Members of the “Lohengrin” Production in an Interview

Die sogenannten Pausenmusiker zum ersten Mal auf den Balkon des Festspielhauses

Were there any particularly memorable moments in Bayreuth?
Petra Lang: Ponnelle’s Tristan.
Samuel Youn: My first appearance in Bayreuth (Parsifal 2004) and my debut as the Herald in this Lohengrin.
Christian Tschelebiew: Many: What I particularly remember is the first performance I heard in the Festspielhaus (Parsifal 1994 – I was a scholarship holder). The moment the prelude began, that acoustics, that magic, indescribable and unforgettable!
Reinhard von der Thannen: The first time in the auditorium of the Festspielhaus

Your favorite place in Bayreuth?
PL: The stage of the Festspielhaus
SY: lamondi Sushi bar
CT: For example: The Hofgarten, the park below the Festspielhaus, the “Theta” beer garden, and of course the Festspiel canteen.
RvdT: Villa Wahnfried

What does your perfect day off look like?
PL: Sleep long, have a leisurely breakfast, and then go swimming / to the sauna
SY: Take a trip with the family, e.g., to Nuremberg, Munich, Ulm, Würzburg, etc.
RvdT: Swimming and sauna

What music do you relax to privately?
PL: Frank Sinatra
SY: Korean pop music
CT: Besides my work as an opera singer, I also pursue a serious profession: I am the singer and guitarist of the Horseville Rangers (more info at: www.horseville-rangers.de)
RvdT: Piano Concertos by W.A. Mozart

Your favorite character from Wagner’s operas?
PL: Kundry
SY: Wotan
CT: The citizens of Nuremberg from Die Meistersinger
RvdT: Kundry

What do you consider your greatest weakness?
PL: My fondness for good chocolate
SY: Meeting new people
RvdT: Sweets

What qualities do you value in yourself and in others?
PL: Honesty and directness
SY: In myself: Not being afraid of performing and being on stage
RvdT: Passion and passion

I have a hidden talent as…
PL: You’ll have to ask others.
SY: … a table tennis player!
CT: Lazybones! Being lazy and a little bored now and then is very healthy, but only now and then!
RvdT: Comedian

With so many deaths in Wagner’s operas – what would be your last meal?
PL: Potatoes with quark and linseed oil
SY: Korean food that my wife cooked.
CT: Since I’m allergic to many things, I would use that to finally eat eggplant, pineapple, apples, etc., and thus make the executioner’s job easier. And there would be a Franconian Zwickl (fortunately, I’m not allergic to that)!
RvdT: Hungarian Goulash

These are my weaknesses…
PL: Truffles
CT: The list is long, e.g., Franconian beer, cigars, Daisy Duck
RvdT: Gummy candies, ice cream, cigarettes

Which person – living or dead – inspires you?
PL: Mother Teresa
SY: God
CT: My father (1934-2011)!!!
RvdT: Matthew Barney

If you hadn’t become a singer/artist/musician, what would you have liked to be?
PL: Researcher
CT: If I hadn’t become a singer, I would certainly have become an artist and musician.
RvdT: Singer (a star, of course!)

You can now beam yourself to any place in the world, where are you going?
PL: Antarctica
SY: Milan
CT: To where there is eternal summer!
RvdT: Kerala / South India

Which person would you like to meet – and why?
SY: Hermann Prey – because he is my role model
RvdT: Johnny Depp, I think he’s great!

If you could travel back in time, which era would you like to visit?
PL: I am quite happy in the here and now.
SY: To the time of opera’s creation
CT: I would be more interested in the future. Otherwise, the 1920s in Berlin and the 1950s in the USA.
RvdT: 1920s

You have one wish:
PL: Happiness and contentment for my surroundings.
SY: To sing as Wotan in Bayreuth
RvdT: To design the Ring in Bayreuth

What was the worst / most embarrassing / funniest thing that happened to you during a performance?
PL: The belt of a pair of baggy trousers ripping during the applause for Mozart’s “Il re pastore” at the DNO Amsterdam.
SY: The worst: I overslept and almost missed the performance; The most embarrassing: when I forgot the lyrics during a performance; The funniest: when I saw a colleague sleeping on stage during a performance.
RvdT: A room within the stage set (basic space) for Fidelio at the Hamburg State Opera got caught in a net hanger, was pulled up, and crashed down, a few centimeters next to the singers. I was sitting at the premiere and almost died of panic.