Deutsche Oper Berlin. Wagner's Siegfried. May 29, 2026.

Deutsche Oper Berlin.  1.RANG Links (Seat 5-2, 120 euros).

Story.  See previous post.

Conductor - Sir Donald Runnicles.  Siegfried - Clay Hilley, Mime - Ya-Chung Huang, Der Wanderer - Iain Paterson, Alberich - Michael Sumuel, Fafner - Tobias Kehrer, Erda - Lauren Decker, Brunnhilde - Elisabeth Teige, Ein Waldvogel - Cornelius Park.

Both Wotan and Brunnhilde are sung by different artists.

Of the four operas in the Ring cycle, the one that's usually the most challenging to sit through is Siegfried.  The Heldentenor is asked to carry most of the show.  The singing in each of the three acts is substantial, and he has to portray Siegfried correctly.  There are various ways to do the latter, but how the character of Siegfried evolves from a petulant or lost young man in the initial scene to someone lost in regret at death (in Gotterdammerung) is a major arc in the plot.

The first act is basically carried by Siegfried and Mime.  Wotan, as the Wanderer, did make an appearance.  The dialog between Wotan and Mime is used to provide more background to the story.  For instance, the different realms of beings (gods, giants, and Nibelungs), and it is nice to hear the leitmotifs associated with them.  If Wagner had an editor (I assume he didn't, or was his own editor), the editor should have encouraged him to excise this segment as by now there is already considerable clarity.  And the clarity is not really necessary anyway, the audience still has many other aspects of the story to muddle through.  One example is how Wotan manages to father so many children with different women; somehow Fricka is okay with that, but breaking up a marriage (Siegmund) is a capital offence.

The "forging song" sung by Siegfried is the highlight of Act 1.  While it was generally done well by Hilley, the volume was not uniform.  And up to that point I still wasn't sure whether I was looking at a petulant, strong-willed, or naive character.  Overall, I thought I had seen better Act 1s.

My reaction to the set design has been "silly, but works" up to this point.  One notable exception until now was the effigies of Fafner and Fasolt in Das Rheingold.  I give the nod again to how the dragon (Fafner) is portrayed.  Mostly, anyway.  For lack of a better description, the way the dragon was slain was by its shining teeth pulled out by Siegfried.

The way the Waldvogel is portrayed is unusual, and original, but not necessarily clever or effective.  When I saw the name "Cornelius" as the bird, I naturally assumed it would be a counter-tenor singing in the background.  What happens is a boy soprano (again dressed in white underwear) singing it on stage.  The idea should work, and worked to a certain extent.  The voice was a bit on the harsh side, not quite the elegant tone of the flute which announced the melody.  The boy has a loud voice, though.

End of Act 2.  Siegfried, Alberich, Waldvogel, Fafner, Mime and Wotan.  Wotan is sung by same artist who was in Das Rheingold.  Don't understand why the Waldvogel is covered in blood.

For the third act, the awakening of Brunnhilde remains a dramatic event.  Some (as CS did) may wish for a more singable tune, but the words "hail sunshine, hail light" were good enough for me.  The role for today was sung by Elisabeth Teige.  Brunnhilde becomes a mortal when she is awakened, and that is realized by her taken her wig off, revealing white short hair.  From our seats she aged considerably with that.  Great dramatic effect, no doubt; but not so flattering for the actress involved.  (People .sitting closer to the stage may not have seen such a dramatic transformation.)

Elisabeth Teige appeared as Brunnhilde in this opera.  She sang the role of Sieglinde in Die Walkure, so resting her voice was probably not a consideration here.  By taking her wig off, Brunnhilde aged considerably (compare with photo from Die Walkure, although Brunnhilde was sung by Trine Moller).

Erda, Wotan, Brunnhilde, Runnicles, Siegfried and Alberich at curtain call. The refugees/spectators have a proclivity to strip down to their underwear, conveying a message that's lost to me.  Don't know what the two people dressed in black are.  Notice also the music score held by a woman on the left.

Speaking of slowly unfolding plots, I went to listen to this aria "heil dir sonne, heil dir licht" on YouTube again, it took two minutes of orchestra music before the words came on.  So Wagner needed more than just a libretto editor.  If extras (or refugees in this instance) were ever necessary, this opera could use the distraction they provide.

My earlier opinion that Siegfried is the most difficult one to sit through is again confirmed.  Siegfried has a lot of singing to do - he has 90 to 100 minutes of singing, while all the other characters combined do 75 to 85 minutes.  A heroic and admirable attempt by Hilley, but the quality slipped every now and then.  What you don't want is pity creeping into the equation, but there were moments I felt that way.

