Performer: Josefine Weber

Die Walküre in Leipzig turns the family drama into a tragedy of fear and anxiety, with glimpse of hope at the end.

Canadian soprano Jennifer Maines as a demure Venus, and German soprano Josefine Weber as a chaste Elizabeth, were the outstanding singers at this Innsbruck performance of Tannhäuser.

Presenting Das Rheingold and Die Walküre in a single evening is audacious enough. To put on a Ring cycle in a week-end, you have to follow this by doing the same with Siegfried and Götterdämmerung, which requires something even more radical. Opéra de Dijon’s director Laurent Joyeux and dramaturg Stephen Sazio set themselves the task of cutting eight hours of music down to five.