Opera Chic

Guess Who Showed Up to the L.A. Opera's Ring?!

 
(The Ring cycle director, Achim Freyer and OMG GUESS WHO?) (Photo Credit: © Steve Cohn/ Steve Cohn Photography))

Saturday kicked off the L.A. Opera opening of Der Ring des Nibelungen with Das Rheingold, while Sunday continued with Die Walküre (Placidone's Siegmund and Maestro Conlon on the podium) for designer/producer Achim Freyer's light-infused vision.

The Los Angeles Opera had their pick of guests and ticket holders for the historic event, but the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion was honored last weekend by someone OC would trill her panties for... 

Click the link below to find out who was there (and if you still haven't read Opera Chic's interview with Jonas Kaufmann from the other day, click here)! 

Freyer's "Ring" In The Red; Donations Needed

 

"Los Angeles Opera leaders concede that ticket income will fall $1 million to $1.5 million short of targets" and that donations are needed to save Achim Freyer's "Ring" from a small (Pacific) ocean of red ink, the LA Times reports. Even hardcore Wagnerians seem to have doubts about Achim Freyer's staging:

The nine days "is too long for everybody," said Kiyomi Lueck, treasurer of the Wagner Society of Hawaii, echoing officers from several other Wagner Societies around the country. And most of those Wagnerians say that Achim Freyer's abstract, symbolic, decidedly nontraditional approach to the "Ring" appeals to some but infuriates many, and may weigh into decisions not to set aside so much time and money.

"A lot of our members find the production a little too wacky," said Della Geffen, president of the Boston Wagner Society, where none of the 130 members signed up for a group offer for the L.A. "Ring." "People kind of scoff at it."

And prices are in the process of being slashed:

In response to lagging sales, L.A. Opera has offered deep discounts and far more flexibility. Until late March, buyers of non-obstructed seats had to purchase a full cycle for $350 to $2,200, which comes to $87.50 to $550 per show. Now, seats can be had for $50 to $275 per show, and you can choose a single performance instead of four.

Poor Achim!

James Conlon: "We’re All Crippled by Our Own Egos": The Opera Chic Interview

Los Angeles Opera will make history in May by unveiling the company's first complete Wagner Ring cycle: it carries a chunky $32 million dollar price tag, and was created by director/designer Achim Freyer. Among the less-traditional choices made for the staging there are light sabers and puppet heads (photo below). Freyer's new production was already staged in parts for L.A. Opera the past year: Das Rheingold in February/March 2009; Die Walküre in April 2009 (with Plácido Domingo as Siegmund); Siegfried in September/October 2009 -- now Götterdämmerung’s premiere is imminent for April 3, and after its run, Der Ring des Nibelungen will be presented in L.A. Opera's first complete performances (in three full cycles) that will take over Los Angeles in May & June.

 

The man behind the Ring initiative is the Music Director of the L.A. Opera James Conlon, who has championed Wagner through his career and conducts all of Wagner’s works for the L. A. Opera. The American conductor's 60th birthday is today (YAY!) and Conlon’s still trailblazing. When he’s not at the L.A. Opera, he divides his time guest conducting at the world's top houses (we had him at La Scala in February for Rigoletto). He's also Music Director of the Ravinia Festival (the summer home of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra), and Music Director of the Cincinnati May Festival. His early career was marked as Principal Conductor for Paris National Opera, General Music Director of the City of Cologne, and Music Director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic. All richly deserved, he’s got a couple of Grammys, a 2004 Commander de L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and a 2002 Légion d’Honneur.

In addition to Götterdämmerung and this summer's Ring cycle for L.A. Opera, Conlon's rehearsing a new production (by Ian Judge) for the U.S. premiere of Franz Schreker's late-romantic tragedy, Die Gezeichneten (The Stigmatized), the first time a Schreker opera will be heard in the USA (although his work has been staged in Europe). Four performances will be given of Schreker's best known work, and will be presented as part of Conlon's Recovered Voices Series, a unique project that revives the works of composers who were silenced by the oppressive ideology of the Nazi regime, erasing a legacy of (mostly Jewish, but not all) composers and musical heritage. Conlon's Recovered Voice project was inaugurated for the 2006/07 season and includes the works of Walter Braunfels, Erich Korngold, Ernst Krenek, Erwin Schulhoff, Viktor Ullmann, and Alexander Zemlinsky.

Opera Chic was able to speak with the American conductor in Milan while he was here last month to conduct (a critically acclaimed) Rigoletto at La Scala. We discussed with the maestro the L.A.’s Ring, his love for Zemlinsky and Varese, his ideas about interpretation, and all about Alma Mahler’s taste in men.

Click for the full interview...

This Just In: L.A. Walkure -- The Video Evidence

(via Tim Mangan)

Opera Chic in today's Los Angeles Times

Opera Chic appears alongside California-resident Wagner freaks in David Mermelstein's piece for the Los Angeles Times, where she spoke about Achim Freyer's new Ring cycle for the Los Angeles Opera.

More Freyer, More Rheingold: Because You Know You Want It

More images from LA Opera's $32,000,000.00 Rheingold.

Achim Freyer's $32,000,000.00 Ring Unveiled

The Los Angeles Times has a nice photo gallery of L.A.'s Rheingold; the always insightful Tim Mangan in the OC Register has words.

Achim Freyer's production for the complete Ring carries a cool 32-million-dollars price tag in the middle of a big recession; curiously Freyer, in Hebrew, means "sucker".

We just need to figure out who's being suckered here exactly.