Intermezzo

Thielemann takes over Bayreuth Tannhauser

Christian Thielemann is to conduct Tannhäuser at this year's Bayreuth Festival after last year's conductor Thomas Hengelbrock failed to sign a new contract with Festival management.

The presence of Germany's most popular conductor on the podium will undoubtedly reduce the risk of embarrassingly empty seats for Sebastian Baumgarten's 'controversial' (i.e.'crap') production, which debuted last year.

Thielemann is also down for a brand new production of Der fliegende Holländer.  If he carries on with both next year, then the addition of Rienzi to his schedule will make him one of the busiest Bayreuth conductors since Heinz Tietjen in1934.

Free tickets for Bayreuth Festival

This year's new production of Tannhäuser at Bayreuth features an innovation more often seen in fringe theatre - an onstage audience.

These aren't actors or extras but actual punters. So just who are the lucky sods who got to watch the opera at close range?

Eco- Tannhauser opens Bayreuth Festival - in photos

The 2011 Bayreuth Festival opened last night with a new production of Tannhäuser directed by Sebastian Baumgarten and conducted by Thomas Hengelbrock.

Lars Cleveman took the title role, with Camilla Nylund as Elizabeth, Stephanie Friede as Venus, Guenther Groissböck as the Landgrave and Michael Nagy as Wolfram von Eschenbach.

The staging, according to Bloomberg's Catherine Hickley, "transposes Wartburg castle to an organic waste recycling plant and features a pregnant Venus living in a cage with giant tadpoles and furry, ape-like nymphs." In true Bayreuth style, it was expensively accoutred, extensively rehearsed, and greeted with a hail of boos at the end.

another man down in Tannhauser

At least it wasn't Christian Gerhaher this time. A bout of flu reduced Christof Fischesser to miming the role of Hermann in last night's Tannhäuser. Andrew Greenan (above, far right) sang it from the front corner, an acoustic sweet spot from which he could out-decibel even the massive Johan Botha.

It seems Fischesser hadn't passed his germies on - the rest of the cast sounded if anything even better than they did on opening night, and Semyon Bychkov once again drew a magnificent performance from the orchestra.

I still don't care for the visuals, but will admit Tim Albery deserves some credit for crafting the first ROH Wagner production in living memory free of unintentional titters. In a Radio 3 interview (listen here) he explains what he was attempting.

The opera itself is broadcast on Radio 3 on Christmas Day at 6pm.  
 
 

snow claims its first operatic victim

 
photo: Daily Mail

London may be plastered in snow, but the shows go on - all of them.  Christian Gerhaher got caught up in the travel chaos as he returned to Covent Garden from his Munich home, forcing him  to miss most of yesterday's Tannhäuser matinee. While his cover sang from the wings and a stage director walked the role, Gerhaher sat on a snow-bound Eurostar train. Luckily for an audience primed by universally ecstatic reviews, he reached the Royal Opera House in time for the third act.

Tannhauser at the Royal Opera House

Tannhäuser - Royal Opera House, 11 December 2010 (first night)

The Royal Opera House's publicity blurb describes Tannhäuser as "Wagner’s great battle of the sensual and the spiritual". But there's no sex and and barely any religion in Tim Albery's thoughtful but often perplexing new production. In their place is a drab tussle between grim and grimmer with a few class overtones tossed in. It's salvaged mainly by the inspired conducting of Semyon Bychkov and some splendid singing. 

new Royal Opera House Tannhauser in pictures

Tim Albery's new production of Tannhäuser opens at the Royal Opera House tonight.

In the title role we have Johan Botha, pictured in the chair in which he spends most of the opera. OK, so the camera adds 10 pounds, but where did the other extra 200 come from? Check overleaf to find out (and double click on photos to enlarge. If you dare.)

Tannhauser condensed

Jorge Bolet plays Liszt's transcription of Wagner's Tannhäuser Overture, from a CD called Bolet Rediscovered, which also includes more Liszt. It sounds slow to begin with but stick with it to see how immaculately Bolet judged the tempo relationships.

Royal Opera House winter season 2010-11

The Royal Opera House's winter season opens for general booking soon, and it's a bit more interesting than the dismal fare on offer in the autumn.

There are three new productions, the first of which is David McVicar's Adriana Lecouvreur. This opens on 18 November and will, we are promised, be set in period (late 18th century). The production has been built around Angela Gheorghiu in the title role, though the form book suggests you're more likely to see Ángeles Blancas Gulín, who also headlines the last few dates. Angela joins her co-star Jonas Kaufmann for a couple of concert performances in Berlin before hitting Covent Garden. Will they warm her up or tire her out? Who knows. They're joined by a solid-looking supporting cast, which includes Michaela Schuster, Olga Borodina and Alessandro Corbelli. Mark Elder conducts.

After last year's disappointing Dutchman, Tim Albery gets another crack at Wagner, this time with a new Tannhäuser, opening on 11 December. Semyon Bychkov conducts Johan Botha as Tannhäuser, Eva-Maria Westbroek as Elisabeth, Michaela Schuster as Venus, Christof Fischesser as Herrmann and Christian Gerhaher in his ROH debut as Wolfram. Gerhaher trained as a doctor before he took up singing, so Angela Gheorghiu won't have too far to go for her sick note.

Photos of set designs for Adriana Lecouvreur and Tannhäuser may be found at this link (page 37).

Leiser and Caurier's Il barbiere di Siviglia is revived from 18 January 2011. The cast is less starry than last time round, but Aleksandra Kurzak as Rosina, Levente Molnár as Figaro, and John Osborn and Luciano Botelho sharing the role of Count Almaviva should make it worth seeing.

Oddly, David McVicar's name is missing from the credits on the ROH website, but it's his Die Zauberflöte which is showing from 1 February. The main reason to revisit has to be the conductor - Sir Colin Davis. The cast includes Joseph Kaiser, Kate Royal, and Christopher Maltman, with Marina Rebeka (recently a highly-praised fill-in for la Gheorghiu) as Queen of the Night.

The final new production of the winter season, the world premiere of Mark-Anthony Turnage's Anna Nicole, opens on 17 February. Eva-Maria Westbroek's physical resemblance to Anna Nicole Smith is so uncanny it's almost a bonus that she's such one of the world's greatest sopranos too. A supporting cast which includes Alan Oke, Gerald Finley, Susan Bickley and Lore Lixenberg isn't bad news either. Pappano conducts, Richard Jones directs, and the ROH keenly draw attention to "extreme language, drug abuse and sexual content". It's priced to sell: £75 tops, with many seats under £30. Will Turnage dig further into the oeuvre of Beyonce Knowles for inspiration? Wait and see.

Vienna's new Tannhauser in photos

A new production of Tannhäuser und der Sängerkrieg auf Wartburg (to give it its full name) opens at Vienna's State Opera next week on 16 June.

Conducted by their incoming music director, Franz Welser-Möst (above), it's directed by that regie-est of Regisseurs, Claus Guth. The staid period costumes seen in the rehearsal photos though suggest anything but a controversial production. 

The high-powered cast includes Ain Anger as Hermann, Christian Gerhaher as Wolfram, Anja Kampe as Elisabeth, Michaela Schuster as Venus and Johan Botha as Tannhäuser. Gerhaher and Botha are also scheduled for Covent Garden's new Tim Albery Tannhäuser later in the year.

Check out the photos on the next page.