The Bayreuth Festival is canceled – but some Wagner singers invite you to a concert on the lake stage in Bayreuth on Sunday. Baritone Michael Volle told the “Nordbayerischer Kurier” (Friday) that the sudden standstill and the uncertainty due to the corona crisis were already getting on the nerves enormously.
Permanent colleagues are at least financially secure. “It is a great tragedy that there will be so many in our genre who will not survive it.” Independent singers have no lobby, “everyone fights for himself”. A singers’ union “would not be wrong. It would be easier for everyone if one had a general contract like orchestras and choirs,” said the family man.
He is currently rehearsing “Boris Godunov” in a production by Barrie Kosky at the Zurich Opera House. “There are only singers and extras on the stage,” while the choir and orchestra are in the rehearsal room. “That will be transferred to the hall for a lot of money.” It’s like being on the Bregenz lake stage, with additional screens. “But how that feels – I have no idea,” said Volle.
This could also be a stopgap solution for Bayreuth: “Better always than not playing at all.” Bayreuth with its orchestra pit is unique. “Nevertheless, many asked themselves why everything was canceled in Bayreuth.” In Constance he played with colleagues and the South West German Philharmonic “at full strength in a stadium”.
The singers would appear on the Bayreuth stage on Sunday in a colorful Wagner dance with 29 musicians from the Festspielhaus. “To feel my colleagues, to feel the audience – those are moments that I am already living towards,” said Volle.
Quelle: What / Dpa
–
