CAST:
Juha
Uusitalo
(Wotan)
Ilya
Bannik (Donner)
Germán
Villar (Froh)
John
Daszak (Loge)
Matti
Salminen (Fasolt)
Stephen
Milling (Fafner)
Franz-Josef
Kapellmann (Alberich)
Gerhardt
Siegel (Mime)
Anna Larsson (Fricka)
Sabina von Walther (Freia)
Christa Mayer (Erda)
Silvia Vázquez
(Woglinde)
Ann-Katrin Naidu (Wellgunde)
Hannah Esther Minutillo
(Flosshilde)
PRODUCTION TEAM:
Conductor:
Zubin Mehta
Director:
Carlos Padrissa
and
La
Fura dels Baus
Sets:
Roland Olbeter
Running time:
2 hrs. 47 min. with no intermission
Sung in German with English
subtitles
Photos:
© Tato Baeza
 |
Performed at the
Palau de les Arts "Reina Sofia"
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 blends 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. |
