To celebrate Wagner 2013 LNOBT are staging a series of Wagner and Wagner related works over one week in April. Full details below including director comments and images.
TRISTAN AND ISOLDE, a ballet – 19 April.
DIE WALKÜRE – 20 April.
DER FLIEGENDE HOLLÄNDER – 24 April.
LOHENGRIN – 26 April.
-
TRISTAN AND ISOLDE –
Wagner’s
Week Performance:
19
April, 2013
Other
performances:
16
June, 2013
a ballet in 2 acts to the
music by Richard Wagner / Henk de Vlieger
Libretto by Krzysztof Pastor,
Carel Alphenaar
Music:
1.
Henk de Vlieger - orchestral passion Tristan
and Isolde
after
Richard Wagner's opera Tristan
und Isolde
2.
Richard Wagner - Wesendonck
Lieder
Choreographer
Krzysztof
Pastor
Music
Director and Conductor Modestas
Pitrėnas
Set
Designer Adomas
Jacovskis
Costume
Designer Aleksandra
Jacovskytė
Lighting
Designer Levas
Kleinas
Premiere at the LNOBT: 15
September, 2012
“I
was absolutely fascinated by the story, it is so strange, even a
little naïve – and this incredible love... I also discovered that
Wagner had fallen in love with Mathilde Wesendonk, the wife of his
patron at the time he was writing about the forbidden love of Tristan
and Isolde. It was all so connected!”
~
Krzysztof Pastor on his ballet Tristan
and Isolde
The
most famous incarnation of the Tristan legend is Richard Wagner’s
music drama Tristan
und Isolde,
written after composer’s own libretto (premiere in Munich in 1865).
In this work, Tristan is portrayed as a doomed romantic figure. This
is probably one of the most “wagnerian” pieces, one of the
longest and most difficult operas to perform, and one version that
fully reflects the essence of the legend.
The
author of ballet Tristan
and Isolde’s
musical score is a Dutch percussionist, composer and arranger Henk de
Vlieger. In 1994 he created a unique arranged symphonic compilation
of Wagner’s famous music drama. The work is titled Tristan
and Isolde, an orchestral passion
and consists of seven parts. In 2005 H. de Vlieger was asked to
include Wagner’s Wesendonck
Lieder
in the score of the passion - this was necessary for K. Pastor’s
ballet premiere at the Royal Theatre of Sweden. The new ballet was
first introduced in the spring of 2006 in Stockholm, accompanied by
the orchestra of the Swedish Royal Opera. In 2012 it was presented in
Vilnius, at the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre.
During
the Wagner’s
Week
in 2013, ballet Tristan
and Isolde
shall bring together several masters of their craft, including some
of the best dancers of the LNOBT’s ballet company, one of
Lithuania’s most famous conductors Modestas Pitrėnas and prima
donna
soprano Sigutė Stonytė, who will sing the Wesendonck
Lieder.
Wagner’s
Week Performance:
20
April, 2013
-DIE WALKÜRE
Opera in 3 acts
(sung in German with
Lithuanian surtitles)
Conductor
Modestras
Pitrėnas
Director
Eimuntas
Nekrošius
Set
Designer Marius
Nekrošius
Costume
Designer Nadežda
Gultiayeva
Lighting
Designer Levas
Kleinas
Premiere at the LNOBT: 10
March 2007
Cast
for the performance on the 20th
of April:
Kristian Benedikt, Sandra
Janušaitė, Egidijus Dauskurdis, Almas Švilpa (Germany), Nomeda
Kazlaus, Laima Jonutytė, Regina Šilinskaitė, Julija Stupnianek,
Joana Gedmintaitė, Vilhelma Mončytė, Aistė Širvinskaitė, Jovita
Vaškevičiūtė, Marta Lukošiūtė, Eugenija Klivickaitė
The
Valkyrie
is a monumental music drama, second opera in the famous Wagner’s
four opera cycle The
Nibelung’s Ring.
This cycle, the most ambitious creation in the history of opera, took
26 years to complete. Even today Wagner is provoking the ones
interested in his works to choose - for or against. You can not like
Wagner just a little bit: either you dive into the enchanting world
of never-ending melodies, stormy brass, love, repentance and cosmic
logic, or this world remains extraneous and almost opposing.
Director
Eimuntas Nekrosius already established his legend in Lithuanian and
other countries' space of drama theatre, and of late years the
audiences are getting interested in his opera productions. He is not
the only one who comes to opera from drama, bringing together bright
new undertones and images. The
Valkyrie
was the fourth opera directed by Eimuntas Nekrosius.
Eimuntas Nekrošius on opera:
“I
never thought that opera is an emotional genre. But I’ve already
experienced, that it can be exclusively emotional. If you are
constantly “turning somersaults” in the theatre so that the
people can really feel the tension and anxiously follow the action on
stage, then sometimes you don’t need anything else. You just leave
the soloist, and he expresses everything with the voice. Now I am
thoroughly persuaded that the most beautiful instrument is a human
voice.”
