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Wagner
200 is a
wide-ranging, London-based festival to celebrate the bicentenary of
Richard Wagner’s birth.
It
opens on 22 May on Wagner’s 200th birthday and features events
from May to December 2013 in association with leading cultural
organizations including
Royal Opera House, Southbank Centre, Barbican Centre, Royal Albert
Hall, Kings Place, British Library, Philharmonia
Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC
Radio 3, The Wagner Society, Opus
Arte, London
Song Festival and London
Jewish Cultural Centre.
Wagner 200 has a
particular focus on British artists, offering a spectrum of talent
from the most distinguished to the rising stars of today.
Highlights include:
- Wagner 200th Birthday Concert (22 May) with the Philharmonia Orchestra/ Andrew Davis, and soloists Susan Bullock, James Rutherford and Giselle Allen. Preceded by an afternoon of pop-up Wagner activities on the Festival Hall terrace, balcony and foyers
- Wagner/Liszt recitals (26–28 June) by Janice Watson/Joseph Middleton and Llŷr Williams, and a dramatised re-creation of the events surrounding the first performance of the Siegfried Idyll, starring Harriet Walter and Henry Goodman with the Aurora Orchestra and Nicholas Collon
- Reading of the complete Ring text in English featuring John Tomlinson as Narrator/Master of Ceremonies and a company of young actors from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama (9 June)
- Three symposia on Wagner in Performance (29–30 June) featuring an international roster of Wagner experts followed by screenings of Tristan und Isolde and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
- Two events devoted to Wagner and the Jews at the London Jewish Cultural Centre (6 October and 10 December)
- Masterclasses by Gwyneth Jones and John Tomlinson (28 May and 25 November)
- Lectures by Keith Warner (24 April), Tim Blanning (11 July), Mike Ashman (12 September) and John Deathridge (10 October)
- Concerts by the LSO (28 November) and BBC Symphony Orchestra (20 December)
- Wagner the Writer study day (8 June)
Full itinerary announced so far:
Royal
Festival Hall
22
May, 7.30pm
Wagner
200th Birthday Concert
Philharmonia
Orchestra conducted by Andrew Davis
Soloists:
Susan Bullock, James Rutherford, Giselle Allen with rising British
stars as Valkyries
Wagner Prelude,
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
Wagner Prelude
and Liebestod, Tristan und Isolde
Wagner Die
Walküre, Act 3
Semi-staged
performance in German with English surtitles
Britain’s
reigning Brünnhilde, Susan Bullock, stars with the leading Wagner
bass James Rutherford and a talented cast of sister Valkyries in the
complete Act 3 of Die Walküre.
The celebratory Prelude to Die Meistersinger
von Nürnberg and the Prelude and Liebestod
from Tristan und Isolde
complete the programme.
This
high-profile concert will be preceded by an afternoon of free pop-up
Wagner activities, balcony fanfares à la Bayreuth and a performance
of Vitali Bujanowski’s arrangement of Ring
highlights for 16 horns, as well as performances of the Siegfried
Idyll
There
will also be an exhibition of illustrations from Barry Millington’s
new publication, Richard
Wagner:
The
Sorcerer of Bayreuth,
in the foyer.
St
Paul’s Church, Covent Garden
23
May, 7.30pm
London
Song Festival:
recital to include complete songs by Wagner, including some rarely
heard curiosities.
Elisabeth
Meister soprano
Gidon
Saks bass-baritone
Nigel
Foster piano
A
former member of the Jette Parker Young Artists Programme, Elisabeth
Meister has sung a number of roles with the Royal Opera and other
leading companies.
Gidon
Saks has sung Wagner roles such as Hagen, Hunding, Daland, Fasolt and
King Henry at ENO, La Fenice and other international houses.
Barbican
Cinema
Bank
Holiday Weekend, 24–27 May
Screening
of Bayreuth Centenary Ring
Friday 24
May Das
Rheingold
Saturday
25 May Die Walküre
Sunday 26
May Siegfried
Monday 27
May Götterdämmerung
A
screening of the landmark production of Wagner’s Ring
directed by Patrice Chéreau for the centenary of the Bayreuth
Festival in 1976, with associated talks and
interviews involving cast and production members.
This production, a classic in the history of Wagner stagings, was
hugely influential both in its political interpretation of the
tetralogy and in its theatrical vibrancy. Patrice
Chéreau will be on hand to discuss his work
and Gwyneth Jones, who
starred as Brünnhilde, will also be present to share her memories of
the production.
Dates
tbc
A
curated season of Wagner-related films,
to include the UK premiere of a new film about Wagner and the Jews by
Hilan Warshaw, as well as the definitive, remastered HD version of
Tony Palmer’s classic Wagner film starring Richard Burton and
Vanessa Redgrave. Supplemented by live interviews with related
artists/directors.
