Der allerheiligste Karfreitag

My first Parsifal was a special one ...
It has been for a long time the tradition in the Flemish Opera to bring a Parsifal production every year on Good Friday (premiere evening). In 1993 they would bring a production made by Angela Brandt. But two or three weeks before the premiere (09/04/1993) Marc Clémeur (at that time the general manager of the Flemish Opera) dediced that the quality of the production was so bad that he had to withdraw the production and bring the Parsifal in concert.
So not stagged... and this was my first Parsifal I attended.
I have to say that this was a good way to get to know this opera. Enjoying the music and following the libretto in German and Dutch in the programbook (at that time they didn't had subtitles yet).
The wonderful Sivlio Varviso conducted. Parsifal was sung by John Keyes, Jorma Hynninen was an outstanding Amfortas. 
 

Click here to download:
Vlaamse opera concert.doc (649 KB)
(download)

Vlaamse_opera_2

Selig im Glauben

Tuesday 28/09 I received following e-mail from De Munt, telling they confirm my participation at the Parsifal production. YES !
 
"Beste,

wij hebben uw bevestiging als figurant in onze nieuwe Parsifal-productie goed ontvangen. Wij danken u voor uw inschrijving en kunnen u met plezier bevestigen dat we u tot onze vrijwilligers kunnen rekenen. U wordt binnenkort gecontacteerd voor meer informatie.

In afwachting blijven wij te uwer beschikking indien u verdere vragen heeft.

Met vriendelijke groeten,

Aurore Aubouin & Désirée Neumann

De Munt / La Monnaie"

Sind die Tiere hier nicht heilig ?

Munt

 

Yesterday evening I went to the first meeting in De Munt. We were welcomed by Peter De Caluwe (general manager) and he gave an introduction about the "story" of Parsifal. After this Romeo Castellucci and his team explained his vision on this masterpiece.
I have the feeling that it will be a very interesting production different from all the other production of Parsifal I have seen in the past. I am not going to write about his ideas yet. It is to early to give more information, I will keep you informed in the coming months.
For the rest we received all the practical information about the rehearsals and performances. There are some changes in the data of the rehearsals. You can find an overview of all rehearsals and performances on the page above, together with the cast of Parsifal.
235 people will be on stage in the third act. More than 300 people participated yesterday evening, so normally we should be with enough to fill the stage of De Munt. There will be a replacement list (to replace people getting sick, ...) so everybody can have the opportunity to experience being a part of the opera.
Tv Brussels made a short news item about this meeting. You can see it on :

FM Brussels also made a report about it. You can hear me answering some questions about Parsifal on the following link (for those who don't know me, I am the second interviewee) :

Perhaps one teaser, there will be a "leitmotiv" on stage during the 3 acts : a big white snake ... but they assured us that it will be a "safe" snake.

Nun achte wohl, und lass mich seh'n

Click here to download:
Uitnodiging Parsifal.doc (27 KB)
(download)

Nun achte wohl, und lass mich seh'n :
bist du ein Tor und rein,
welch Wissen dir auch mag beschieden sein.
 
 
Two days ago I got an e-mail with the invitation for the first meeting in de Munt, on tuesday 14/09/2010. We will get more information about the Parsifal production. The (stage) director Romeo Castellucci and choreographer Cindy Van Acker will give us an introduction and an idea what they want to do with this production.
After this I have to decide whether I am going to participate or not.
 
The first steps in a big adventure... 

Yes, I will try it ...

Click here to download:
Data.doc (161 KB)
(download)

On the 18th of June 2010 I decided to give it a try and just go for it. It seems very interesting to see the whole process of making an opera but at the same time the thought of being on the stage of "De Munt", the opera house that I visit for more than 20 years, is quite scary.
As you can see in annex, I need to participate at 9 rehearsals and 10 performances during January and February 2011, so it will be very time consuming.
To make the experience complete, I will write down my findings, thought, ideas, ... on this posterous blog (for facebook friends :http://parsifal.posterous.com/).
When thinking about this "Parsifal experience", all the Parsifal preformances that I have seen came back into my mind. In some of the next posts I will write about them.
More information about the Parsifal in "De Munt" can be found on the (renewed) website of "De Munt" (http://www.demunt.be/nl/opera/44/Parsifal).
 
 
 

Parsifal on stage in "De Munt"

The flyer you can see in my first post (18/06), was distributed in "De Munt" in June 2010. For the opera Parsifal, "De Munt" is looking for 200 extras. For me it would be a once in a lifetime opportunity to follow the creation process of an opera from close.
I have to think about it, since it will ask a lot of my time during the most busiest time of the year at work.

BELEEF HET AVONTUUR VAN PARSIFAL VAN OP SCENE

Info_folder_figuranten

DE MUNT ZOEKT 200 FIGURANTEN

Voor de nieuwe productie van Richard Wagners Parsifal, die in januari en februari 2011 in de Munt speelt, wil regisseur Romeo Castellucci een mensenmassa op het podium. Wil u de creatie van een operavoorstelling van heel nabij meemaken ? Dan is dit iets voor u ! De Munt zoekt 200 figuranten op vrijwillige basis, van alle leeftijden (vanaf 18 jaar) en vrij tijdens de repetities en de voorstellingen.

Om de toneelervaring compleet te maken zullen er workshops, inleidingen en ontmoetingen met de betrokken artiesten georganiseerd worden.

Interesse ? Schrijf u in op www.demunt.be

Bovenstaande tekst was terug te vinden op de flyer die uitgedeeld werd aan het publiek voor de opera Macbeth in de Munt (juni 2010).

De mogelijkheid om een opera ook eens langs de “andere kant” te ontdekken, lijkt me super boeiend ... ik denk er nog even over na en check de data van de repetities en voorstellingen.