Destined to be one of the musical events of the season.
With its breathtaking, majestic music, here is Wagner's glorious romantic epic in the landmark Covent Garden production.
A young noblewoman, falsely accused of murdering her brother, dreams of being rescued — and miraculously, her knight in shining armor appears. He is Lohengrin, who pledges to marry her and save her homeland from invaders. But she must love him unconditionally, and never ask his name or origin. Tall order — especially with two forces of evil plotting against her.
Is Lohengrin the savior of the downtrodden…or seeking redemption himself? Laden with symbolism, this masterwork abounds with dramatic scenes — including the iconic Wedding March!
Wagnerian superstars join forces with Sir Andrew Davis and our magnificent Lyric Opera Orchestra and Chorus.
"Tonal splendor"..."youthful passion"..."heldentenor prowess to spare"...critics everywhere agree that today's leading Lohengrin is Johan Botha.
As Elsa, Emily Magee is "superb...giving us soaring, gleaming high notes and unending vocal power." Opera News
NEW PRODUCTION
On the Record
Roger Pines, dramaturg at Lyric Opera, recommends these recorded performances.
CDs
Botha, Pieczonka, Lang, Struckmann, Youn, Schulte; West German Radio Orchestra and Chorus, Prague Chamber Chorus, cond. Bychkov (Haenssler)
Domingo, Norman, Randová, Nimsgern, Sotin, Fischer-Dieskau; Vienna Philharmonic, Chorus of the Vienna Staatsoper, cond. Solti (Decca)
Lyric’s Lohengrin in 2010-11, Johan Botha, has documented his enormously acclaimed, magisterially sung portrayal on a new recording led by Semyon Bychkov. The conductor demonstrates as splendid a command of the proceedings as he did in Lyric’s Tristan several seasons ago. Members of the international Wagnerian elite populate the cast, including the unfailingly lovely soprano Adrianne Pieczonka, the outstanding Korean bass Kwangchoul Youn, and three German artists who have made their only Lyric Opera appearances to date in Wagner: Petra Lang, Falk Struckmann, and Eike Wilm Schulte.
Plácido Domingo has sung a number of Lohengrin performances onstage, bringing a welcome sense of Italianate line to this music. He does so again under Sir Georg Solti, supported by veteran Wagnerians, including the ultimate luxury casting of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau as the Herald. Jessye Norman is a rather unexpected choice for Elsa, a role she never sang in an opera house, and the balance of timbres between her uniquely rich sound and the intense, compact tone of mezzo-soprano Eva Randová’s Ortrud doesn’t really convince. Solti’s command of large-scale forces is complete, and his sumptuous Viennese forces back him up to the hilt.
On DVD
Vogt, Kringelborn, Meier, Fox, König, Trekel; EuropaChor Akademie Mainz, Opéra National de Lyon / Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, cond. Nagano, dir. Lehnhoff (BBC Opus Arte)
Treleaven, Magee, DeVol, H. J. Ketelsen, Hagen, Bork; Gran Teatre del Liceu, cond. Weigle, dir. Konwitschny (EuroArts)
Frey, Studer, Schnaut, Wlaschiha, Schenk; Bayreuth Festival, cond. Schneider, dir. Herzog (DG)
Hofmann, Armstrong, Connell, Roar, Vogel, Weikl; Bayreuth Festival, cond. Nelsson, dir. Friedrich (EuroArts)
There are many strengths of the 1991 Bayreuth production, including Cheryl Studer’s radiant and silver-toned Elsa, Gabriele Schnaut’s sensational Ortrud (a scathingly demonic portrayal, hair-raisingly sung), Ekkehard Wlaschiha’s powerful Telramund, and the justly celebrated Bayreuth chorus. The Lohengrin of Paul Frey pales somewhat by comparison to his colleagues. The sets and costumes are given a rather primitive look (lots of rocks, even in the third-act Bridal Chamber scene), rather like a 1950s Hollywood idea of medieval times.
Emily Magee, Elsa at Lyric in 2010-11, sings superbly in a DVD from Barcelona, which also features Britain’s foremost Wagner tenor, John Treleaven (Siegfried in Lyric’s 2005 Ring cycle), in the title role. The two perform in a staging that will not be to all tastes: director Peter Konwitschny has placed the opera in a schoolroom (it looks right out of the 1950s), with everyone in school uniforms — Magee must be the first soprano to sport beribboned pigtails in this opera! The strong cast gives itself wholeheartedly to the concept, which works surprisingly effectively if one approaches it without preconceptions.
In another Bayreuth performance, Peter Hofmann looks like everyone’s dream of Lohengrin, and he gives of his best vocally (far superior to his Met video, which is no longer available). Similarly light-voiced is his lovely-looking Elsa, Karan Armstrong, and Elizabeth Connell, although admirable, does have a much brighter, lighter-timbred voice than the usual Ortrud. Leif Roar is a powerful Telramund, and Bernd Weikl is definitely classy casting as the Herald. Götz Friederich presents a simple, dark, static staging.
Waltraud Meier makes a recent performance from Baden-Baden worth acquiring. Stunningly attired in black, the notably slim German mezzo is the sexiest, most glamorous-looking Ortrud within recent memory. While her voice is too light and un-expansive at the top for this role, she is invariably “in the moment,” acting with fine subtlety, and ultimately contributing the strongest portrayal in the performance. Supporting her is Tom Fox’s similarly intense, vocally incisive, blessedly unexaggerated Telramund — this duo provides a provides a riveting opening scene in Act Two. Solveig Kringelborn, a very lovely blonde (she looks heavenly in her billowy white wedding gown with enormously long train), is a fragile Elsa, exceedingly affecting to watch (her reactions as she listens to Lohengrin’s narrative are heartrending), but without the vocal breadth and overall security for this difficult role. Attired in a silver-blue suit, Klaus Florian Vogt offers a Lohengrin quite unlike any other — not especially individual interpretively but sung with an instrument of youthful sweetness, extremely lyric in character, ultimately perhaps, more suited to Mozart’s Tamino but managing well in this heavier role.
BOLD TYPE = Artist appearing in this opera at Lyric in 2010-11