The HeArt Project

The HeArt Project, a program for teenagers in alternative high schools, came to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on December 4 to remix the Ring. Guided by professional artists, HeArt Project teens have been examining Richard Wagner's epic since the start of the school year, asking questions such as how can contemporary youth culture and new technologies re-imagine Wagner's vision in the 21st century? Can 21st-century innovation and technology illuminate connections to the grand visions of the past? Can the epic struggles of ancient myth be re-configured for an accelerated globalized culture? Students have been reflecting on these concepts while creating their own artwork. These works were displayed and discussed on December 4.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky recently said, "Ring Festival LA will engage Los Angeles in opera, but also embrace a larger discussion through our world-class arts and cultural institutions. It will educate the public about the life and times of Richard Wagner and examine the man and his work in all of its challenging and controversial aspects. We can all be proud that so many diverse organizations are joining together in this incredible effort."

It is important that young people are a part of the examination, and the HeArt Project's December workshop is an early of example of what is yet to come when the Festival gets underway on April 15, Barry Sanders, leader of Ring Festival LA, writes in a press release.

Orchestral Climax in Walküre

One my absolute favourite orchestral passages in Wagner is the climax after Wotan sings "Denn einer nur freie die Braut, der freier als ich, der Gott". This is Leonard Bernstein's interpretation from a Wagner concert in Vienna, 1985.

Happy Holidays 2009!

Happy Holidays to all readers of the Wagner blog and Wagneropera.net! I hope the next year will be even more exciting than 2009.

And thanks to all who have contributed in some way or another!



Wagneropera.net Web statistics 2009 for nerds here

Opera magazine with iPhone App

Opera magazine have an iPhone App of the magazine in the iTunes store. Exact Editions have just released a new and improved version of the App which enables the subscriber to 'synch' the contents of the most recent complete issue on to the phone. This enables faster reading and off-line reading (eg on the subway or in the interval!). The App can be bought on a trial subscription basis for 7 days and then renewed for additional periods of 7 or 30 days (a 30 days sub is £3.99/$ €. Subscriptions also offer the user access to a substantial archive of back issues from the last three years.

The Opera magazine iPhone App is in the App store

And a digital edition for access through any web browser can be sampled on the Exact Editions site. Annual subscriptions to the digital magazine cost £45.

Orchestral passage from Die Walküre, Act 3

Orchestral passage from Die Walküre, Act 3. Leonard Bernstein conducts the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra in a Wagner concert in Vienna, 1985.

Nike Wagner on Weimar and Bayreuth

Wagneropera.net's YouTube Channel

Wagneropera.net's YouTube channel has been through a facelift operation, and a lot of new - rare - videos have been uploaded, like this video of one of my all time favourites, Christa Ludwig:



Visit Wagneropera.net's YouTube channel

Ride of the Valkyries - Riccardo Muti

Ride of the Valkyries from Die Walküre, Act 3. Riccardo Muti in a production at La Scala.

Waltraud Meier: O hehrstes Wunder from the same production

Siegfried Vorspiel Act 3

Leonard Bernstein and Wiener Philharmoniker: Siegfried Vorspiel Act 3. Thomas Stewart as Wotan. Wagner concert in Wien 1985.

Waltraud Meier: O hehrstes Wunder

There are many great Sieglindes, and one of them is Waltraud Meier. Here she is in a production at La Scala.

Who is your favourite Sieglinde? Maybe Eva-Maria Westbroek?

Tom Tykwer to direct Wagner's Ring 2013 at Bayreuth

According to a well-informed source, the film director Tom Tykwer will direct the Ring at Bayreuth in 2013. 2013 marks the 200th anniversary of Richard Wagner's birth, so this production is regarded as a special event. There will be numerous Ring productions all over the world this year.

Tykwer is also a composer of film music. His soundtrack career grew out of financial necessity. According to his Homepage he had no budget for a composer, so turned his own hand to the task. These first composing experiences led him to the "great discovery that the composition process actually begins with the scriptwriting, and that with the search for the language of the film, it finds its tone melody and harmony." Meanwhile, Tom Tykwer has put his music to all his films.

Originally motivated by putting together a soundtrack, the music now composed by Pale 3 (Tykwer/Klimek/Heil) is not only film music. And in co-operation with Xaver Naudascher, the creative process of scoring music outside the realm of cinema is sometimes a kind of liberation. "It is like with writing or painting: with a semi-elaborate computer, music you think up can be transformed immediately. The music exists, regardless as to whether or not you have any financial backing."

Tom Tykwer's motto on his Homepage is:

"I like everything that speaks to me loudly, and that gives me a vision. I don't care about the genre. It's the same for all arts, and the same for film and for music."

Tom Tykwer's filmography:
Perfume
True (short film)
Heaven
The Princess + the Warrior
Run Lola Run
Winter Sleepers
Deadly Maria
Epilog (short film)
Because (short film)

Tom Tykwer's Homepage
Tom Tykwer on IMDB.com

What are your thoughts on this? Will Tom Tykwer be a creative asset to Bayreuth?

Luana Devol and Louis Gentile

"O sink hernieder" from the Act 2 of Tristan und Isolde (Antwerp). Silvio Varviso conducts. Luana Devol (Isolde) and Louis Gentile (Tristan) in a Willy Decker production originally from Leipzig.