Were there any particularly memorable moments in Bayreuth?
Mario Klein: Being in the orchestra pit for the first time, drowning, sinking in the Wagnerian floods… supreme pleasure…
Sebastian Weigle: All the bad weather and the resulting inventiveness for private ventures
Your favorite spot in Bayreuth?
MK: Sternplatz
SW: Of course, Eremitage and Hofgarten
What does your perfect day off look like?
MK: At the Theta (beer garden)!
SW: Sleep long – eat well with friends – sleep
What music do you listen to to relax privately?
MK : Georges Brassens, Tom Waits, Dire Straits, Ella Fitzgerald
SW : Jazz, Bossa Nova
Your favorite character from Wagner’s operas?
MK: Hans Sachs
SW: Ortrud
What do you consider your greatest weakness?
MK: Stubbornness
SW: Always thinking about food and drink besides music
What qualities do you value in yourself and in others?
MK: Honesty
SW: Humility and flexibility – and in others: the same; also serenity to accept and see things as they are
I have a hidden talent as a…
SW: Restaurant finder and tester
With so many deaths in Wagner’s operas – what would be your last meal?
MK: Gansbrüsterl (roasted goose breast)
SW: If I can live on afterwards: Liver dumpling soup, Parmesan risotto with lemon & shrimp, Cheese fondue, Chocolate soufflé
These things make me weak…
MK: Food and drink…
SW: Girl show at Friedrichstadtpalast, Nutella, good music (music well interpreted)
Which person – living or dead – inspires you?
MK: Thomas Mann
SW: To name just one would be presumptuous… the following stand for many others: Daniel Barenboim, Leonard Bernstein, Carlos Kleiber, Theodor W. Adorno, Michael Jackson, Hildegard Knef
If you hadn’t become a singer/artist/musician, what would you have liked to be?
MK: Chemist
SW: Singer/artist or musician, maybe even a conductor… actually a bus driver or Russian teacher
You can now beam yourself anywhere in the world, where would you go?
MK: Heidelberg
SW: I’m so glad that’s not possible, you’d just be “gone”… but Barcelona is very nice…
MK: Air to breathe, food, drink…
SW: Music, good book, my best friend, my best friend, electric light, car
Which person would you like to meet – and why?
MK: Thomas Mann – I would like to discuss Germany and the Germans with him
If you could travel back in time, which era would you like to visit?
MK: Romanticism/Biedermeier
What was the worst / most embarrassing / funniest thing that happened to you during a performance?
MK: Singing a recitative for 3 people with only 2 present (Fourth act of Figaro)