© St. Margarethen Festival 2025
For its 2025 edition, the Steinbruch Opera Festival in Austria will be staging a new production of Wagner's The Flying Dutchman, starring Elisabeth Teige and George Gagnidze. Director Philipp M. Krenn intends to recreate a Norwegian fjord on the gigantic stage of the St. Margarethen quarries.
The limestone blocks in the impressive quarry at St Margarethen in Austria have been quarried for almost 2,000 years – the Romans were already using them. In 1996, however, the site underwent a radical change of vocation when it became the venue for the no less impressive St Margarethen Opera Festival. Today, the quarry is one of the largest natural stages in Europe (around 7,000 m²), and each year it hosts a spectacular new opera production: St Margarethen's creations are renowned for being highly impressive, with countless extras amidst stunning pyrotechnic effects, and the audience is always there - each summer the festival welcomes around 160,000 visitors.
After Carmen last year and Aida this summer, the 2025 edition of the St. Margarethen Opera Festival will feature a new production of Richard Wagner's The Flying Dutchman. The production will be directed by Philipp M. Krenn, who promises to recreate a fjord in the old quarry.
A Norwegian fjord in the career of St. Margarethen
Philipp M. Krenn has been directing operas for ten years - and next April he will be staging the eagerly awaited Parsifal with Jonas Kaufmann at the Erl Festival. In St Margarethen, he intends to use the "natural dimension and power" of the quarry to bring out the "strength, rage and despair" of Wagner's opera, in order to tell "a great love story carried by romantic music in a unique atmosphere".
To achieve this, he will be assisted by set designer Momme Hinrichs, one of the founders of fettFilm, one of the leading companies in the use of video projections in live performance. And he is enthusiastic: “The space and possibilities (of the quarry) are literally a fantastic playground for set designers like me”. For The Flying Dutchman in St Margarethen, he intends to “transform the quarry into a vast Norwegian fjord landscape, in all its harshness, with violent waves breaking on the shore”. And he promised that “a ship will dock there”.
Production model of the Flying Dutchman at St. Margarethen 2025
Elisabeth Teige and George Gagnidze on stage
Musically, Patrick Lange will conduct the Piedra Festivalorchester – which will be in residence in St Margarethen next year.
On stage, the Festival has assembled a triple cast that will take turns performing. Elisabeth Teige, Johanni van Oostrum and Johanna Will will sing the role of Senta in turn - Elisabeth Teige has already distinguished herself in the role on several occasions, notably in Oslo, Frankfurt and Berlin, but also at last year's Bayreuth Festival, where she caused a sensation. The title role will be sung by baritones George Gagnidze (a regular at New York's Met Opera), James Rutherford (who sings the role regularly) and Tommi Hakala. Tenors AJ Glueckert, Dominik Chenes and Nenad Čiča will sing the role of Erik.
The next edition of the St. Margarethen Opera Festival will take place from 9 July to 23 August 2025. Details of the programme can be found on the festival's website, where tickets can also be purchased.
free translation of our article first published in French
the 16 of November, 2024 | Print
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