Wagner

Laura Wilde

“This production shows how the magic works,” Laura Wilde on Lyric Opera’s Das Rheingold

I first met Laura Wilde during our sophomore year at St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN. At St. Olaf, it soon became obvious to everyone who listened to her that she was going to make something of herself in the notoriously competitive world of opera. Unsurprisingly, she’s done just that! Playing Freia in Lyric Opera of Chicago’s latest production of Wagner’s Das Rheingold, Wilde was gracious enough to answer a few questions about herself and the production for Opera Sense.

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By Trevor Gillis, ago
Das Rheingold

Overview – Das Rheingold, Opera of the Month

The libretto to Das Rheingold was the last one Richard Wagner wrote for Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung), but it was the first opera of the cycle that he composed music for. This opera serves as the prologue in his epic Ring tetralogy, with the next three operas being Die Walküre, Siegfried, and Götterdämmerung. Rheingold premiered in Munich in 1869, but it was not until 1876 that it was performed as part of the first complete cycle at the legendary Bayreuth Festspielhaus theater (a theater designed by Wagner and built specifically for the Ring) in Bayreuth, Germany. The annual Bayreuth festival continues to this day.

Das Rheingold

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By Trevor Gillis, ago
Most popular opera

The performances to see early this 2016 / 2017 season

It’s an intoxicating time of year for operagoers! The 2016/2017 opera season is just beginning, and it looks like it’s going to be a fantastic year! Here are a few of the biggest productions to keep your eyes on this fall…

The Metropolitan Opera is opening its season with Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde next week on Monday, September 26, 2016. This revolutionary work is often viewed as one of the earliest pieces to take definitive steps away from tonal music, as represented by the famous Tristan chord, an integral part of the Tristan leitmotiv. For those of you not in New York, you will still have a chance to see a live performance of this groundbreaking work at the cinema on October 8, 2016 at noon Eastern Time. Later in October I am particularly excited to watch the Met’s Don Giovanni, one of the Mozart – Da Ponte collaborations, at the cinema.

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By Trevor Gillis, ago

A few arias to go along with your coffee

Opera music can be a bit much to chew early in the morning, but here are a few pieces that I find go well with my morning coffee.

Although not an aria, it just can’t get much more beautiful than that, can it? Those french horns – wow! “Elsa’s Procession to the Cathedral” is from Wagner’s Lohengrin. I think the title of the piece does a fairly good job explaining what’s happening in the opera when you hear it. (more…)

By Trevor Gillis, ago