Thomas Mann, in one of the most famous cases of audio-visual synaesthesia, stated in a letter to visual artist Emil Pretorius that Lohengrin’s sound is ‘silvery blue’. It may be so. Josep Pons, the great triumph of the premiere night achieved Lohengrin’s beautiful silvery blue sound. Pons, the principal conductor at Liceu’s Orchestra since 2012, achieved with this Lohengrin one of the best performances of the orchestra in the last few seasons. The ensemble...

Lohengrin, which premiered in 1850 in Weimar, is the sixth of Richard Wagner’s thirteen operas, and the third he wrote (after Der fliegende Holländer and Tannhäuser) that is still regularly performed today. It stands very much at a crossroads in that it harks back to classical opera in some respects, but in others looks forward to the composer’s later music dramas by including leitmotifs and being essentially through-composed (although some distinct...

Lohengrin of 1850 is the sixth of Richard Wagner’s thirteen operas, and the third he wrote (after Der fliegende Holländer and Tannhäuser) to be regularly performed still. It stands very much at a crossroads in that it harks back to classical opera in some respects, but in others looks forward to the composer’s later music dramas by including leitmotives and being essentially through-composed (although a few distinct arias are to be found within it). It is also the...

'There is happiness' and two burning hearts in a soft landscape as a big painting decorates the transparent curtain, as part of this new interpretation of the opera by young Richard Wagner. This reference to the libretto by the master is designed by Director Andreas Homoki who sets the legend of this divine hero and his swan in a very traditional Bavarian environment. The Munich Hofbräuhaus seems to be the model of the stage design and so does the traditional Bavarian costums...