Latest news with #DasRheingold
Western Telegraph
11-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Western Telegraph
Torch Theatre: Royal Opera House screening in Pembrokeshire
The Pembrokeshire theatre is embarking on its 'cinema season,' which will kick off with a live screening of 'Die Walküre' (The Valkyrie) by The Royal Ballet and Opera. This opera-ballet extravaganza will be directed by Barrie Kosky and conducted by Antonio Pappano. The screening brings Wagner's tale of gods and mortals battling it out further, following the saga that began with 'Das Rheingold' in 2023. The storyline follows a love entwined with fate that could potentially be powerful enough to end the world. Meanwhile, an epic confrontation ensues between Wotan, played by Christopher Maltman, the king of gods, and his rebellious daughter Brünnhilde, enacted by Elisabet Strid. Viewers will be treated to a visually compelling stage setup by designer Rufus Didwiszus, with costumes by Victoria Behr and lighting by Alessandro Carletti. Critically acclaimed by the Guardian's Erica Jeal who gave the show four stars, the production will be sung in German with translated captions for English speakers. The show starts at 2pm on Sunday, May 18. Tickets are priced at £20 per person, with a concessional rate of £18. Those under the age of 26 can enter at £9 per head. Further information can be found on the Torch Theatre website or via telephone on 01646 695267. The Royal Opera House is renowned for its ballet and opera productions. For those in need of further assistance, contact the Box Office.
Telegraph
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Die Walküre: A bleak but brilliant vision of damaged nature and toxic relationships
One major advantage of unveiling a production of Wagner's Ring cycle year by year over four years is that you don't need to decide at the beginning how it will end. The director of the Royal Opera's new year-by-year staging, Barrie Kosky, has said that he does not know how this story will turn out by 2027: in this second instalment, his vision is an unvaryingly bleak and tortured picture of damaged nature and toxic relationships. As in the opening Das Rheingold, the scorched trees and gloomy landscapes of Rufus Didwiszus's sets create a compellingly bare, stripped-back scene of an earth destroyed. The wizened, aged, naked figure of Erda (Illona Linthwaite) observes continually: you feel she has seen it all before, covering her eyes in horror. She oversees interactions for both humans and gods in which we can believe: the awakening, forbidden love of Sieglinde and Siegmund; the fraught relationship between Wotan and his daughter Brünnhilde. There is not much to be gleaned from the first act's dreary blank wall of Sieglinde and Hunding's house, until the moment when the buried sword that Siegmund extracts reveals one of the production's ingenious twists. Solomon Howard's Hunding is a commanding figure (until Wotan dismisses him later with a Tosca-like backward flip), Natalya Romaniw's brightly sung Sieglinde a wife who screams in fear until she realises that Stanislas De Barbeyrac's ardent, lyrical Siegmund is her twin and her love. If this first act is slow to ignite, the second is totally compelling, starting from the crisp, strongly articulated Wotan of Christopher Maltman, whose argument with Marina Prudenskaya's imposing Fricka in purple, arriving in period limousine, is a power marriage all gone wrong. Elisabet Strid's youthful, tomboyish Brünnhilde starts as a rebellious child but quickly matures into an achingly independent adult in her heart-rending scene with her father in which their every fleeting emotion is captured in Kosky's direction. It was always to be expected that Kosky would want to delve into the constant problem of Wagner's anti-Semitism, and here the appearance in Act II of a charred body that is then viciously destroyed prepares the way for a shocking rethinking of the Ride of the Valkyries at the start of Act III, as they collect incinerated bodies, a sensation rescued theatrically only by the individual characterisations of the coven-like Valkyries. Vocally, this is a fascinating Walküre: all the singers, Maltman and Strid especially, but also Romaniw (who came in late to replace the more heavyweight talent Lise Davidsen), are comparatively youthful, fresh voices without a heavy inheritance of years of Wagner singing. The words are paramount, and their impulsiveness is matched by Antonio Pappano's conducting, which drives the music forward, sometimes feeling a little loose, but always effective in pushing the story forwards. Pappano is now Conductor Laureate at the house whose music he directed so effectively for 22 years. Who knows, perhaps a more optimistic vision of the future of humanity may emerge in the remaining instalments of this impressive, stimulating Ring cycle.