One last note.  Deutsche Oper Berlin seems to always provide English surtitles, which is greatly appreciated.  Now if they can just make the font a little bigger (well, a lot bigger), that would be much appreciated.  Many couldn't read from where we sat, and those who could had to concentrate, thus missing some of the actions on stage.  (One can see how small the surtitles are by looking at the first photo in this series.)

A lot of complaints, I know.  But there is also a lot of appreciation on how well the performances have been put together.

Berlin Philharmoniker. Semyon Bychkov, conductor; Vikingur Olafsson, piano. May 27, 2026.

Berlin Philharmonie. Section D Links (Row-4, Seat-1, 51 euros).

Olafsson and Bychkov after performing Beethoven's Op. 73 piano concerto.  Usually known as either the fifth concerto or the Emperor concerto.

Program

Coriolan Overture in C minor, Op. 62 by Beethoven.

Concerto for Piano and Orchestra in E-flat major, Op. 73 by Beethoven.

Symphony No. 5 D minor, Op. 47 by Shostakovich.

We bought tickets for Berlin Philharmonic and Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin for the off days during the Ring cycle.  Of course both organizations are well-known in their own right.

We heard a concert in this hall back in 2019, and Blomstedt was conducting.  At that time he was still doing his conducting standing up; in the last couple of weeks he was in the news for needing a lot of help getting on and off the podium.  Time comes for us all.

Looking back over that blog entry, I also remarked how the acoustics didn't live up to the venue's reputation.  Our seats were in Section B, quite a bit more expensive than ours today in Section D.  However, my first reaction was how great the sound was.  Clear, "true," and rich.  (I don't have the vocabulary of a sound technician.)

Per my blog, this was the third time I heard the Coriolan Overture.  My reaction is the same as on prior occasions: not familiar, yet definitely Beethoven.  But the clear sound of the orchestra came through.

After the Coriolan overture by Beethoven.  The piano (a Steinway) is already set up on stage.

That the acoustics was great was confirmed by the piano concerto.  For a real performance, the balance between the soloist and the orchestra is always a challenge.  Perhaps it's our seat location, but that wasn't an issue at all today.  Neither "side" overwhelmed the other, a close to perfect balance.

It may not have been the best Emperor concerto I have heard, and I have heard many, but the performance by Tsujii with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, back in 2014, always stand out.  That was a great performance, but I was also moved by how difficult it must have been for a blind person to get the piece right.  Olafsson delivered the piece without any fuss, clearly enjoying himself while doing so.  I often joke that Beethoven's violin concerto shows how a genius can string together a series of scales, arpeggios, and other standard violin techniques to form beautiful music; I sometimes wonder if a pianist would say similar things about the Emperor concerto.

Olafsson played an encore based on Bach's Air on G String written for the violin.  He joked that he would be using many strings.

Per Google.

After the intermission we heard Shostakovich's Fifth.  I remain baffled by the piece, but I am also glad to report that it begins to make some sense.  What's most noticeable, though, was how clear the parts sounded.

I had written about this piece several times before.  Some of the blog entries actually made sense, I am glad to report.  In any case, the four movements are simply marked Moderato, Allegretto, Largo and Allegro no troppo.  It's about 45 minutes long.

We have operas and concerts every day for six days, so I am falling behind in these entries, and thus must keep them brief.  And if I didn't write any remark down right afterwards, then I can remember only the vaguest details.

The ticket, at 51 euros, was a great bargain.  The concert began close to 8 pm, and didn't end until 10:15 pm.  I wonder if Berlin Phil would move to a 7:30 pm start time soon.

The acoustics at our seats in the D-section was excellent.

The Philharmonie is a short walk from our hotel, so we didn't have any of the transportation issues we experienced last time.

Deutsche Oper Berlin. Wagner's Die Walkure. May 27, 2026.

Deutsche Oper Berlin.  1.RANG Links (Seat 5-2, 120 euros).

This time we caught both banners.

Story.  See previous post.

Conductor - Sir Donald Runnicles.  Siegmund - Matthew Newlin; Hunding - Tobias Kehrer; Wotan - Jordan Shanahan; Sieglinde - Elisabeth Teige; Fricka - Annika Schlicht; Brunnhilde - Trine Moller; Walkures - Martina Weischenbach, Felicia Moore, Maria Motolygina, Aleksandra Meteleva, Arianna Manganello, Karis Tucker, Nicole Piccolomini, Lauren Decker; Hundingling - Eric Naumann.

I guess the producer achieves something if people who attend their productions talk more about the sets than the music itself.  But is that a good thing?  Today I found myself debating a bit more about whether the sets helped or hindered the audience's appreciation of Wagner.

