Wagner’s “Ring” is a challenge. The Berlin State Opera Unter den Linden is now holding all four premieres in one week.
With the new production of Richard Wagner’s “Der Ring des Nibelungen” at the Berlin State Opera Unter den Linden, the opera season that is just beginning is already approaching one of its highlights. After nine years of preparation, from October 2nd the theater will stage all four premieres of “Rheingold”, “Valkyrie”, “Siegfried” and “Götterdämmerung” within a week. Beyond Bayreuth, this mammoth work – the work lasts around 16 hours – is usually divided into several seasons.
The new “ring” was actually intended as a symbolic birthday present for Daniel Barenboim, who will be 80 in November. However, the general music director has to vacate the desk due to illness. Conductor Christian Thielemann, who himself grew up artistically alongside Barenboim, stepped in at short notice. The 63-year-old is also seen as a potential replacement when Barenboim’s contract expires in 2027.
Thielemann himself does not want to commit himself to a possible successor. “At the moment I’m not even considering considering something like that,” said Thielemann in Berlin. He will be chief conductor of the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden for another two years, “and then we’ll see what happens,” said the conductor.
Calendar until 2028 well filled
Thielemann was already artistic director of the Easter Festival in Salzburg and music director of the Bayreuth Festival. He referred to his busy calendar with plans until 2028. “But life plays funny games. I never thought that I would be here for the ring now,” he said. “Who knows what’s going on here. I’m from Berlin.” Thielemann lives in Potsdam. Actually, he should have been on vacation now. “I would have ridden my bike on Sylt now.”
The conductor described the trips that are often necessary for his work as sometimes tedious. “It’s much more important than traveling to work with orchestras that you fit in with. That has to remain open-ended.” He couldn’t say he really wanted to go there. “Because if it doesn’t fit, then it doesn’t fit. And if it fits and you suddenly have the feeling, oh, that could be nice, then it will happen. The State Opera is a house where you can definitely would love to come back.”
He described the collaboration, especially with the orchestra, as “simply excellent. We hit it off straight away.” Musically, the Staatskapelle is very much in line with him. “It’s a precise, dark-playing orchestra that I really like. The musicians are incredibly flexible and have an enchanting pianissimo.” The orchestras in Dresden and Berlin have a lot in common.
Completely different lineup
The short-term takeover also requires flexibility for the conductor. “The setup in the ditch is completely different than in Dresden or in Bayreuth,” said Thielemann. “I have to get used to that here at the moment, the wind instruments are all on the right and the strings on the left.” But these are practical problems. “I didn’t change anything, I took over everything. Ultimately, I don’t have the right to want the changes. The experiences have obviously turned out to be good.”
For the Russian director Dmitri Tcherniakov there was a lot of recognition from Thielemann. His work is “highly impressive. He’s a really great artist. He has ideas that are completely understandable. It’s told stringently from A to Z,” said Thielemann. “I was blown away by how he choreographed gestures and reactions to certain words.”
Tcherniakov seems to know the “Ring” by heart. “I’ve rarely seen anything like it, I have to say – and I’ve worked with a lot of great directors who always knew the plays well. But I’m stunned by Tcherniakov.” The director is absolutely uncomplicated in the easy adjustment. “I think we are one heart and one soul,” said Thielemann. He looked at the production “and was convinced that it was good”. (dpa)