Director quits midway though Brussels Ring cycle
OperaThe Italian director Romeo Castellucci has abandoned his production of Wagner’s Ring Cycle at Belgium’s La Monnaie, blaming a shortage of resiurces.
The last two operas, Siegfried and Götterdämmerung, are being taken over by Pierre Audi, former head of Dutch National Opera and now at the Aix-en-Provence festival.
Castelluci (left) is a controversial figure who works closely with the contentious Russian conductor Teodor Currentzis (pictured). Brussels took a risk on his vision and got burned.
Having read the information from the opera company’s website, I get more the impression of the the decision being on their part rather than the director’s, though it is worded in such a way to suggest that it was a mutual parting.
anyway totally overrated this man but the media likes him
and therefore most opera managers hire him – Giovanni in Salzburg was a disaster and among the worst ever on stage
Just like Austrian director Herbert von Karajan in New York in 1969.
Or Decca scrap-metal producer Michael Woolcock in Cleveland in 1993.
Herbert von Karajan was a conductor, not director.
Anyone told that to him when he tried to direct?
I know you shouldn’t judge by appearances, but this picture conjures up a dismal image of what their productions must have looked like.
I saw the first two – thought the first was great, the second was disappointing. In the second, there were a lot of unnecessary and mainly statutory animals that just did not make sense. Perhaps the animal thing (the director stated somewhere that he needed more animals for the third and Wagner had a very strong bond with animals in his view (?)) can also explain his departure
Indeed Wagner was very fond of animals and always had some in his household: dogs especially, but also parrots, and at some time also peacocks. According to historical sources, at his exile villa in Triebschen (Switserland) a number of cats had extended the indoor zoo chasing the many mice. The advantage of animals was that they did not say anything back, or at least: not something sensible. At one occasion though, his large dog barked ostentatiously at its master upon which Wagner answered: ‘What do we get here? Barking at the great Wagner?’
Who needs parrots and peacocks when they can have currentzes and castelluccis?
Complete nonsense. The pictures on the website give you a sense of what we have seen. The videos are available on Arte but the quality of vision is poor and not a great representation of what was actually seen. I could have done without the mysterious fridge but otherwise superb
The fridge was kinda ridiculous, and undermined what came after. Performances on stage and in the pit were excellent however.
From what i heard from a singer, it is budget related….The Castelucci production would have broken the bank.
The was no financial planning ahead of a Ring production???
He as probably fed up with Currentzis’ antics.
Of Castellucci’s dozens of stage productions over the last 35 years Currentzis collaborated in only two of them, at Salzburg. The “contentious Russian conductor” had absolutely NOTHING to do with this Ring. Very misleading to use this photo!
But so beautiful…
This is terrible news. Having seen the productions of both Rheingold and Die Walkure I can attest that the mise en scène was amongst the best I have seen anywhere. Some unforgettable moments, the torture of Alberich, the ascent into Valhalla, the scary Hundibg house and not forgetting the extraordinary Ride of the Valkyries complete with horses and piles of dead helden. We were so looking forward to the next two productions but now ….?
At least the music, under the excellent Alain Altinoglu, should remain excellent.
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