Festival: Riga Opera Festival| Date | Event | Composers, Works, Performers |
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| Tuesday 4-Jun-13 07:00pm |
 Latvian National Opera, RigaDas Rheingold Riga Opera Festival |
Latvian National Opera |
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| Latvian National Opera, Riga, Riga LV-1050, Latvia Tuesday 4-Jun-13 07:00pm The dwarf Alberich renounces love and steals the gold guarded by the maidens of the Rhine. He forges a magic ring from the gold, but it soon becomes the object of desire by Wotan, ruler of the gods, who wants to save his wife’s sister from the giants. The infuriated Alberich lays a curse on his lost treasure – anyone who possesses it will eventually meet their doom…
“The characters in this play about the Ring take every means to obtain power and the right to construct a reality which seems meaningful to them. Even the ruler of the gods, the creator of all that is real and the guardian of its order, finds himself entrapped in the artificiality of his own reality. Throughout the play, moments of strength and beauty, truth and genuineness are exposed as sorry efforts of his conceitedness. The gods have never been so committed to humanity and the humans have never been more at the mercy of the gods – ever since the day they fabricated the theatrical arena in which they continually display and invent themselves,” says stage director Stefan Herheim of the production’s concept.Image credit: (c) Andris Krieviņš | ||
| Wednesday 5-Jun-13 06:00pm |
Latvian National Opera, Riga Die Walküre Riga Opera Festival |
Latvian National Opera |
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| Latvian National Opera, Riga, Riga LV-1050, Latvia Wednesday 5-Jun-13 06:00pm The young Siegmund doesn’t even realise that he is the one who could save the gods from destruction. But his father Wotan, ruler of the gods, has given in to the desires of his jealous wife and sentences his son to death. Wotan’s daughter interferes unexpectedly – the courageous Valkyrie Brünnhilde, whose heart has been overcome with compassion. However, the price to be paid for disobedience is high…
“In his passionate musical drama Die Walküre, Wagner confronts issues such as adultery, incest, betrayal and murder. Almost all of these, however, are motivated by love. In his production, Viestur Kairish focuses on the existential conflict between love and politics. The battle is fought, won and lost in the privacy of Hunding’s house as much as it is publically in an arena. It’s a timeless conflict, as old as mankind itself, wrapped in the hypnotic beauty of Wagner’s music,” says dramaturge of the LNO production Jochen Breiholz.Image credit: (c) Andris Krieviņš | ||
| Friday 7-Jun-13 05:00pm |
Latvian National Opera, Riga Siegfried Riga Opera Festival |
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| Latvian National Opera, Riga, Riga LV-1050, Latvia Friday 7-Jun-13 05:00pm Siegfried, the third opera of Richard Wagner’s Ring des Nibelungen tetralogy, has all the ingredients of a gripping fairy tale: A naive hero grows up deep in the forest without parents. Not yet knowing what fear is, he kills the dragon Fafner and wins not only the magical ring which has the power to rule the world, but also Brinnhilde, the Valkyrie who sleeps on a mountain top surrounded by an impenetrable wall of fire. Wagner’s music, a sublime web of leitmotifs, is as emotionally rich as it is dramatically thrilling.
“Siegfried is a story about power and the battle for it. Being one of our most quintessential quests, it is always relevant, and never more relevant than today. Siegfried is specially trained and nurtured with one specific aim—as an instrument for acquiring power. However, the power of childishness and nature has survived in Siegfried, and that is what makes this character so fascinating,” says Viestur Kairish.Image credit: (c) Gints Mālderis | ||
| Sunday 9-Jun-13 03:00pm |
Latvian National Opera, Riga Götterdämmerung Riga Opera Festival |
Latvian National Opera |
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| Latvian National Opera, Riga, Riga LV-1050, Latvia Sunday 9-Jun-13 03:00pm In Götterdämmerung, the work's essential conflict between the longing for love and the greed for power - which Wagner developed and deepened during the course of the Ring's previous operas Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, and Siegfried - comes to a shattering culmination. The hero Siegfried unknowingly betrays his bride Brünnhilde. She swears vengeance - and sets off a chain of tragic events that brings the world to an end.Image credit: (c) Gunārs Janaitis | ||
| Wednesday 12-Jun-13 07:00pm |
Latvian National Opera, Riga Lucia di Lammermoor Riga Opera Festival |
Latvian National Opera |
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| Latvian National Opera, Riga, Riga LV-1050, Latvia Wednesday 12-Jun-13 07:00pm Lucia di Lammermoor’s plot is loosely based upon Sir Walter Scott's historical novel The Bride of Lammermoor. The fragile Lucia is caught in a feud between two noble Scottish families. Her dreams of happiness and love fall to pieces in the desperate race for power and fortune... Lucia di Lammermoor is Gaetano Donizzeti’s most celebrated opera; the main reason for its popularity over nearly two centuries rests on one moment – the famous mad scene for the heroine ¬Lucia | ||
| Thursday 13-Jun-13 07:00pm |
Latvian National Opera, Riga Tosca Riga Opera Festival |
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| Latvian National Opera, Riga, Riga LV-1050, Latvia Thursday 13-Jun-13 07:00pm Giacomo Puccini's Tosca is a tale about the battle between higher ideals and desires, the new and the old, and true love and true hate. In this production by director Dmitri Bertman, the colorful interiors of Rome set the stage for the passions felt by the opera diva Floria Tosca and the artist Cavaradossi, as well as for the complex relationship between Tosca and secret-police chief Scarpia, which, in the last act, plays out in an environment certainly atypical of Puccini's operas: Tosca's subconscious.Giacomo Puccini’s opera Tosca is an intense tale of the battle between higher ideas and desires, the new and the old, and true love and true hate. | ||
| Friday 14-Jun-13 07:00pm |
Latvian National Opera, Riga Dauka Riga Opera Festival |
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| Latvian National Opera, Riga, Riga LV-1050, Latvia Friday 14-Jun-13 07:00pm As in the previous season, the Latvian National Opera will continue the popularization of Latvian opera music. Andris Dzenītis is one of the most talented, multi-faceted and internationally successful new Latvian composers. The main character of his new opera is an archetypal hero forever searching for the end of the horizon, walking a path that forever runs through ectasy and catasrophe. In this take on the story, Dauka is no longer a naive child, but an adult, who leaves materialistic society behind only to be met with unsurpassable resistance in his challenging adventures in the vast spirit world. Poet Kārlis Vērdiņš’ libreto is based on the classic children’s tale by Sudraba Edžus, interweaving modern timbral and textural discoveries with a viscerally Latvian feeling. | ||
