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/).(0.*!(0!12.)!3.%24%,!%-!5678!9!&:2):*;&.*!<%0'!=(#).;0'.)!>.?0?2%.@.!!"#!$%&'()*!+(,-.)! ! A.0?B!2):2?!(-*!&:?0;C.?!(D(%@("@.!E:)!).-0(@!(0!12.)!3.%24%,F! Opera News : A new production by Renaud Doucet (direction) and André Barbe (sets and ! costumes) evokes the conflict between humans and fairies by casting the entire story as a figment of Arindal's imagination. The opera revolves around his living room as he follows a CD booklet LA ÓPERA DEL MES and fiddles with the volume of his stereo. The façade of a nineteenth-century building lifts to Leipzig reveal the fairies' enchanted pastures, and a mystical willow tree droops above the sleeping King OPER LEIPZIG as Ada descends for her opening aria, "Wie muss ich doch beklagen," in which she laments the Wagner DIE FEEN C. Libor, V. Kaminskaite, J. Broekhuizen, A. Bezuyen, E. Yee You, D. Roth, J. Porto, M. Borovinov, separation her immortality has wrought from Arindal. His palace in Act II takes on a cartoonish G. Mannheim, R. Schubert. Dir.: U. Schirmer. Dir. esc.: R. Doucet. 16 de febrero medieval aesthetic, with projections of fire onto the royal staircase when Ada throws their children eipzig, la ciudad natal de Richard Wagner, se ha convertido en un

co: Oper Leipzig / Tom SCHULZE Tom Reportaje grá f co: Oper Leipzig / centro de peregrinaje para los wagnerianos confesos. El teatro de la into a flaming abyss (in fact a trial orchestrated by the Fairy King; they reappear unscathed in the ciudad dio la campanada en este año del bicentenario del nacimien- to del compositor estrenando una nueva producción de su primera ópera: Die Feen (Las hadas), compuesta en 1833, cuando Wagner te- final act). The directing team takes a subtly tongue-in-cheek approach to the magical opera that nía solo 20 años y nunca estrenada en vida del músico. Leipzig rei- vindicó así a su más ilustre ciudadano con la primera producción de stays faithful to Wagner's libretto while allowing for room to laugh at its ambitions. The set rotates este título en la historia de la ciudad. Esta producción, por otra par- te, figura como la única de este título en este Wagnerjahr a nivel to reveal images of Wagner DVDs emblazoned on its side (perhaps a wink at bicentenary mun dial, obra que este verano se ofrecerá en Bayreuth, pero en ver- Christiane Libor y Arnold Bezuyen, sión de concierto con idénticos solistas. La importancia de la efeméride estuvo coronada protagonistas de la recuperación de la por el éxito gracias, sobre todo, a tres factores: un montaje inteligente, imaginativo y com- indulgence), and the Fairy King — descending from giant butterfly wings — dons Wagner's primera ópera de Wagner, de la que puede verse un momento del segundo acto (abajo) y, Lplejo en su ejecución firmada por Renaud Doucet en la dirección de escena y por Andre en la página siguiente, la aparición de Richard Barbe en la rica escenografía y en el variado vestuario, el potente y voluptuoso sonido de la signature floppy hat. Wagner colgado de una mariposa, escena con siempre excelsa Orquesta de la Gewandhaus, esta vez bajo las órdenes de Ulf Schirmer, y la que concluye el espectáculo por la potente voz –de verdadera walkyria– de la soprano Christiane Libor como Ada. La principal virtud de la producción fue la de aunar tradición y modernidad merced a una historia mágica en la cual la imaginación de un melómano que ama la música de Wag- ner se mezcla con una realidad onírica en la que las hadas y los castillos medievales –la es- Opera Now : First Class Performance of Wagner’s First Opera cenografía cambiante era espectacular– transforman las más de tres horas de duración de la ópera en un atractivo juego visual colorista, muy acorde con la partitura. Die Feen eviden- cia la herencia germánica que Wagner había bebido hasta entonces: Mozart, Beethoven y Leipzig did its greatest son proud, in a production and performance that made the case beyond Weber asoman constantemente y, gracias a las certeras indicaciones de la batuta de Ulf Schirmer –en ocasiones demasiado potentes–, se disfrutó de una música interesantísima any doubt, reasonable or otherwise, that Die Feen deserves a regular place in the repertory. (…) que anuncia al Wagner de Tannhäuser y Lohengrin. Los papeles protagonistas son de una dificultad extrema, y en el hada protagonista bri- London desperately needs a first-class performance of this wonderful work. If none of our lló con fulgor gracias a una voz potente, bien timbrada y de gran volumen la citada Christiane Libor, quien supo seducir con companies can marshal the resources for a new production (and frankly, it is a matter of priorities musicalidad e impresionar con potencia y agudos en su gran escena del segundo acto. – there is no reason why it should not be done ) then I strongly urge bringing this staging here. Un meritorio Arnold Bezuyen defendió con gusto el terrible papel de Arindal, evi- Let us hope, also, for a DVD release. In the meantime, if at all possible, a visit to Leipzig Oper Leipzig / Kirsten NIJHOF denciando al final un cansancio notable. Del resto del compacto y certero reparto approaches the mandatory for anyone with an interest in Wagner. habría que destacar al dúo de hadas en las voces de Viktorija Kaminskaite (Zemina) y Jean Broekhuizen (Farzana), la delicada Lora de Eun Yee You y la pareja formada por el prometedor bajo búlgaro Milcho The Leipziger : French director Renaud Doucet and Canadian stage designer André Barbe created Borovinov como Gernot y la Drolla de a lively and tasteful stage. (…)The stage, created by the team Doucet & Barbe is particularly pleasant Jennifer Porto, quienes dieron forma al be- llo dúo bufo, casi de opereta, del segundo and lively: the antinomy mortality/immortality has been exploited as the desire to belong to an acto. Actuación de oro del coro, de gran presencia en la partitura y comandado con imaginary world. This core interpretation becomes a smart escamotage for creating the most sensibilidad y brillantez por Alessandro Zuppardo. Una gran cita que ha puesto a impressive moments. The apparently normal palace of the first scene turns into a colourful Leipzig de nuevo en el mapa imprescindi- imaginary lawn, full with early eighteenth-century ladies (the fairies) and medieval warriors ble en este año en el cual la figura y la mú- sica de Richard Wagner darán de nuevo (Gernot, Morald). (…) This production has the ability to give new life to an otherwise forgotten mucho que hablar. * Jordi MADDALENO opera: the same Wagner refused to perform Die Feen in Bayreuth – maybe he was too proud to 70 ÓPERA ACTUAL admit the influences of his predecessors and contemporary composers: Beethoven, Weber and Marschner. All the dramaturgical incongruences of a complicated libretto were smoothed away by the Inszenierung of Renaud Doucet and refreshed stylistically by the scenes and costumes of ! André Barbe.

