“Das Rheingold” enchanted the audience
This year’s performance of the “Der Ring des Nibelungen”, part of the Sofia Opera Wagner festival, began with “Das Rheingold”.
By utilizing fantastic digital scenography, viewers saw the waters of the Rhein come to life while the Nibelung caves and Valhalla: the castle of the gods, impressed with their grand scale. Plamen Kartaloff’s director’s vision and concept almost fully matched Richard Wagner’s notion of Gesamtkunstwerk, with their syncretic connection between each and every element in the production.
The scenes were shown to the audience like a masterfully crafted film while the artists displayed an incredible interpretation of the composer and the director’s vision.
There were two debuts in the lead singer ensemble. The first one: by the American bass Thomas Hall who delivered an imposing performance as Wotan, and the second one: by the Finnish mezzo-soprano Niina Keitel who performed wonderfully as Frika. Also starring: Plamen Dimitrov (Alberich), Krasimir Dinev (Mime), Daniel Ostretsov (Loge), Silvana Pravcheva (Freja), Petar Buchkov and Stefan Vladimirov as the two giants Fafnir and Fasolt, Svetozar Rangelov (Donner), Hrisimir Damyanov (Fro), Vesela Yaneva (Erda) and the Rhein maidens Stanislava Momekova (Woglinde), Ina Petrova (Welgunde) and Alexandrina Stoyanova-Andreeva (Flosshilde).
Conductor: Evan-Alexis Christ. He is well-known to the Sofia audience and received deserved ovations by the audience.
The performance was met with incredible exaltation by the viewers and the wild applause and “Bravo!” shouts after the finale praised all artists.
Wagnerians from the USA, Germany, Austria and Italy again enjoyed Wagner’s score and expressed their delight from being present at the festival.
Present were also music critics and Wagner experts from the most prestigious music magazines and digital platforms in the world such as Opera, Scherzo, Orpheus, OnlineMerker, Gramophone, Operaworld.
Everyone was truly thrilled after the end of the performance and left quite flattering reviews of “Das Rheingold” regarding Plamen Kartaloff’s vision and director’s decisions.
Viewers noted that the opera was presented in an easily understandable way for the audience: both the score and the director’s decisions were in remarkable sync while the best possible colors were picked for the costumes, the scenography and the artistic lighting: they were all perfectly synchronized with the nuances in Wagner’s score.
Scenography in “Der Ring des Nibelungen” by Hans Kudlich; costumes by Hristiyana Zorbalieva; artistic lighting by Andrew Haidinyak.
The “Der Ring des Nibelungen” tetralogy continues on Sunday, the 29th of June, with a magical performance of “Die Walküre”.
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After the thrilling first night of the “Der Ring des Nibelungen” tetralogy: “Das Rheingold”, we share our audience and our foreign viewers’ impressions.
