Parsifal

In Parsifal, his final music drama, Wagner embeds fear of the temptations of the world and sinful desires into a tale of redemption. The work is indeed a festival play for the stage rather than an opera. Many viewers – perhaps out of their own fears – criticised Wagner, who wrote both the libretto and the music, for what could be called the piece’s virtue and remarkable complexity, which is the personal tone with which he portrayed a religious theme combining notions of sacred and profane love. The visual world of this production directed by artistic director András Almási-Tóth was designed by Sebastian Hannak, who was also behind the look of Porgy and Bess and The Fairy Queen.

AUTHORS
Composer: Richard Wagner
Librettist: Richard Wagner
Director: András Almási-Tóth
Set designer: Sebastian Hannak
Costume designer: Lili Izsák
Choreographer: Dóra Barta
Video designer: András Juhász
Lighting designer: Tamás Pillinger
Dramaturg, Hungarian subtitles: Enikő Perczel
English subtitles: Arthur Roger Crane
Chorus director: Gábor Csiki
Head of the Children’s Chorus: Nikolett Hajzer

CAST

Conductor: Péter Halász
Amfortas: Michele Kalmandy
Titurel: Péter Fried
Gurnemanz: Gábor Bretz
Parsifal: István Kovácsházi
Klingsor: Károly Szemerédy
Kundry: Andrea Szántó
First page: Ildikó Megyimórecz
Second page: Anna Csenge Fürjes
Third page: Tivadar Kiss
Fourth page: Botond Ódor
I/1st flower-maiden: Lilla Horti
I/2nd flower-maiden: Laura Topolánszky
I/3rd flower-maiden: Klára Vincze
II/1st flower-maiden: Rita Rácz
II/2nd flower-maiden: Zsuzsanna Kapi
II/3rd flower-maiden: Zsófia Kálnay
Mother of Parsifal / Voice from Above: Mária Farkasréti
First Grail knight: Botond Pál
Second Grail knight: Bence Pataki
The young Parsifal: Benjámin Taba