[Note: This post has been updated (3) as of 4:50 PM Eastern on 25 Jul. See below.]
Today is the opening day of the 2007 Bayreuther Festspiele with a new production of Die Meistersinger directed by Wagner great-granddaughter and potential heir to the directorship of the Festival, Katharina Wagner, kicking off the festivities. The audio of the performance will be streamed live on a number of outlets beginning at 9:55 AM EST. Click on the appropriate entry in our schedule on the right sidebar for full details.
Update (12:46 PM Eastern on 25 Jul): Leave it to a pro like Alex Ross to find a really chock full of information and pics site relating to this.
Update 2 (3:07 PM Eastern on 25 Jul): Here's a revealing video of a rehearsal for this new production of Meistersinger; revealing even if one can't understand German. On the evidence of the video, the Konzept, from the little I can grasp of it from this brief fragment, appears not altogether ridiculous to me. Here are some stills.
Update 3 (4:50 PM Eastern on 25 Jul): And now for the obligatory critique of the performance musically.
«yawn»
Chorus wasn't bad, though, and Vogt as Walther, although his German tenor is too light and Italianate-sounding for the role, was pretty good. I trust Herr Weigle, however, has employment on the podium in other than Wagnerian venues. (Late Note (26 July, 3:41 AM Eastern): Alex Ross also has some postmortem thoughts on the performance musically in an update to this post.)
For press reports and reaction to the production, see here.
On The Road To Prohibition
