Cast
Dieter Dorn — Stage director
Jürgen Rose — Set and costume design
Tobias Löffler — Lighting
Hans-Joachim Rückhäberle — Dramaturgy
Petra Lang — Brünhilde
John Daszak — Siegfried
Tom Fox — Wotan
Tómas Tómasson — The Traveller
Michelle Breedt — Waltraute
Edith Haller — Gutrune
John Lundgren — Alberich
Steven Humes — Fafner
Jeremy Milner — Hagen
Johannes Martin Kränzle — Gunther
Andreas Conrad — Mime
Regula Mühlemann — The forest bird
Maria Radner — Erda
Program notes
Opera tends be intimidating for non-opera-goers, and Wagner's operas even more so! But when an accountant cum amateur filmmaker at the Grand-Théâtre de Genève decides to take a little camera backstage during a production of , Wagner's great work becomes both accessible and magical! Discover the second part of this documentary: the show!
The Ring of the Nibelung—four operas, 14-15 hours of music—tells the story of the decline of the gods and the rise of men. It is also a parable on the incompatibility of power and love. The Wagnerian chef-d'œuvre was produced in 2013 at the Grand-Théâtre de Genève, and this captivating documentary, made in two parts, invites the larger public to discover the secrets of its making through the eyes of Chantal, accountant at the Grand-Théâtre.
Chantal had been crunching numbers for 20 years when she decided to grab a camera and, in her free time, follow the production of The Ring. Knowing nothing about the universe of the great master of Bayreuth, whose works she believed to be long and boring, she went to "climb Mt. Everest". Asking thousands of questions, she interrogates with simple words the numerous participants in this massive production: from the painters working actively on the set to the great soprano Petra Lang coming on stage in a dressing gown and promising to prepare her role while regarding the photos of Brad Pitt paper the walls of her green room… Suddenly in Wagner, everything becomes human, within emotional reach, gripped with suspense.
