Greeting the Festival Chorus
It’s just before 10 AM, and the chorus rehearsal room, with its 240 seats, is beginning to fill up—with people from all over the world, and above all, with joy, anticipation, and good spirits. Most of them know each other and are reuniting here, with warm greetings and many hugs. The noise level swells.
Then Eva Wagner-Pasquier and Katharina Wagner arrive, and now it’s an equally tumultuous and heartfelt applause that fills the hall. Both welcome the Festival Chorus (as many theaters are still in operation, it’s not entirely complete), playfully apologize for the weather, and set the tone for the work by building excitement for the new production of Der Fliegende Holländer, which is well underway.
Next, chorus board member Sander Heutinck (back left) welcomes his colleagues to their “second home” and, as every year, congratulates the festival directors belatedly on their birthdays with two lavish bouquets. Then, the first practical matters are addressed: one of the men’s dressing rooms has moved, there are new “wardrobe attendants,” the first costume fitting list is already posted, the makeup department promises to follow soon with the basic makeup list, and kindly points out that with tightly scheduled makeup times, a five-minute delay already means a lot of time…
Now Eberhard Friedrich (front right), director of the Festival Chorus, interjects eloquently: Before getting bogged down in too many details, it is important and right to first fully greet each other—especially since “it is much nicer to greet you than to say goodbye!” In a season without the Ring, there is always a lot of work for the chorus, but he is looking forward to Holländer and working with Jan Philipp Gloger, with whom he has already met several times—and, of course, to renewed collaboration with Christian Thielemann.
Then, the 25 new colleagues who are participating for the first time this year are individually welcomed—by voice section, from 1st soprano to 2nd bass. They come from Vienna, Detmold, Helsinki, among other places, and three are from Glasgow. Following a long-established principle, each newcomer is assigned an experienced mentor to help them ease into the festival routine.
Despite all the seriousness and effort, Eberhard Friedrich promises a lot of fun at work. And with that, the greeting seamlessly transitions into the first Holländer rehearsal: “Ghosts, please come here—tenors, basses; Daland there—tenors, basses…”