Geleiten wir im bergenden Schrein den Gral zum heiligen Amte

Attributen_parsifal_002

What a weekend ! Saturday we didn't had rehearsals, but since I am stand-in for someone who has to move Parsifal on stage when he is flying, I had to go to De Munt to rehearse his flight. So I went in the afternoon, after a morning of campaigning (for the ngo Vredeseilanden), to the theatre. When we (two persons to "fly" with Kundry and myself for the Parsifal) arrived they were still rehearsing the second act. I don't want to give away any details, but I can say that the set is breathtaking. The rehearsals of the second act took more time than foreseen, so we couldn't practice a lot. 
 
In the evening I went to the italienne of the third act (a rehearsal with the orchestra playing and the singers sitting/standing on stage without acting). 
Sunday afternoon we had again rehearsals in the Malibran-room. Still a lot of changes were made and some new elements are added. The most important change is the playback. We don't have to playback anymore the text of Gurnemanz, but instead we have to playback the chorus (but we don't really have to learn the text, only pretending that we know it ...).
We got our epaulet, so for next rehearsal carrying Amfortas should be less painful, let us hope it works (see picture).
 
Tomorrow we have our first rehearsal on stage, with the orchestra in the pit. Very scary because they will not stop when something goes wrong with the action on stage. It is no longer Roméo Castellucci that will be in charge but from now one it will be the conductor maestro Haenchen (with one exception on wednesday when we have pregenerale piano).