Uwe Eric Laufenberg’s Bayreuth take on Parsifal

By Zoltán Szabó, 31 July 2019

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Reviewed at Bayreuther Festspielhaus, Bayreuth on 30 July 2019

Wagner, Parsifal

Semyon Bychkov, Conductor

Uwe Eric Laufenberg, Director

Gisbert Jäkel, Set Designer

Jessica Karge, Costume Designer

Ryan McKinny, Amfortas

Günther Groissböck, Gurnemanz

Andreas Schager, Parsifal

Elena Pankratova, Kundry

Derek Welton, Klingsor

Wilhelm Schwinghammer, Titurel

Ji Yoon, First Flowermaiden / First Group

Mareike Morr, First Flowermaiden / Second Group, Second squire

Alexandra Steiner, Second Flowermaiden / First Group, First squire

Bele Kumberger, Second Flowermaiden / Second Group

Marie-Henriette Reinhold, Third Flowermaiden / First Group

Wiebke Lehmkuhl, Third Flowermaiden / Second Group

Martin Homrich, First knight of the Grail

Timo Riihonen, Second knight of the Grail

Paul Kaufmann, Third squire

Stefan Heibach, Fourth squire

Reinhard Traub, Lighting Designer

Gérard Naziri, Video

Richard Lorber, Dramaturgy

Bayreuth Festival Chorus

Bayreuth Festival Orchestra

Laufenberg’s Elektra a disappointment in Vienna

Jonathan Sutherland, 5th December

German theatre director Uwe Eric Laufenberg freely incorporates some of Stanley Kubrik’s horror story concepts into his Elektra, but in ignoring both Sophocles and Strauss, is a long way from shining.

***11

Bayreuth welcomes a new Parsifal

Matthew Rye, 2nd August

Uwe Eric Laufenberg sets his new staging of Wagner's final opera among the persecuted Christians of the contemporary Middle East – but avoids preaching.

****1

Götterdammerung or The Ring returns to the Rhine

Brian Angus, 17th May

With Götterdämmerung the Linz Ring came to a controversial conclusion with a graphic depiction of Siegfried violently raping a defenceless Brünnhilde, and Hagen entertaining his father Alberich, and his mother.

***11

The Linz Ring: Siegfried or Whither Wotan?

Brian Angus, 14th May

Rewarding performances by Matthäus Schmidlechner as Mime and Lars Cleveman in the title role, plus Elena Nebera as Brünnhilde, made Richard Wagner’s Siegfried at the Landestheater Linz a joy.

***11

Die Walküre or Wotan’s double dilemma

Brian Angus, 10th May

Some beautiful singing from Michael Bedjai as Siegmund and Brit-Tone Müller as Sieglinde set a high standard in this Landestheater Linz production of Richard Wagner’s Die Walküre.

*****

The Linz Ring begins: Das Rheingold

Brian Angus, 8th May

Gerd Grochowski made a stunning Wotan and Michael Bedjai a cheerful Loge in Landestheater Linz’s production of Das Rheingold.

***11

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Zoltán Szabó

Zoltán Szabó is a cellist and musicologist. Having migrated from his native Hungary to Australia in 1985, he worked with the Australian Chamber Orchestra in Sydney until 1991, when he became Principal Cello with Opera Australia. In 2017, he was awarded with a Doctor of Philosophy degree (PhD). Currently, he is teaching music history and musicology at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

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