DER
FLIEGENDE HOLLÄNDER
Wagner’s
Week Performance:
24
April, 2013
Opera in 3 acts
(Sung in German with
Lithuanian surtitles)
Conductor
Martynas
Staškus
Director
Francesca
Zambello
(USA)
Set
and Costume Designer Alison
Chitty
(UK)
Lighting
Designer Rick
Fisher
(UK)
Chorus
Master Česlovas
Radžiūnas
Premiere at the LNOBT: 26
March 2004
Cast
for the performance on the 24th
of April:
Almas Švilpa (Germany),
Sigutė Stonytė, Egidijus Dauskurdis, Vytautas Kurnickas,
Audrius Rubežius, Laima
Jonutytė
One
of the most frequently staged operas around the globe, Richard
Wagner's Der
fliegende Holländer
was introduced into the LNOBT's repertoire by the world-famous
American director Francesca Zambello. Sharing her time between New
York and London, she is a true citizen of the world whose talents
have been acknowledged by a number of important international
distinctions.
The
Flying Dutchman
is based on an old German legend about the wretched sailor doomed to
hopeless wandering across the seas until the Last Judgement Day,
longing for redemption through eternal love of a faithful woman. In
this production, the legend is told in a seemingly simple and
unassuming way that allows conjure up the spellbinding performance
fraught with theatrical magic. Wagner's magical music, superb
soloists, uncluttered and mesmerizing sets - everything here
perfectly serves to achieve the ultimate goal.
The
main attraction of the performance shown during the Wagner's
Week
comes in the form of an impressive bass-baritone Almas Švilpa, who
will be performing the principal role of the Dutchman. Born and
educated in Lithuania, Mr.
Švilpa is currently the soloist with the opera company of Essen and
is constantly singing in some of the most important theatres in
Munich, Berlin, Vienna, Dresden, Stuttgart and many other cities. He
has collaborated with such conductors as Daniel Barenboim, Kent
Nagano, Vladimir Jurowski and others. Mr. Švilpa's roles include
Mephistopheles in Faust,
Don Basilio in Il
barbiere di Siviglia,
Figaro in Le
nozze di Figaro,
Johanaan in Salome,
Wotan in The
Ring of the Nibelung
and others.
On
24 April Mr. Švilpa shall be joined on stage by Lithuanian leading
soprano Sigutė Stonytė as Senta – in 2005 she received the Opera
Beacon
award as the Best Female Opera Soloist of the Year for the creation
of this role.
LOHENGRIN
Wagner’s
Week Performance:
26
April, 2013
Other
performances:
22,
23, 24 March, 2013
Opera in 3 acts
(Sung in German with
Lithuanian surtitles)
Libretto by Richard Wagner
Music
Director and Conductor Robertas
Šervenikas
Director
Andrejs
Žagars
(Latvia)
Set
Designer Reinis
Suhanovs
(Latvia)
Costume
Designer Kristine
Pasternaka
(Latvia)
Lighting
Designer Kevin
Wyn-Jones
(United Kingdom)
Choreographer
Elita
Bukovska
(Latvia)
A co-production between the
LNOBT and the Slovak National Theatre
Premiere at the LNOBT: 22
March, 2013
Probably
the most intriguing event of Wagner's
Week is
a performance of his mysterious
opera Lohengrin
– it
is LNOBT's newest premiere that is yet to be presented on 22 March,
2013 by an internationally renowned creative team.
About the newest opera
premiere of the LNOBT – in the words of the director Andrejs
Žagars:
“Richard
Wagner is a genius composer. I am very happy to have this possibility
of directing Lohengrin in 2013, the year of his anniversary. There is
also one curious coincidence: it was with Wagner's opera, The
Flying Dutchman,
that I started my career as a director, and now I'm once again
returning to this composer, thanks to the request of the opera
theatres in Vilnius and Bratislava.
I didn't set myself a plan to
shock, astonish or provoke the audience. At this point of my creative
career I'm aspiring to create a vital production set upon good
standards of the theatre.
For
Lohengrin,
we tried to find a historical period that would be close to the
troubled times depicted in the opera. This is how we found the 1940s,
beginning of the II World War, when Russians and Germans were friends
at first and collaborated with each other, then fell apart and became
enemies. It is the eve of the division of Europe, time of war in the
middle of the 20th century, and yet we try to avoid any specific
details.
We were very much inspired by
the situation of the pre-war Vilnius: a Polish city is turned into
the capital of Lithuania and it is no longer clear who is your
friend, and who comes as an enemy. Besides, Vilnius was also home for
a large community of Jews that was annihilated during the war. We
studied the history of this city with great care.
I
had no wish to tell a story about divine entities and super-humans.
My goal is to present the audience with a very vivid, human story.
Lohengrin
is a story of love and hate, of a ferocious longing for power – and
how one looses all last bits of humanity while fighting for it. It is
a story about the mission of love and the hunger for power.
We are trying to translate
this story into the language of the people of today, so that they
could relax and enjoy the magic of music without disturbance. We are
also trying to make this story more specific and believable. We don't
want to present you with an unbelievable ancient saga embellished
with mystical elements – our goal is to show a very human story.”
~ Director Andrejs Žagars
Lithuanian
National Opera and Ballet Theatre
Vienuolio
str. 1, Vilnius
Box
Office:
at the venue (A. Vienuolio Str. 1)
Mon-Fri 10am-7pm, Sat 10am-6.30pm, Sun 10am-3pm
In case there is a performance on Sunday evening, the Box Office is open until curtain-up.
Mon-Fri 10am-7pm, Sat 10am-6.30pm, Sun 10am-3pm
In case there is a performance on Sunday evening, the Box Office is open until curtain-up.
Information
Line and Advance Booking:
By phone or fax: +370 615 51000, +370 612 46 614 or +370 5262 0727
By phone or fax: +370 615 51000, +370 612 46 614 or +370 5262 0727
By
e-mail: info@opera.lt
