LOHENGRIN • BAYREUTH 2025
★★★★☆☆
Photo: Enrico Nawrath
REVIEW LOHENGRIN: WAGNER BLUES IN BAYREUTH
Top conductor Christian Thielemann opens the Bayreuth Festival’s production of Lohengrin with an immensely well-played overture, which unfolds in thunderous darkness and hints at a number of the moods we will encounter in Wagner’s early fairy-tale opera about the mysterious Swan Knight.
Photo: Enrico Nawrath
Soon after, the curtain rises on a mildly updated medieval story, now set around a Fritz Lang Metropolis-esque retro-industrial transformerstation with electricity pylons and raw set pieces of oversized high-voltage industrial waste from the recent past.
In short, Knight Lohengrin has come to power the fairy-tale land of Brabant, where the somewhat convoluted heroic epic unfolds amid coils of rolled-up wire, dangling cables and flashing lights.
The population of Brabant is depicted as a colony of moth-like insects, helplessly drawn to the almost religiously exalted power supply.
Photo: Enrico Nawrath
The concept explores the clash between modernity and the old order. The entire production is presented in a secure and insistent aesthetic colour scheme of blue, blue, and blue – except for an electrifying rape scene, where the colour shifts to red.
The story is essentially about faith and doubt and is a piece of anti-authoritarian social criticism, created in the years leading up to the anarchist Wagner himself taking to the barricades in the so-called Dresden revolution.
As Elsa, who must be rescued from false accusations, the outstanding South African lyrical/dramatic soprano Elza van den Heever is convincingly flanked by Polish star tenor Piotr Beczala in the title role, who makes his entrance with an interpretation of a swan that most resembles the iconic American B2 stealth bomber.
Unconventional American director Yuval Sharon’s terrarium-like insect costume concept culminates in Lohengrin’s fight to the death against the evil Telramund, who has been rejected by Elsa and wants her dead.
The duel takes place high above the stage – and ends with Telramund’s fall and humiliation when Lohengrin magnanimously spares his life.
The “comfort” offered by Telramund’s sister Ortrud is a kick in the groin and a couple of punches to her lousy loser brother, whose comeback in the second and third acts is eagerly awaited by Wagnerians familiar with the story. I will not venture into a detailed summary of the plot.
The first act ends with a bang and thunderous applause from a festively dressed Bayreuth audience, who have already gotten more than they came for.
In the second act, Wagner really gets going when the opera’s two female combatants, Elsa and Ortrud, meet in a storm of musical splendour. The long scene is accompanied by magnificent projections of dramatic skies, but somehow manages to remain scenically unexciting despite Thielemann’s masterful handling of Wagner’s innovative score.
The grand wedding in the finale (did you know that the wedding march/Here comes the bride comes from Lohengrin?) is a demonstration of power and solemnity, executed with a lavishness that is not an everyday occurrence, even for a trained Wagner reviewer.
Photo: Enrico Nawrath
Of course, it all ends badly when Elsa is tempted to ask the forbidden question: Who are you, Lohengrin? and any semblance of a happy ending comes crashing down.
Piotr Beczala is convincing in the title role but almost a little too nice, and the character pales in comparison to Ólafur Sigurdarson’s wonderfully evil Telramund. However, it is Miina-Liisa Värelä’s sharp Ortrud who steals most of the show.
The international opera press has been rather critical of this 2018 production, which was given another chance in the 2025 revival, to which I was invited. It is true that one can ponder the insect metaphor and the electric stage design for a long time without becoming much wiser about the idea.
Opera productions should make sense, even without having to pore over the entire programme to decipher the codes.
But still. What an evening! Four stars from GOT TO SEE THIS for a visually impressive, albeit slightly over-the-top, rendition of Wagner blues.
