The famous Spanish conductor Pablo Heras-Casado (La Valquiria, Das Rheingold or Siegfried) leads the musical section of this monumental opera production which returns to the Teatro Real on 24 and 28 April and 2, 6, 10, 14, 18, 21 and 25 May, 22 years after its last performance.
Heras-Casado is accompanied on stage by the prestigious French conductor, Laurent Pelly (Viva la mamma, Falstaff or l turco in Italia), conducting great singers, such as Gerald Finley and Jongmin Park.
Premièred in Munich (Germany) in 1868, this drama composed by Richard Wagner is famous for its rich music and complex plot. The story is set in the German town of Nuremberg in the 16th century and is about a singing competition organised by the Guild of Maestro Singers, a society of musicians and poets. It features Hans Sachs, a leading maestro singer who symbolises a kind of voice of reason and tradition in the midst of the social and cultural changes at that time.
Furthermore, the young and talented Walther von Stolzing arrives in Nuremberg to participate in the competition, but he is not familiar with the Guild’s strict rules and practices. However, that is not all as Walther falls in love with Eva, the daughter of Pogner, a wealthy member of the guild who has offered his daughter’s hand in marriage to the winner of the competition.
In this way, the opera explores topics such as love, the evolution of art, tradition and the relation between innovation and the preservation of culture. It also has a soundtrack that includes great choruses and emotional arias. In spite of its quality, it is less well known than other pieces by Wagner, such as The Ring of the Nibelung or Tristan and Isolda, although this does not mean that it is considered to be less important in his opera repertoire.
Artistic File:
- Music Conductor - Pablo Heras-Casado
- Stage Manager - Laurent Pelly
- Wardrobe - Laurent Pelly and Jean-Jacques Delmotte
- Stage Design - Caroline Ginet
- Lighting - Urs Schönebaum
- Choir Master - José Luis Basso
Cast:
- Hans Sachs - Gerald Finley
- Veit Pogner - Jongmin Park
- Kunz Vogelgesang - Paul Schweinester
- Konrad Nachtigal - Barnaby Rea
- Sixtus Beckmesser - Leigh Melrose
- Fritz Kothner - José Antonio López
- Balthasar Zorn - Albert Casals
- Ulrich Eisslinger - Neal Cooper
- Augustin Moser - Jorge Rodríguez- Norton
- Hermann Ortel - Bjørn Waag
- Hans Schwarz - Valeriano Lanchas
- Walther von Stolzing - Tomislav Mužek
- David - Sebastian Kohlhepp
- Eva - Nicole Chevalier
- Magdalene - Anna Lapkovskaja
- Sereno - Alexander Tsymbalyuk
- Teatro Real Resident Orchestra and Choir
Programme:
Musical Drama in Three Acts
- Music and libretto by Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
- Premièred at the Teatro de la Corte in Munich on 21 June 1868
- Premièred at the Teatro Real on 18 March 1893
- New production by the Teatro Real, in co-production with the Royal Danish Opera of Copenhagen
