Download PRESS RELEASE Århus 26th November 2007

PRESS RELEASE
Århus 26th November 2007
The Danish National Opera presents its
August production in the 2008/09 season:
Richard Wagner
The Flying Dutchman
Director: Peter Langdal
Conductor: Giordano Bellincampi
Duration: C. 3 hours with interval
The opera is sung in German with Danish surtitles.
Premiere: Aarhus Concert Hall Thursday 21st August 2008, 7.30 p.m.
Other performance dates at Aarhus Concert Hall:
Saturday 23rd August 3 p.m.
Monday 25th August, 7.30 p.m.
Wednesday 27th August 7.30 p.m.
Ticket sales at Aarhus Concert Hall and at www.billetnet.dk.
The Flying Dutchman is a dramatic, existential musical tale of mankind’s tireless quest for happiness: it is
about two people who dedicate their lives trying to emancipate themselves from the storms of life, only to
realize in the end that their dreams and hopes are futile.
With The Flying Dutchman The Danish National Opera continues its tradition of performing Wagner’s great
works. And The Danish National Opera is thus preparing for a dramatic, musically captivating introduction to
the 08/09 season, presented by a top team consisting of the best forces on stage as well as behind the
scenes; not least in the form of the director and all-round artist Peter Langdal, who will be responsible for the
staging of Wagner’s opera.
THE TEAM BEHIND THE FLYING DUTCHMAN
It is with great pleasure that The Danish National Opera is looking forward to working once more with Peter
Langdal, who will be directing The Flying Dutchman. Peter Langdal has made a name as one of Denmark’s
leading stage directors and has worked at the biggest Nordic theatres including the National Theatre in Oslo,
Dramaten in Stockholm, as well as the Royal Theatre and the Betty Nansen Theatre in Denmark. Peter
Langdal began stage-directing opera at The Danish National Opera in 1990 and since then has directed
operas both here and at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen.
Our own opera director and conductor Giordano Bellincampi is himself responsible for the musical side of
The Flying Dutchman; a work full of exciting challenges both musical and dramatic. Alongside his work as
opera director Giordano Bellincampi is a frequent guest conductor of all the major Danish orchestras as well
as symphony orchestras abroad. He has previously worked very successfully with Peter Langdal at the
Royal Theatre, on among other works I-K-O-N (2003) and Tosca (2006).
The Flying Dutchman is both Peter Langdal’s and Giordano Bellincampi’s first Wagner production.
Finally the stage designer Thomas Bjørnager is responsible for the sets and costumes for the production.
Thomas Bjørnager is well known for his imaginative and original stagecraft and is often used as a stage
designer both in Denmark and abroad. In this country he has worked with production at among other places
the Royal Theatre, Østre Gasværk, Aarhus Theatre, the Betty Nansen Theatre and the Grønnegård Theatre.
He has worked earlier with Peter Langdal in connection with the musical version of Matador, which was
staged at the Opera in Copenhagen in the summer of 2007 and with the Betty Nansen Theatre’s new
interpretation of Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni in the autumn of 2007.
THE CAST
The six major roles in The Flying Dutchman are sung by a strong ensemble with some of the best Nordic
voices of today:
John Lundgren:
Sten Byriel:
Majken Bjerno:
Jens Krogsgaard:
Mette Ejsing:
David Danholt:
The Dutchman
Daland, a Norwegian skipper
Senta, Daland’s daughter
Erik, a Norwegian hunter and Senta’s sweetheart
Mary, Senta’s nurse
The mate on Daland’s ship
Also performing are a much expanded Chorus of The Danish National Opera and the Aarhus Symphony
Orchestra.
Further information (in Danish Only) about the soloists can be found at www.jyske-opera.dk - click on the
link.
Pictures can also be downloaded here.
THE STORY
A relentless storm is raging off the Norwegian coast and forces the skipper Daland to seek shelter in a fjord.
Relieved at being in safety the exhausted crew fall asleep and therefore do not notice the sombre ship that
sails into the fjord and drops anchor beside Daland’s ship.
The eerie ship belongs to the Dutchman: a hardy skipper who is doomed to sail the oceans eternally
because he has challenged the heavenly powers. Only once every seven years can the Dutchman go
ashore and attempt to be redeemed from his restless voyage by winning a woman’s love so that she will
remain faithful to him unto death.
Since another seven-year period has just passed, the Dutchman may go ashore, where he meets Daland.
The Dutchman introduces himself as a prosperous world traveller who offers costly gifts in exchange for
shelter, and who – to Daland’s pleasure – shows great interest when Daland tells him about his unmarried
daughter Senta, who is waiting for him at home.
At home Senta waits for her father and is happy when he returns safely. With him he has the Dutchman, and
when Senta sees the stranger she senses that her destiny is inextricably linked with him. When the
Dutchman makes it clear that he wants to marry her, she therefore swears without hesitation that she will be
faithful to him to the death.
The betrothal arouses some consternation, not least in Senta’s childhood sweetheart, Erik, who himself
wants to marry Senta. He cannot understand how Senta can betroth herself to a total stranger, and tries to
talk sense to her. Unfortunately the Dutchman hears the conversation. He fears that Senta will change her
mind and therefore gives the order to put to sea immediately – for if a woman breaks her vow of faith she too
will be struck by the curse, and he does not want that for his beloved.
When Senta sees the Dutchman’s ship sailing away she tries to get him to turn back by shouting her promise
of faithfulness after the ship, but the Dutchman does not hear her. Then Senta resolutely throws herself into
the sea to prove her loyalty, and at the same time the Dutchman’s ship is split by a bolt of lightning and
sinks; Senta’s faithfulness has lifted the curse and the Dutchman’s restless voyage is over.
WAGNER AND THE FLYING DUTCHMAN
For centuries the story of the phantom ship “The Flying Dutchman” has been one of the most enduring
legends among the sailors of the oceans: the sinister ship, which can be seen moving under full sail, even
when no wind is blowing, is an omen of death and shipwreck for the men of the sea, but at the same time an
expression of the hope of arriving safely in harbour.
For Richard Wagner the myth of “The Flying Dutchman” took on a special meaning in 1839 when the ship he
was sailing on was in distress off the Norwegian coast: Wagner, who had for some time been the court
conductor in Riga, was on his way to London to escape from impatient creditors in Riga. On the way the ship
sailed into a storm and had to seek shelter in one of the Norwegian fjords.
Inspired by the raging of the storm and his own feeling of helplessness, Wagner had the idea of creating an
opera based on the legend of “The Flying Dutchman”. The legend’s symbolization of the human quest for
redemption from the storms of life later became a recurrent strand in Wagner’s works.
WAGNER AT THE DANISH NATIONAL OPERA
In 1987 The Danish National Opera could proudly present the first Danish production of the whole of
Wagner’s Ring of the Nibelung in Denmark since 1912. The success was repeated in 1996 with a new Ring
cycle after a succession of other Wagner productions that all helped to position The Danish National Opera
and Denmark centrally in the European opera world.
Wagner's works at The Danish National Opera:
Die Walküre
1983, 1993
Das Rheingold
1984, 1994
Siegfried
1985, 1995
Götterdämmerung
1986, 1996
The Ring of the Nibelung
1987, 1996
Parsifal
1991, 1992
Tristan and Isolde
1989, 1990, 1992
Please contact us with any further questions.
Yours sincerely
The Danish National Opera
Lillian Dresing
Marketing and Press Coordinator
8940 9114 / 2616 9114
Anne Visby Larsen
Marketing and Communications Manager
8940 9118 / 2980 4273