This is the event of this fall: “Lohengrin”, the opera by Richard Wagner seen by the Russian director and filmmaker Kirill Serebrennikov. Result: a grandiose, impressive work.
Where to give head? The show evolves on three levels. Kirill Serebrennikov thought big and broad for the adaptation of Lohengrin at the Opéra Bastille. Several scenes take place simultaneously. Video installations surmount the central stage, in front of the choirs and on the stage the story unfolds carried by Piotr Beczala, in the title role, at the top of his art. And for non-German speakers, we must add the surtitling in French and English to this artistic millefeuille. This profusion gives a grandiose dimension (and also macabre at certain moments, between 1984 And Brazilia) to Wagnerian work. A blockbuster, according to the expression of the Russian director and filmmaker.
Kirill Serebrennikov, helped with the sets by Olga Pavluk, propels Lohengrin in a universe of endless war. Echoing Ukrainian news. For his debut at the Paris National Opera, he made an impression with his apocalyptic vision, with this machine for making corpses. At the premiere, Saturday September 23, the audience was won over by this creation to applause. However, the show began with an unexpected twist: due to illness, South Korean baritone Kwangchul Youn, who plays King Henry, was replaced at short notice by Tareq Nazmi. A last minute change which did not affect the show.
Love, death and war
So what is the subject of Lohengrin? This is the story of Elsa, a young girl accused of having killed her brother, heir to the Duchy of Brabant, and who asks to be defended by the man she saw in a dream: Lohengrin. The latter accepts on the sole condition that she never asks him to reveal his name, and therefore his origins. Is such love possible? Will she resist or break her promise? Ortrud and Telramund, who made the accusations, desire the kingdom for themselves and continue to plot. Did Elsa, played by South African soprano Johanni van Oostrum, really kill her brother or was it just a hallucination? The second act takes place in a psychiatric clinic. Lohengrin is a romantic opera in three acts written and composed by Richard Wagner between 1845 and 1848. The German composer was then thirty-seven years old.
:quality(50)/2023/09/26/lohengrin-23-24-c-charles-duprat-onp-41-6512de601f1bf729273095.jpg)
His characters are not Manichean, even the heroes have their dark side. “The initial idea of this production was that of a universe polluted by an endless war. Unfortunately, this view turned out to be prophetic, in a sense, with the start of the war in Ukraine. confides Kirill Serebrennikov. Carried by an inspired cast and dense music, under the direction of Alexandre Soddy, Lohengrin Kirill Serebrennikov’s version is grandiose, impressive.
Form
Title : Lohengrin
Booklet and music: Richard Wagner
Director, sets, costumes and lights: Kirill Serebrennikov
Musical direction: Alexander Soddy
Conductor of Choirs: Ching-Lien Wu
Set design: Olga Pavluk
Distribution : Kwangchul Youn, Piotr Beczala, Johanni van Oostrum, Sinead Campbell Wallace, Wolfgang Koch, Nina Stemme, Ekaterina Gubanova.
Duration : 4h20 with 2 intermissions
Place : Bastille Opera
Dates: Until October 27, 2023