In Bayreuth, The Valkyrie loses its Wotan in a set accident

The harder the fall of the gods will be. The premiere of the new production of The Valkyrie directed by Valentin Schwarz and conducted by Cornelius Meister, performed at the Bayreuth Festival, ended badly on Monday for Polish bass-baritone Tomasz Konieczny, as the Suddeutsche Zeitung. The lyrical singer, who interprets the role of Wotan, is “heavily seated” in an armchair, the back of which gave way. His injury, at first imperceptible, turned out to be painful. While he had continued to sing until the end of the second act, the Polish singer had to withdraw for the third. He was replaced, at short notice, by the German baritone Michael Kupfer-Radecky, as announced to the public by the festival’s communication officer, Hubertus Herrmann, at the time of the resumption.

A production that brings bad luck

Luck is not at the rendezvous of this highly anticipated new cycle of Ring, as the German daily points out. Michael Kupfer-Radecky is “already the fifth master of the godsexhausted from production. The first Wotan was to be the Austrian Günther Groissböck (bass), but he withdrew from the production. His replacement, Swedish baritone John Lundgren then canceled in June. The Latvian bass-baritone Egils Silins replaced him in the first part of the Tetralogy,Rheingold. It was therefore Tomasz Konieczny who was responsible for singing the role for The Valkyrie and Siegfried, before being replaced on Monday evening. On Tuesday, however, the Bayreuth festival gave reassuring news, explaining that the Polish bass-baritone was already doing better. He should be back on stage Wednesday night for the premiere of Siegfried.

A few years ago, another story of a broken wheelchair made headlines in Bayreuth. During an intermission, a seat had given way under Chancellor Angela Merkel, a great music lover and regular at the festival. Fortunately, without too many consequences.

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