Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg ****
Glyndebourne Festival, 21st May 2016
Eurovision last weekend, Nuremberg’s Got Talent this evening – it’s evidently song contest season. And what finer work to launch Glyndebourne Festival’s season, under the watchful eye of new General Director Sebastian Schwarz, than an opera which reflects upon song and the need to honour art and tradition whilst remaining open to new ideas. Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg is a marathon curtain-raiser to the season, but the six and a half hours (including intervals) flew past in Sir David McVicar’s gorgeous staging, revived for the first time since its 2011 debut with a cast led by Gerald Finley, gloriously reprising his Hans Sachs.
Jochen Kupfer (Beckmesser) and Gerald Finley (Hans Sachs)
© Tristam Kenton
Read the full review on Bachtrack.