The opening scene consists of three characters: Siegmund, Sieglinde, and Hunding.  I think we can suspend our traditions and consider it a good thing that Siegmund and Sieglinde, twins, fall in love, and Sieglinde - trapped in forced marriage - decides to leave her husband.  But why bring in Hundingling (didn't know the name until I read the Program), a child of Hunding and Sieglinde.  Actually that the child was the couple's son didn't occur to me at first, I thought the fourth character's task is to act out the emotions in the drama; he showed fear, love, disinterest, and disdain at different times.  However, one would appreciate the Act even without this Hundingling; one could even make a case that his presence distracts.  In all the productions I have seen, it takes a while before the twins fall in love.  Herheim decides no time should be wasted, Sieglinde embraced and kissed Siegmund soon after they met.

The challenge of many Wagner operas - Walkure included - is that the drama is delivered by a few singers; it takes superb singing to capture the audience's attention for long periods of time.  The extras provide some level of visual distraction; but one can also say it's a vote of no confidence by the director that the singers are good enough by themselves.

Hunding had a shotgun, and Siegmund didn't succeed in retrieving Nothung - cleverly left behind by Wotan at the end of Das Rheingold - until the third try, are some of the unnecessary deviations from the original script.  The piano became a more versatile prop when it was raised and rotated with Siegmund standing on it while describing his past.  Also, more and more suitcases (or facades thereof) are used to provide the backdrop for the sets.  The role of the "book" (I noticed more clearly the title) became clearer today: it stressed that the audience is seeing a rehearsal.  Indeed the singers refer to it every now and then.  Also, the piano "playing" that happens every now and then also stressed the rehearsal aspect of what unfolds on stage.

When Brunnhilde first appeared, she had this joyous look on her face.  The other Valkyries also presented as a happy bunch of warriors.  That joy, unfortunately, was short-lived, as the tetralogy continues to unfold.

For me Act 2 contains the saddest episode in the Ring.  I find the dialog between Brunnhilde and Siegmund about his impending death particularly moving.  Today was no exception, despite the fact that I was watching a rehearsal.

At the end of Act 2.  Siegmund, Sieglinde, Brunnhilde, Wotan, Fricka, and Hunding.  Yes, Wotan is sung by another artist, he may be a last-minute substitute.

End of performance.  Next to Runnicles are Brunnhilde, Wotan, and Sieglinde.  The others are the Valkyries.  Also note the suitcase-theme set.

I mentioned in the Das Rheingold writeup we didn't see Alberich turning into a dragon and a toad, here the missing element is Grane.  The steed is mentioned several times, but never shows up (not even as a butler as in Bayreuth).  How will they do the scene in Gotterdammerung where Brunnhilde leads Grane into the fire?

Speaking of the fire, it was represented by projections of images onto "the sheet."  The sheet has raised corners that are meant to represent the flame.  The cleverness is beginning to get old, as the setup reminds me of these Halloween costumes that are basically a sheet with a hole in it.

Wagner has this tendency to drag out some conversations to such an extent that one wonders what more can be said.  The one between Wotan and Brunnhilde in Act 3 is a good example of that.  Sometimes additional listenings can add to the appreciation of the story, not today though.

At the very end, Sieglinde came up from the piano and Mime delivered a baby from her.  That helps to set the scene for the next opera.

Overall, this was an enjoyable performance.

Deutsche Oper Berlin. Wagner's Das Rheingold. May 26, 2026.

Deutsche Oper Berlin.  1.RANG Links.  Row 7, Seat 1 (120 euros).

That's how the entire Ring cycle started.

Story.  See previous post.

Conductor - Sir Donald Runnicles.  Wotan - Iain Paterson; Donner - Thomas Lehman; Froh - Kieran Carrel; Loge - Thomas Blondelle; Alberich - Michael Sumuel; Mime - Ya-Chung Huang; Fasolt - Albert Pesendorfer; Fafner - Tobias Kehner; Fricka - Annika Schlict; Freia - Martina Weischenbach; Erda - Lauren Decker; Rheinmaidens - Lea-ann Dunbar, Arianne Manganello, Karis Tucker.

The banner announces the opera that is being performed.  We didn't notice the second banner which would have the title of the opera on it.  (Das Rheingold for today.)

I started this series with considerable trepidation, predominantly due to the pre-reading of this production (what little I did of it), and due to a dialog I had with Microsoft CoPilot.

What I read about this production gave me an impression that it was similar to that of the Bayreuth Ring, but at a different (more difficult) level.  A different story was being played on stage than the one Wagner intended, and the audience is left to fend for itself when it comes to understanding what is going on.  CoPilot introduced to me the term Regietheater and all its implications, and suggested a completely different mindset would be needed if the operas are to be appreciated fully.  To make things worse, CoPilot says the director Stefan Herheim is of the third-wave Regietheater generation, and uses terms like Postdramatic, Meta-Theatrical, and Ontology-Changing to describe their products.  None of these terms is familiar to me.

