From our friends up the street:
The Charles Theatre continues its Fall opera series this Sunday October 25th at noon (repeat screening on Tuesday October 27th at 6:30 pm.) with Wagner’s Die Walkure.
This production of Wagner’s epic second evening of the The Ring of The Niebelung comes to us from the spectacular new opera house in Valencia and the production is every bit as brilliant as the house itself.
Since I'm not operacentric, operasmart, or operainclined I'll let the good folks at The Charles tell the rest of the story:
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 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 Carlos Padrissa and his theater group La Fura dels Baus. The Barcelona-based Fura ble! nds music, dance, acrobatics and technology into unforgettable stage events of sometimes raw but always captivating power.
The Fura made its breakthrough in the classical establishment with its production of Berlioz's "La damnation de Faust" at the 1999 Salzburg Festival. The Fura's fertile visual fantasy and endless combinations of savvy video technology, lighting and props (often formed of human beings) are predestined for Wagner's visionary expressive world. Wagner's dream of a Gesamtkunstwerk becomes reality as this shape-shifting sequence of tableaux unfolds before our eyes: 3D computer projections that evoke computer games, organic structures built of athletic performers that recall the "Cirque du Soleil," and much more. In this production, "the visual codes of the digital era become elemental and dazzlingly employed means of narration" (Opernwelt).
Musically, the first two parts of Wagner's tetralogy – "Das Rheingold" and "Die Walküre" – are on a par with productions from historically more prestigious opera houses. Part Three, "Siegfried," was performed last June, and Part Four, "Götterdämmerung," is set for June 2009.
Legendary conductor Zubin Mehta leads world-class Wagner singers such as Peter Seiffert, Petra-Maria Schnitzer and Matti Salminen, and promising young talents that include Jennifer Wilson (Brünnhilde), John Daszak (Loge) and Juha Uusitalo (Wotan), whom the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung hailed as a new "Number one among the opera gods." Equally outstanding is the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana, an ensemble of top musicians hand-picked by Music Director Lorin Maazel.
Genießen. Und sagen sie mir die geschichte in einem kurzen absatz. Danke.