Royal
Opera House
Wagner
Masterclasses
with Gwyneth Jones (28 May, 7.30pm) and John Tomlinson (25 November,
7.30pm), followed by interviews about their respective Wagnerian
careers.
Acclaimed
as one of the greatest Wagner sopranos of the second half of the 20th
century, Gwyneth Jones
appeared at nearly every Bayreuth Festival between 1966 and 1982 and
took a wide range of roles in all the leading opera houses of the
world. She draws on a wealth of experience and a rich fund of
anecdote, as can be seen in both her masterclass and in the
discussion with Humphrey Burton that follows.
A legend
in his own lifetime, John Tomlinson
has been striding the world’s stages as Wotan, Hunding, Hagen,
Gurnemanz, Hans Sachs, as well as other roles, for most of his
distinguished career, appearing at the Bayreuth Festival for eighteen
consecutive seasons from 1988. After the masterclass he will talk
about his international career and the challenges of singing Wagner.
International
celebrity interview: Daniel Barenboim
One of the
leading Wagner conductors in the world today, Daniel Barenboim brings
a deeply considered, intellectual approach to his work. In this
interview he discusses the problematic issues surrounding Wagner both
in history and in the contemporary world. Please refer to website for
details.
November/December
Parsifal
The Royal
Opera’s main contribution to the Wagner bicentenary is a new
production of Parsifal
by Stephen Langridge, conducted by Antonio Pappano, with Simon
O’Neill, René Pape, Gerald Finley and Angela Denoke.
Details of
auxiliary events will be publicised in due course.
British
Library
Sat
8 June, 10.30am – 5pm
Wagner
the Writer
(study day)
Venue:
Conference Centre, British Library
Wagner’s
writings range widely over subjects as various as race, climate,
vegetarianism, aesthetics and modern science. Above all he was
formulating ideas that would take dramatic shape in his operas.
Distinguished authorities speak about Wagner’s immense literary
output with opportunities for discussion and debate. Promoted by the
British Library to coincide with the digitisation of its Wagner
holdings. In association with The
Wagner Journal.
Sun
9 June, 11am – 6pm
Wagner’s
Ring
Cycle: a Complete Reading
Venue:
Conference
Centre, British Library
A rare
reading of the entire Ring
cycle, in English, featuring John Tomlinson
as Narrator/Master of Ceremonies and a company
of young actors from Royal Central School of Speech and Drama
directed by William Relton. This reading
provides a rare opportunity both to experience the richness and
subtlety of Wagner’s writing and to thrill to the drama of the text
as poetry.
Kings
Place
26–30
June
Hall
1
Wednesday
26 June, 7.30pm
Janice
Watson soprano
Joseph
Middleton piano
A recital
by one of Britain’s leading dramatic sopranos to include Wagner’s
Wesendonck Lieder and some of his less frequently performed songs, as
well as examples by his friend and father-in-law Franz Liszt. The
songs Wagner wrote in Paris for celebrated singers include the Adieux
de Marie Stuart with its striking grand
operatic gestures, while the better-known Wesendonck Lieder, written
to poems by his muse and lover, Mathilde Wesendonck, are more
intimate in nature. Liszt’s songs include some of the most
beautiful in the lieder repertoire.
Thursday
27 June, 7.30pm
Llŷr
Williams piano
A recital
by the outstanding Welsh pianist to feature Wagner rarities plus
dazzling transcriptions of Wagner by Liszt including Isolde’s
Liebestod. Many of Wagner’s piano pieces, of which the sonata for
‘M.W.’ (Mathilde Wesendonck) is the most substantial, were
dedicatory ‘albumleaves’ for friends and admirers.
Wagner Fantasia
in F sharp minor
Sonate für das Album von Frau M.W.
Albumblatt in E major (‘Song Without Words’)
Albumblatt in E flat major (for Frau Betty Schott)
Ankunft bei den schwarzen Schwänen
Wagner,
arr. Liszt Fantasy on
Themes from Rienzi
Spinning
Chorus and Senta’s Ballad(Der
fliegende Holländer)
Entry
of the Guests and ‘O du mein holder Abendstern’ (Tannhäuser)
Elsa’s
Dream (Lohengrin)
Isolde’s
Liebestod (Tristan)
Fri 28
June, 8pm
Aurora
Orchestra, conductor Nicholas Collon
A
dramatised re-creation by Barry Millington of the events surrounding
the first performance of the Siegfried
Idyll,
together with performances of the Idyll
and the Beethoven Septet (also played on that day at Haus Tribschen).
