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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!

The successful summer season of the Tyroler Festspiele Erl closes today with a sold-out performance of Richard Wagner’s Götterdämmerung. This year’s balance sheet compares favorably with successful reports from past years. From July 9 to August 2, 22,000 audience members attended ten sold-out performances and fifteen well-attended performances. The occupancy rate was circa 93% for the main program (opera/concert) and 82% overall. (chamber music)

While Wagner’s Ring der Nibelungen (presented twice in four consecutive days) and Verdi’s Messa da Requiem were mainstays of the program; the chamber music program, folk music group ALMA, and guitar evening with Julia Malischig were also popular events in the Festspielhaus. Each event was attended by approximately 600 audience members.

The festival’s winter season will continue as usual on December 26, 2015. Ticket sales are progressing well, particularly for Verdi’s Nabucco and Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia. Nearly 50% of the tickets have already been sold. In the meantime, ZWISCHEN/ZEIT, “Alpenländisch-Chinesischen Konzertagen” will take place in the Festspielhaus on September 17 and 18, 2015.

The Macao Orchestra will build a bridge to European high culture on Thursday, September 17, 2015, with Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto and Bruckner’s Sixth Symphony, while the “Alpenländisch-Chinesischen Kammermusik” chamber music groups explore musical borderlands of two opposing cultures on Friday, September 18, 2015. The regional development of various musical styles will be presented in an international context. In addition, the Münchner Philharmoniker will present a chamber music series from November 7, 2015 at the Festspielhaus Erl.

Upcoming performances of the Tyroler Festspiele Erl will take place far from home in Beijing and Shanghai. The first fully staged productions in China of Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and Tristan und Isolde will be performed at the Poly Theater in Beijing, followed one week later by the Ring in 24 hours.