The Guardian
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Die Walküre review – Kosky's formidable staging is full of magic and menace
Four hours of music, and yet the most memorable figure in the Royal Opera's Die Walküre – the second instalment of company's new Ring cycle, directed by Barrie Kosky and conducted by Antonio Pappano – is silent. Just as in Das Rheingold, which opened here in September 2023, we are seeing events through the conduit of Erda, the ancient Earth Mother, who dreams this world into being as she slowly spins, naked, on a turntable at the front of the stage. It's no detriment to a singing cast that's very fine – and in the case of Natalya Romaniw's role debut as Sieglinde, outstanding – to say that this Erda, played by the actor Illona Linthwaite, is mesmerising. She's in every scene. She blesses the incestuous union of Siegmund and Sieglinde, strewing flowers like a figure from Botticelli's Spring. And when Fricka enters in a vintage car, all fur-coat and fury, who do you think is her chauffeur? It's almost as if Kosky is using Erda's physical presence to add to the network of musical themes used by Wagner to represent characters and ideas. But if Erda is a leitmotif, what does she represent? Perhaps Wotan's accountability; the world of mortals certainly isn't flourishing on his watch. And, if Rheingold was Erda's dream, Die Walküre starts off as her nightmare, with the orchestra creating a terrifying buzz in the prelude as Siegmund scrambles towards Sieglinde's door. Victoria Behr's costumes suggest a non-specific here and now, although Siegmund's blue top and yellow hoodie hint at Ukraine. Rufus Didwiszus's sets are dark and bleak: a wall of burnt planks for Sieglinde's house and, later, the felled World Ash Tree from Rheingold, which with the cast clambering through its holes and tunnels at times resembles a meerkat burrow. The almost feral Valkyries collect charred corpses which disintegrate into ash. Finally, every Walküre needs a good Magic Fire at the end, and this one doesn't disappoint. Kosky has said that this Ring was inspired by images of the aftermath of bush fires in his native Australia, and the idea of the despoliation of nature is suggested everywhere, without ever becoming a hectoring message. Instead there's an element of lightness, especially in the moments when we actually see the gods use their powers – the dispatching of Hunding is brilliantly done. This is put into relief by brute force elsewhere, especially from Christopher Maltman's Wotan, king of the gods, who since Rheingold has acquired a beard, a smugly full head of hair and a magnate's suit and tie. He, not Hunding, is the one who finishes off Siegmund, impaling him brutally on a shard of his own shattered sword – if you want a job doing, better do it yourself. If Romaniw's incisive Sieglinde is the standout – the Welsh-Ukranian soprano is gaining a more magnetic, energised presence on stage with every role – there are formidable performances all round: Stanislas de Barbeyrac's thoughtful but ardent Siegmund; Elisabet Strid's gleaming Brünnhilde, her glow dimming only at the end; Marina Prudenskaya's powerful Fricka; Soloman Howard's gun-toting cop Hunding, imposing if slightly unfocused of pitch. Maltman's baritone is full of velvet heft; though the sense of line falters in his quietest lines, the rest are thrillingly done, his voice soaring even when the orchestra seem to be playing at full tilt. This is all part of Pappano's sleight of hand: the quicksilver control of balance that centres the singers while bringing out layers of glorious orchestral detail. He conducts a performance bristling with tension, and the orchestra plays wonderfully. Once again, he brings them all up on stage to take the applause, each one an essential part of what is shaping up to be a very fine Ring cycle indeed. Until 17 May, and live in cinemas on 14 May
Times
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Times
Die Walküre review — brilliantly imagined Wagner (with extra zombies)
Twenty months is a long time to wait for the second instalment of a serialised thriller. But even before the music of Die Walküre starts, Barrie Kosky — directing the Royal Opera's unfolding cycle of Wagner's Ring — reminds us of the main talking point of Das Rheingold, the first instalment. That naked old lady, representing Earth in all its exhausted vulnerability, is back. Again she covers her eyes in despair. Again she will be a mute witness on this epic journey to the world's end. And again that journey is evoked by Kosky with a startling theatricality that goes hand in glove with Antonio Pappano's vivid conducting of the music and the Royal Opera orchestra's magnificent playing. There's not much scenery, and certainly
