faithfully. But Senta is also an exile of sorts in her own community, and out of necessity she focuses on this fantasy figure. Our production is a battle between the world of the imagination and the banal reality of our lives. So Senta's world is contemporary, while the Dutchman and the crew of his ghost ship are in 19th-century dress.
The story operates on one level as a ghost story, but it's interesting to penetrate the psychological roots of the myth – the Ancient Mariner, the Wandering Jew. What I love about Wagner's treatment of it is that it's not preoccupied with the crime – the Dutchman's invoking of Satan – it's preoccupied with the punishment. That's what makes it much more interesting, to me, than, say, a Faust or a Don Juan.
Continue Reading: ENO's new Flying Dutchman: 'It will be a white-knuckle ride'
It never rains but it pours for the METs Ring Cycle, so much so, it is sometimes very difficult to keep up. But one could do worse than Van Aken
Frank van Aken will make his Met debut as Siegmund in Die Walküre at
todays matinee performance, replacing Jonas Kaufmann who is ill.
Van Aken has sung Siegmund with the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in
Düsseldorf and at the Frankfurt Opera where he has been a member of the
company since 2006. The Dutch tenor sang the title role of Tannhäuser at
the Bayreuth Festival in 2007 and made his Vienna State Opera debut in
the same part in 2010. Other Wagner roles in his repertory include the
title roles in Tristan und Isolde, Parsifal, and Lohengrin, and Erik in
Der Fliegende Holländer.
He has also of course previously performed with Westbroek on more than one occasion, including Walkure (see videos below)
Frank van Aken as Siegmund: Oper Frankfurt
Eva Maria Westbroek and Frank Van Aken in Cavalleria Rusticana
Available at an number of different online sources (see second link below for most options). Starts 3:00 PM GMT. I have linked straight to BBC Radio 3 below. This time with Fabio Luisi. conducting:
I have updated the contact email address. Should you so wish, and don't be shy, contact us with news of: Wagner related events, books, performances, news, etc..
While the ROH's recent revival of Graham Vick’s Meistersinger was not an unanimous success among critics, there was certainly one thing that they were all in agreement about: the outstanding performance of Toby Spence's David (See the Wagnerians ROH review roundup). Comments included:
"As it is, I thought he effectively walked off with the whole show."
"Toby
Spence’s longer experience of singing David told: his breezily
confident charm almost stole the show, leaving me wondering whether he
might be ripe to step into Walther’s shoes"
"Toby Spence and Heather Shipp are as good as it gets as David and Magdalene" "Toby
Spence challenges him for the tenorial honours as a David of soaring
tone and impeccable youthful vitality - what a roll this artist is on
the moment".
It thus comes as a shock to discover, as announced today, that Spence was diagnosed the morning after his first performance as having thyroid cancer.
Said Spence today: "My cancer was diagnosed the morning after I'd been on stage for the first performance of The Royal Opera's production of Die Meistersinger Von Nürnberg. It was a shock, especially with the cancer being so close to my vocal cords. The surgery has been a great success. My thyroid cancer was readily treatable and I have been in the hands of a first class medical team at University College London Hospital. They are delighted with my progress since the operation. Although I have had to allow time for the natural healing process to take its course, I am encouraged by my progress so far and feel hopeful that I will return to full vocal strength in the near future. I look forward to being back on stage before long, and am grateful to all those who have shown me support and who have sent me their good wishes."
We join those hoping for a speedy return to the stage of this fine performer.
Written By The Wagnerian on Friday 27 April 2012 | 11:19:00 pm
It is hard to imagine that this sort of thing was far more common for Wagner performers.
WHEN the scheduled tenor for the English National Opera’s upcoming production of Richard Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman, Australian Julian Gavin, fell sick, the ENO made a trans-Atlantic call to another Australian, operatic star Stuart Skelton.
No worries that Skelton was already booked to sing the role of Siegmund in Die Walküre on 13 April 2012 with none other than the New York Metropolitan Opera.
With a bit of flexibility from The Met, Skelton was able to notch up some more frequent flyer points and save the day for the ENO.
“I’m able to be here in London for opening night and a few performances before I fly back to New York, I think, for 48 hours, on the 5th for a performance on 7th,” Skelton recounts, “before I fly back to London on the 8th for a performance on the 12th.”
Already in talks with opera companies for 2016, Skelton is clearly a musician in demand.
After putting aside his undergraduate economic textbooks in the early 2000s, Skelton won a prestigious opera scholarship to study in the United States. The accolades and the professional invitations have been plentiful ever since.
Successes in major operatic venues across Europe, the USA and Asia and appearances with classical musical legends including Daniel Barenboim have cemented Skelton’s status as a world-class singer.
Now living in Florida, Skelton has made a name for himself as what the opera buffs know as a “heldentenor”. With powerful, booming voices that can reach the back of opera halls the size of hangars, heldentenors are usually associated with the operas of German giants Wagner and Richard Strauss.
London has been a constant venue of success and Skelton has not missed an opera season in the Old Dart’s capital since his debut with the ENO in 2006. Recent performances in Peter Grimes (2009) and Parsifal(2011) were greeted with unbridled acclaim.
“It’s a company and a city that have been incredibly kind to me,” Skelton says of London and of the English National Opera. “Australia will always be home, make no mistake, but this is my home company.”
For this season’s production of Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman Skelton will reprise the role of Eric, one that he has already interpreted almost 90 times.
Eric is the loser of a highly unusual love triangle. His long-term girlfriend, Senta, falls in love with The Flying Dutchman, the cursed captain of ghoulish schooner akin to the Black Pearl in Pirates of the Carribean.Senta’s love and death releases The Flying Dutchman from the devil’s curse that had him sail the seas forever.
Eric, understandably, is far from pleased that the woman he expected to marry runs off with a cobweb-ridden phantom.
But playing Eric as a sobbing pantywaist is what Skelton tries to avoid.
“He is sort of a nice guy who finished last, to a certain extent,” Skelton explains. “But I think it’s something I try to avoid, turning him into what the Germans would call a Weichei or ‘soft egg.’ He’s not a whiner. He’s not a mummy’s boy. When he comes on, he’s confrontational with Senta. ‘Hey, what they hell are you doing?’ he says to her.”
And despite almost making a century of Eric appearances, Skelton’s Eric is far from getting stale.
“It’s not a difficult job to stay fresh in it because there are so many different things each time,” says Skelton.
“I’m a firm believer that all of the really great composers give you everything you could possibly ever need in the score, more than you could possibly use, to make a successful and compelling character.”
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