13.10.2015: Kuhn named "Artist of the Year" in China

Just before the performance of Wagner’s Die Meistersinger on October 9, 2015 in the Poly Theater in Beijing, China, Gustav Kuhn was named “Artist of the Year” for his contributions to music in China. “Maestro Kuhn’s achievements with the Parsifal production in October 2013 and with this year’s Chinese premieres of Meistersinger and Tristan have become a world-wide phenomenon: His name is mentioned in the same breath with the works of Richard Wagner,” says Yu Long, Artistic Director of the Beijing Music Festival and one of the most important and influential conductors in China.

The Beijing Music Festival was obviously a perfect choice for this very first performance of Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg: The performance was completely sold-out, as was Tristan und Isolde two days later. When the piece ended, 1404 audience members rewarded the singers, chorus, and orchestra with thunderous applause. The Beijing audience has longed for more than Peking-Opera for quite some time. The people here love European music and worship the works of the great western composers. It seems that they are particularly fond of Wagner.

Although the audience remained concentrated for the entire performance, the behavior of the Chinese audience would be considered unusual in European opera houses: Photographs are constantly made with cell phones and tablets during the performance and audience members often leave the auditorium or change seats. Conversations are held. This would be difficult for a European audience member to accept. But at the end of the performance, the only thing that matters is the enthusiasm and loud applause. There was plenty of that!  online ticket shop please visit the website: www.tiroler-festspiele.at