While the announcement proved a major headache for the festival’s organisers
who had just four days to find a new lead singer, co-chiefs Katharina
Wagner, 34, and her older half-sister Eva Wagner-Pasquier, 67, said
Nikitin’s withdrawal was “fully in line with our policy of completely
rejecting Nazi ideology in any shape or form”.
The role is now being sung by Korean bass-baritone Samuel Youn, 40, who has
regularly appeared in more minor roles in Bayreuth since 2004 and is already
cast to sing the king’s herald in a revival of “Lohengrin”.
Also on the programme of this year’s festival is a revival of last year’s new
production of “Tannhaeuser” by Sebastian Baumgarten, which was
vilified by critics and audiences alike for setting Wagner’s tale of a
minstrel-knight in a biogas plant.
There will also be revivals of a 2010 production of “Lohengrin”, a
production of “Parsifal” dating back to 2008; and a “Tristan
and Isolde” from 2005.
For many Wagner fans, this year’s festival will merely act as a prelude to
celebrations marking the 200th anniversary of Wagner’s birth next year.
Mrs Merkel appeared in the same full length blue evening gown, accessorised
with a pearl necklace, that she was photographed wearing to exactly the same
event four years ago.
Source: Agencies
Related posts:
Views: 0