Die Walküren

Bayreuth opens -- and Eva Wagner-Pasquier & Katharina Wagner's french manicure oversee the opening night gala. Katharina -- who is described as the "hip and tech-savvy" of the two new half-sister festival managers -- shows her wild side with freshly-styled p0rn curls. RAWR.

Angela and friends.

Comments

[Furst]

We looooooath the p0rn curls!!!! It is disturbing to observe how many attractive women are disfiguring themselves in this way.

[CrewMantle]

I like P0rn curls for the freedom they suggest.... But I more appreciate the suitable blondeness of all three women; they share Germanic heritage.

While at Dim Sum yesterday, there was a gaggle of irritatingly bleached blonde cougars at the next table. This look did not work for any of the lot regardless of how much paint and lacquer they applied to their elderly faces. The real housewives of Long Island, Orange County, etc, have sufficeintly eradicated any remote taste I ever owned for blondes....

[the young Werther]

Katarina looked a million times better last year when the season opened in 2008. It's worrisome that she's already peaked at such a young age and is seriously sliding into spoiled goods territory. She looks like a trashy hausfrau.

[Chris]

The dame with the curls looks frumpy to me. Frumpy trying for elegance. Elegance manque.

[edda]

Come on, guys, give those girls a break.
Just listening to the radio-broadcast of "Meistersinger", really like Klaus Florian Vogt´s boyish sound, he´s a nice, young Walther. Ah, and Alan Titus is a great Sachs. Any comments?

[Furst]

We cannot, regrettably agree in respect of Titus whose "Wahn" monologue we just heard and cannot describe ourselves as being overly impressed with Michaela Kaune. While we have been familiar with Titus for some time and are not surprised we must say that we are to some extent at a loss respecting Kaune about whom we have heard and read good things.

[yappy]

Ahem, correction: The one with the curls is Eva Wagner-Pasquier, the older sister, who at 64 should be totally entitled to look that way (and can look better too). It's Katharina (photoshopped photo here) that might worry me, if I cared about such things. ;-)

[yappy]

Oops, sorry. Got confused about which sort of curls was being talked about. OC got it all right, my bad. Must have been the "frumpy" that directed me towards Eva.

[Warren]

Katharina's a babe. I'm picturing her in a durndel outfit in my mind right now... Uhhhh, anyway, what was I saying?

I don't get the comments that say she looks trashy. Not from my angle. She's done up rather low-key compared to many of the get-ups and do's I've seen on the girls around here & down on the local college campus this summer. She just looks like a sassy, sexy lady. Let's just cross our fingers there's some musical mojo in the mix with these two women. I bet there will be.

[edda]

@Furst: Titus ran a little bit out of breath in the third act, didn´t he? Well, it´s indeed a very long opera. Concerning Kaune I totally agree with you, as she wasn´t the "lieb´Evchen" I expected to hear. In fact I was a bit irritated by the large vibrato she produced.

[Furst]

@edda

Titus: the most singing of any role in Wagner.

Vogt: Surprised somewhat on the upside.

Kaune: We have heard her referred to as a "hidden gem", "the best German full lyric of her generation", and such like and so forth. On the evidence of yesterday a good "House Soprano", nothing more (we're not sure what the standard for such is at the Deutsche Oper - but her performance approximated what we imagine that standard to be: we're not sure if Harteros would be considered a "HS" at the BSO, but that's a whole different kettle of fish - or plate of Bratwurst, as it were [we hesitate to use that expression because while we may not despise the dish we think of Frau Harteros in somewhat more refined terms]). We really do need to be careful to make a judgement based on one hearing but yesterday's effort was hardly stupendous.

[Joey]

OMG, Mariah Carey and Wagner...yes!