The Guardian
07-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
New Order review – classics front and centre, but electronic pop pioneers can still surprise
Who would have thought that a promising band named Joy Division, having lost their seemingly irreplaceably brilliant frontman, Ian Curtis, in 1980, would regenerate almost immediately into New Order – to become the forebears of the electronic pop movement, achieve mainstream global success and still be doing it 45 years later? As a sea of fans slowly put aside their pints and made their way into Perth's RAC Arena on Wednesday night, local indie success story Great Gable opened proceedings. Their at times psychedelic shoegazey alt-rock may have seemed an unusual choice on this occasion, but they passed the acid test – from their oldest song, Drift, to their newest single, Hazy – by attracting dancers before a performance by one of the world's most danceable groups, receiving a sincerely warm reception by set's end. Vocalist/guitarist Alex Whiteman proclaimed amazement at having landed the slot but, with several European tours already up their sleeve, this evening was simply another step on the way up for this Perth band. The origins and history of New Order are well known and loved, and certainly were front and centre at the opening show of their Australian tour. A packed venue bristled with predominantly middle-aged enthusiasm – although there were a pleasing number of late-teens and 20-somethings – as the lights dimmed and the opening of Wagner's Das Rheingold soundtracked a video sequence of slow-motion high divers descending into the waters below, a visual theme etched from New Order's 2017 live album, Nomc15. It was an eerie introduction, broken somewhat as the band casually sauntered onstage with vocalist/guitarist Bernard Sumner saying: 'Hello Perth, city of friendly people … so far, anyway. It's a nice city, here we go.' The dynamic immediately changed again as the band crashed into Joy Division's debut single, Transmission, drummer Stephen Morris leading the freneticism of the 1979 anthem. New Order are thought of in terms of pop/dance music and synths, but it's tougher stuff than that. The warm welcome from the crowd was reciprocated with the rough-hewn pop of Crystal, the band bathed in shades of purple, blue and red. The even sweeter Age Of Consent (from 1983's Power, Corruption & Lies) featured a long line of excellent guitar interplay between Sumner and guitarist Phil Cunningham (who also shined on the breezy stomper Be A Rebel), but the mood changed again with another Joy Division offering, Isolation, and a never-before-performed B-side, Player In The League, making its live debut. It just goes to show that for all their known and popular history New Order are happy to twist the melon when they want. Eighties dancefloor hit Bizarre Love Triangle arrived unannounced but when the main keyboard line came in from Gillian Gilbert the love came out and suddenly thousands of phones lit up the arena. It was the dance that everyone seemed to be waiting for, even if it was somewhat squishy on the floor. It segued immediately into 1989's Vanishing Point, a classic New Order offering seemingly drawing from Jean-Michel Jarre, with bassist Tom Chapman getting all the hooks right (and so much more) while lasers shot into the back of the venue as it pulsated like the days of yore at Manchester's Haçienda club. Sumner gave thanks to a local dentist who had seen him during the band's Perth stay – 'You've got really great dentists!' – before 1987's True Faith, another fan favourite, which was accompanied by footage from the original music video, a happy reminder of the visual quirks of that decade now long gone. The intro of Blue Monday – the highest selling 12-inch single of all time – brought tangible excitement from the get-go. Perhaps the finest combination of beat and bass ever laid down on tape, it feels iconic just witnessing it being performed. On the home stretch, Temptation set the arena alight in a mirrorball swirl; New Order then ended as they had begun, with a salute to their beginnings, as the words 'Forever Joy Division' were displayed on the video screen along with footage of Curtis performing 1980's Decades. They finished with a heartfelt rendering of the now hymn-like Love Will Tear Us Apart. Sign up to Saved for Later Catch up on the fun stuff with Guardian Australia's culture and lifestyle rundown of pop culture, trends and tips after newsletter promotion The history was undeniable and indeed the joy was writ large. New Order are still a force for the ages. New Order's Australian tour continues through March
