Rehearsals for this Year’s Children’s Opera Have Begun: the Meistersinger Von Nürnberg for Children Aged 6 to 10.
It’s a bit chilly in Rehearsal Stage IV, where rehearsals for this year’s children’s opera, a BF Medien production commissioned by Bayreuth Festival, are beginning, and where the premiere will also take place on July 25, the traditional opening day of the festival, at 1 PM.
After Daniel Weber from BF Medien first welcomed the team, including Hartmut Keil (Musical Direction) and Eva-Maria Weiss (Staging), both of whom are also responsible for the new version, the director enthusiastically explained the production’s ideas. Her focus is on the fairy-tale aspects of Wagner’s only comedy: Walther von Stolzing arrives as a stranger in a big city, where he must pass several tests before finally winning the heart and hand of his beloved Eva.
The staging is based on a unique feature of the Bayreuth Children’s Opera: The costume ideas originated (as in previous years) from a painting and drawing competition. The results were so beautiful that it was decided not only to make the performers’ costumes look painted, but to use children’s drawings as the starting point for the entire production.
Two opposing grandstands form the arena-like space that Walther von Stolzing will enter. The stage and audience area are not strictly separated – the young audience should be as close as possible and, for example, be involved in the action during the festival meadow scene. In this space, there will initially only be a large blackboard (alongside some signposts to “Nuremberg”). However, as soon as something is drawn on this blackboard, characters and props, as if summoned by drawing, can actually appear. This is how Eva-Maria Weiss ultimately aims to go “from an empty space to a big city”.
For the first time, the children’s choir of the Phorms School Frankfurt am Main will participate. As in previous years, 29 musicians from the Brandenburg State Orchestra Frankfurt (Oder) will perform in the midst of the action, under the direction of Hartmut Keil. So, there’s a lot of fresh energy in Rehearsal Stage IV.
“Richard Wagner for Children” is made possible by the friendly and generous financial support of our main sponsor Audi, our sponsors Wöhrl and Piotrowski, as well as numerous supporters.