REHEARSAL: Richard Wagner. Siegfried. An opera concert performance

As a new contribution to the ‘Cēsis Wagneriana’, the Cēsis Art Festival and Cēsis Concert Hall jointly present a performance of the third part of Richard Wagner’s opera tetralogy ‘Der Ring des Nibelungen’ – ‘Siegfried’. The Latvian National Symphony Orchestra will be led by the young, wise and passionate Finnish maestro Tarmo Peltokoski, who has already taken the international musical scene by storm.

The ‘Siegfried’ opera is a tale of a young man who slays a dragon and learns the power of love. Siegfried does not know fear; he craves adventure and successfully forges a hero sword. A taste of the poisonous dragon’s blood allows him to understand the language of the Woodbird. Siegfried does not even suspect that the fight for the ring of the Nibelung continues and the twilight of the gods is approaching; without as much as batting an eyelid, he crosses the magic ring of fire, kisses and wakes up Brünnhilde, put to sleep by Wotan, and finally experiences fear: he has encounter a hitherto unfamiliar desire. The opera is crowned by a jubilant song of praise to ‘radiant love, laughing death’ by Brünnhilde, the Valkyrie who has lost her immortality, and the naïve hero Siegfried.

The concert performance at Cēsis Concert Hall will star some of the world’s leading opera singers at the prime of their career. The title role will be performed by Michael Weinius, who was an excellent Siegmund in the 2019 rendering of ‘Die Walküre’ in Cēsis. This will be our first meeting with the award-winning internationally sought-after character tenor Andreas Conrad as the Niebelung Mime. The role of the Traveller a.k.a. Wotan will be sung by the excellent Oliver Zwarg, who appeared as Kurwenal in the Cēsis version of ‘Tristan und Isolde’ and has sung Alberich in the Latvian National Opera production of ‘Das Rheingold’. The Lithuanian dramatic soprano Vida Miknevičiūtė, who is well known in Latvia, is taking on the complex role of Brünnhilde, and we will hear the brilliant Swedish contralto Anna Larsson as Erda in Cēsis. Fafner the Dragon will be performed by Timo Riihonen, whom we met as Hunding in ‘Die Walküre’ in Cēsis, Alberich will be sung by Armands Siliņš, and Kristīne Gailīte will embody the Woodbird.

Photo: Anete Rudmieze