Let me first say my reaction after seeing this first of the operas was that all the worries are overblown.  It was perfectly fine to treat this as a modern rendition of the old warhorse, although the director may have chosen to skip some elements in the original plot.  Or rather chosen not to emphasize them, or represent them some other way.  And he added a few elements to it.

A grand piano forms the center-piece (and supposed anchor) of the production.  It sat there, by itself, as the audience filed into their seats.  Then a group of travelers came on stage with suitcases, and the leader hits a key on the piano.  No sound came from the piano, as it's just a prop (a rather versatile one, it turns out).  Instead the orchestra started with a soft E-flat, exactly as Wagner intended.  A few observations.  The Director (Herheim) meant these to be refugees, although so far (I finished Walkure last night) they could just be travelers who happen to be spectators.  The other is the music performed is exactly what Wagner wrote (not that I know all the details).  Also, suitcases are used a lot in this production.  They are placed in front of the piano so the entrances and exits of people are blocked from the audience, they are basic building blocks for the different sets (e.g., walls).

One clever ploy is that these travelers become the Nibelungs.  But the production designers didn't bother to "change" Alberich at all when he used the helmet to turn into a big dragon and a small mouse.  I thought they could at least project these images onto this jack-of-all-trades sheet.

Generally speaking, the leitmotifs can be appreciated just as Wagner intended them.  Valhalla, Staff, Notung, Rhine, and others all evoke images of their intended objects.  Again, this opera can be appreciated exactly as Wagner intended it, other than some of the "new" elements Herheim introduced.  In my opinion, most of them are superfluous anyway, luckily they are not significant enough to detract from the drama.

In fact, one can even complain some staging is a bit clumsy.  A prime example is the way they used gold as payment to the giants for completion of Valhalla.  They simply took objects (golden ones, I suppose) from suitcases and piled them onto Freia who was lying in the piano; no subtlety, no finesse.  And the gold ring is the same gaudy lighted orb used in many other productions.

The other prop that is constantly present is the sheet.  Herheim talks about how it started small and grew in size.  I didn't catch the progression.  But I had to admire how they could control a rather large sheet, and how they could project different backgrounds onto it to accommodate different scenes.  And it is a lot cheaper than the 24-plank setup the Met used for its now-retired set.  While the sheet worked admirably in this opera, it got a little comical during Die Walkure (again, I am typing this entry after having seen Walkure).

The way they used effigies for Fasolt and Fafner was also clever.  I was disappointed when their heads (made from suitcases, of course) dropped to the floor even though the two were still singing.

In other productions I have seen, Das Rheingold ends with Wotan leading the family towards Valhalla.  Here Wotan goes down the prompter's box and follows Erda to the center of the earth (?), that would explain how the two conceived Sigmund and Sieglinde.  Indeed the opera ended with a projection of twin fetuses.  I thought they copied the Bayreuth production, but Anne remarked that the Bayreuth twins were Wotan and Alberich (a fact that production made up).  Incidentally, Erda is located at the prompter's box as she supposedly knows how the story unfolds.  Interesting idea, but I am quite sure Erda isn't the prompter.

The prompter's box must be quite sturdy as we often have people standing on it.

One more new element in this production is that the spectators are watching a rehearsal, thus the action we see is one additional level removed from the story.  If that is indeed the case, is the actual audience (yet one more level removed) supposed to feel any emotion from the story?  As I said, the audience can ignore all these distractions; does that make the production a success, or a failure?

There is this "book" whose significant was lost on me during Das Rheingold.  In Die Walkure the title "Die Walkure by Richard Wagner" appears clearly on the cover.  I suppose it is to emphasize we are seeing a rehearsal here, and people still need their scores at this stage.

What made today's performance great was that Wagner came through, by and large.  Despite all the added elements, we get the story as Wagner intended it.  Credit must be given to the musicians - both the singers and the orchestra.  The singers came across strongly (a few weak spots here and there, but I don't remember the specifics), and the orchestra sounded superb.  Incidentally, Runnicles is the first left-handed conductor I have seen.

From left: Rheinmaidens, Mime, Freia, ?, Loge, Runnicles, Alberich, Wotan, Fricka, ?, Erda, ?, ?.  The first two ?s are Donner and Froh, the second are Fasolt and Fafner.

I have remarked before how hard-edged German opera productions tend to be.  Today's was somewhat tamer, although there really is no need for simulated sexual scenes.  And this great tendency to strip down to underwear and slips.  One unexpected aspect is how the Nibelungs move strikingly like Nazis, with the goosesteps and the outstretched arms.

In addition to the four operas in the Ring, we are also going to a concert at Berlin Philharmonie and Konzerthaus.  Six altogether.  My entries thus would have to be quite brief.