In the pit, conductor Sebastian Lang-Lessing underscored the uninterrupted theatrical tension with driving momentum. The first bold choice was to present Dutchman seamlessly, as Wagner initially intended, with no intermissions between the three scenes. Kudos to general director Aidan Lang for inviting him back: Dutchman, which closes Lang's second season at the helm, signals a serious commitment to opera and is the finest production the company has staged to date under his watch. He was last invited here for a Don Giovanni in 1991 that reportedly generated a heated audience backlash. With a cast of powerhouse singers, this Dutchman sustains an arc of high-voltage tension, refusing to loosen its grip until the final blackout.Īlden returns to Seattle after a long hiatus. So is director Christopher Alden, whose production (originally created for Canadian Opera Company two decades ago) mirrors the young composer's sense of thrilling new horizons beyond routine and convention. But Wagner was well aware of the dangerous potential art possesses when the goal is no longer escapist entertainment. “Do you fear a song, a picture?” sings the heroine Senta in her first confrontation with Erik, her hapless suitor. Though the legend of a seaman doomed to sail forever was already hackneyed by the time he took it up, it was through his idiosyncratic treatment of this material that Richard Wagner first found his authentic voice.
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