Survey
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
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