! Happy birthday Richard Wagner

When we were offered Die Feen by Oper Leipzig, we were puzzled because of the scale of Wagner's ambitions. We sat down and listened to the music and it was then we got the idea to take a gentleman, who after a family Saturday dinner tunes into the radio to listen to a MDR broadcast of Die Feen live from Oper Leipzig, a transmission which would actually take place on opening night. As the piece unfolds he and his family get pulled into the action.

This new production of Wagner's first completed opera, underwritten by the Bayreuth Festival to inaugurate Wagner's 200th jubilee, evokes the love affair and ensuing conflicts between humans and fairies by casting the entire story as a figment of the gentleman's imagination. As he listens to the overture on the radio, the façade of his nineteenth-century jugendstil apartment lowers revealing the fairies' enchanted pastures as Ada descends for her opening aria in which she laments the fact that her immortality separates her from Arindal. Our approach to every aspect of Die Feen plays thematically on the power of Wagner's music to unleash the imagination. Everything takes place in the apartment of the gentleman who assumes the role of Arindal. In this way Arindal becomes a metaphor for the contemporary individual, of how we idealize ourselves as being other than who we are, a participation mystique afforded by the magic of art as suggested through music. The set designs were intended to exploit the antinomy between mortality and immortality in Die Feen by way of pointing toward this need to recreate our inner worlds. Through a form of theatrical escamotage the set and costume designs play out between the modernity of the gentleman's world, the romantic 1830s of Wagner's time and the Middle Ages, which were such an inspiration for Richard Wagner. Given that the opera was to be performed solely in Leipzig, Wagner's birthplace and where it was composed, we felt we wanted to pay homage in how we staged Die Feen, which was never performed in his lifetime. We opted to use all the facilities and stage machinery in the Leipzig Opera house to their maximum effect, which combined with 52 set changes, achieved the type of spectacle that we imagined Wagner had in mind. It was after all a birthday gift.

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Set Model Pictures

Production available for rental at Oper Leipzig

Contact : Franziska Severin at [email protected]

www.barbedoucet.com