Speakers:
Harriet Walter and Henry Goodman
Saturday
29 and Sunday 30 June 2013, Hall 1
Wagner
in Performance
Three
symposia in association with The Wagner
Journal featuring an international roster of
Wagner experts examining aspects of the performance of his music
under the headings Singing, Conducting and Stage Production. Each
symposium will consist of three presentations (six for Stage
Production) followed by a round table.
Saturday
29 June, 10am–1pm
Vocal
Style in Wagner from the Golden Age to the Present
What can
be learned about Wagner singing from the great artists of the past?
Why is it so difficult to cast Wagner operas today? What can be done
to rectify the matter?
Speakers:
Mike Ashman, David Breckbill, Neil Howlett
Chair:
John McMurray
Saturday
29 June, 2–5 pm
Conducting
Wagner
Throughout
history, lithe, fluid and gestural styles of conducting Wagner
(Bülow, Böhm, Pappano) have contrasted with more monumental
approaches (Knappertsbusch, Goodall, Levine). Which is more faithful
to Wagner’s intentions? How is Wagner conducting likely to evolve
in the decades to come?
Speakers:
Roger Allen, Raymond Holden, David Breckbill
Chair:
Peter Franklin
Sunday 30
June, 10am–5pm
The
Challenge of Director’s Opera
Opera
production in the modern age has come to be dominated by ‘director’s
opera’ or Regietheater.
Does contemporary stagecraft represent a travesty or a triumphant
fulfilment of the Gesamtkunstwerk?
Will traditional stagings ever return? Or is director’s opera here
to stay?
Speakers:
Edward Bortnichak, Ingrid Kapsamer, Hugo Shirley, Tash Siddiqui,
Katherine Syer, Simon Williams
Chairs:
Patrick Carnegy, Nicholas Payne
29 - 30
June,
HALL 2
Wagner
on the Big Screen
Screenings
of Tristan und Isolde
(Nikolaus Lehnhoff’s Glyndebourne production) and Die
Meistersinger von Nürnberg (Katharine
Wagner’s Bayreuth production) from the Opus Arte catalogue
Saturday
29 June 6.00pm Tristan und Isolde
Sunday
30 June 6.00pm Die Meistersinger
The
screenings are supported by Opus Arte.
Royal
Albert Hall
July–September
Performances
and events surrounding Wagner’s Ring
cycle
(Berlin Staatsoper forces under Daniel Barenboim) plus other Wagner
operas (information embargoed) at the BBC Proms.
London
Jewish Cultural Centre
Sunday 6
October, 2pm
Venue
address: LJCC, Ivy House, 94–96 North End Road, London, NW11 7SX
(admin@ljcc.org.uk;
020 8457 5000)
Wagner
and the Jews
A
discussion about the issues raised by Wagner’s anti-Semitism;
speakers to include Mark Berry, Cori Ellison, Erik Levi and Barry
Millington. Chair: Trudy Gold.
Tuesday 10
December, 7.30pm
Wagner’s
Jews
In spite
of his barely concealed anti-semitism, Wagner was surrounded by a
coterie of Jewish followers. This event includes a screening of Hilan
Warshaw’s new film Wagner’s Jews,
which investigates the phenomenon, following which a panel discussion
will examine the wider issues of Wagner’s reception by Jews
throughout history and today.
Barbican
Hall
Thursday
28 November, 7.30pm
LSO
concert to include Tristan
und Isolde Act 2 conducted by Daniel Harding,
with Katarina Dalayman, Peter Seiffert and Christianne Stotijn.
Friday 20
December, 7.30pm
BBC
Symphony Orchestra concert, cond.
Edward Gardner with Christine Brewer (soprano). Programme to include
Wesendonck Lieder, Prelude to
Tristan und Isolde
and Faust
Overture.
The
Wagner Society
Four
lectures in
association with the Wagner Society at intervals over the year and
featuring high-profile speakers.
Wednesday
24 April 2013, 7.30pm
Venue:
Queen’s College, 43–49 Harley St, London W1
Dame Eva
Turner Lecture: Keith Warner
Keith
Warner, the director of the recent Ring
at Covent Garden, delivers the Eva Turner Lecture under the auspices
of the Wagner Society.
The
remaining lectures will take place at the Goethe-Institut, 50
Prince’s Gate, London SW7, all at 7.30pm:
Tim
Blanning (11 July), Professor of Modern
European History at the University of Cambridge, on ‘Richard Wagner
and German Nationalism’.
Mike
Ashman (12 September), writer and director,
talks about ‘Wagner and Modern Productions’.
John
Deathridge (10 October), the King Edward
Professor of Music at the University of London, asks ‘Do We Still
Need Wagner?’
