Latvian National Opera (Latvia)
2/10 (Wednesday);8pm
Macao Cultural Centre Grand Auditorium
Tickets: MOP 450, 350, 250, 150
Composer and Librettist: Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
Production Premiered on April 21, 2006 (revived on March 8, 2013)
Production: Latvian National Opera
Conductor: Joana Mallwitz
Stage Director: Stefan Herheim
Stage Director of the Revival: Therese Schmidt
Set and Costume Designer: Heike Scheele
Dramatist: Alexander Meier-Dörzenbach
Make-up Artist: Dace Caica
Director’s Assistants: Līga Ozola and Susanne-Solveig Meyer
Set and Costume Designer’s Assistant: Julia Schnittger
Set Designer’s Assistant: Juris Salmanis
Property Team: Valdemārs Mucenieks, Inita Roziņa and Jānis Grīnbergs
Lighting Team: Ainārs Kabucis and Sandra Bermaka
Vocal Coaches: Margarita Gruzdeva, Anita Garanča and Paolo de Napoli
Language Coach: Peter Tomek
Principal Rehearsal Pianist: Mārtiņš Zilberts
Rehearsal Pianists: Laila Holberga and Ilze Ozoliņa
Concertmaster of the Orchestra: Svetlana Okuņa
Characters and Cast:
Wotan Ralf Lukas, Bass-baritone
Donner Armands Siliņš, Bass-baritone
Froh Andris Ludvigs, Tenor
Loge Göran Eliasson, Tenor
Fafner Krišjānis Norvelis, Bass
Fasolt Rihards Mačanovskis, Bass-baritone
Alberich Oliver Zwarg, Baritone
Mime Bengt-Ola Morgny, Tenor
Fricka Ursula Hesse von den Steinen, Mezzo-soprano
Freia Dana Bramane, Soprano
Erda Ilona Bagele, Alto
Woglinde Yulianna Bawarska, Soprano
Wellgunde Aira Rūrāne, Soprano
Flosshilde Kristīne Zadovska, Mezzo-soprano
The first opera in the cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen, Das Rheingold introduces Wagner's vast, mythical world. In legendary times, Northern Europe consisted of three realms: the underworld, where the Nibelungs lived; the earth's surface, inhabited by giants and mortals; and the cloudy heights, home of the gods.
The dwarf Alberich renounces love and steals the gold guarded by the maidens of the Rhine. He forges a magic ring from the gold, but it soon becomes an object of desire for Wotan, the ruler of the gods, who wants to save his wife’s sister from the giants. The infuriated Alberich lays a curse on his lost treasure – anyone who possesses it will eventually meet their doom…
“The characters in this play about the Ring use every means possible to obtain power and the right to construct a reality that seems meaningful to them,” stage director Stefan Herheim says of the production’s concept. “Even the ruler of the gods, the creator of all that is real and the guardian of its order, finds himself entrapped in the artificiality of his own reality. Throughout the play, moments of strength and beauty, truth and genuineness, are exposed as the sorry efforts of his conceitedness. The gods have never been so committed to humanity, and the humans have never been more at the mercy of the gods, since the day they fabricated the theatrical arena in which they continually display and invent themselves.”
Don’t miss Macao’s first ever staging of a Wagner opera, a Latvian National Opera production brought to you this year in commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the composer’s birth!
Performed in German with Chinese, Portuguese and English surtitles
Duration: approximately 2 hours and 30 minutes, no interval
Macao International Music Festival Outreach Programme
TALKS: Enter the world of German and Italian opera*
