Parsifal

Festival play in three acts, in German, with Hungarian and English surtitles

In Parsifal, his final music drama, Wagner embeds fear of the temptations of the world and sinful desires into a tale of redemption. The work is indeed a festival play for the stage rather than an opera. Many viewers – perhaps out of their own fears – criticised Wagner, who wrote both the libretto and the music, for what could be called the piece’s virtue and remarkable complexity, which is the personal tone with which he portrayed a religious theme combining notions of sacred and profane love. Designing the visual world of this new production directed by artistic director András Almási-Tóth will be Sebastian Hannak, who was also behind the look of Porgy and Bess and The Fairy Queen.