RICHARD WAGNER. OPERA “PARSIFAL”

Concert Performance

Parsifal – Michael Weinius, tenor (Sweden)
Gurnemanz – Stephen Milling, bass (Denmark)
Kundry – Martina Dike, mezzo-soprano (Sweden)

State Academic Choir LATVIJA
Latvian National Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Tarmo Peltokoski

Video Director – Dāvis Sīmanis

The Cēsis Art Festival and Concert Hall “Cēsis” continue the traditional “Cēsis Wagnerian” series with a concert performance of Richard Wagner’s final opera Parsifal, featuring outstanding international opera stars, the State Choir LATVIJA, and the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra under the passionate direction of Finnish conductor Tarmo Peltokoski.

In the title role: Swedish tenor Michael Weinius, who gave an exceptional performance as Siegmund in Die Walküre at the 2019 Cēsis concert production, and convincingly portrayed the title roles in Siegfried (2023) and Götterdämmerung (2024) in concert performances in Cēsis. Kundry will be performed by Swedish mezzo-soprano Martina Dike, internationally acclaimed for her Wagner interpretations and already known to Latvian audiences – she has sung Fricka in Wagner’s Das Rheingold and Die Walküre at the Latvian National Opera, and Brangäne in Tristan und Isolde at the 2022 Cēsis concert performance under conductor Andris Poga. Gurnemanz will be sung by one of the world’s leading Wagnerian basses, Danish opera singer Stephen Milling, in his debut performance in Latvia.

The opera is based on the 13th-century epic poem Parzival by German Minnesinger Wolfram von Eschenbach. Wagner conceived the idea of adapting this work into an opera as early as 1857, at the height of his creative powers. However, work on Parsifal was long in coming – he first completed Tristan und Isolde, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, and his magnum opus, the tetralogy Der Ring des Nibelungen. Only afterward did Wagner begin Parsifal, which became the final work of his creative life. The opera premiered on July 26, 1882, at the Bayreuth Festival Theatre. Just six months later, the composer passed away.

The young king Amfortas, son of Titurel, suffers unbearable pain from an unhealing wound inflicted by the magical Spear of Suffering. Only a pure fool, prophesied to arrive soon, can save him. Parsifal appears, a young man who remembers nothing of his past except vague memories of his now-deceased mother. Initially, it seems he is neither capable of healing the king nor worthy of becoming a Knight of the Holy Grail.

His journey leads him to the castle of the sorcerer Klingsor, who commands Kundry to seduce the visitor. When she succeeds, Parsifal unexpectedly experiences enlightenment. Enraged, Klingsor attacks and hurls the same magical spear that wounded Amfortas, but Parsifal catches it in mid-air. At that moment, Klingsor’s spells are broken, and his power is ended. Parsifal returns to Amfortas’s castle and heals the tormented king with the touch of the magical spear.

The concert performance of Parsifal in Cēsis is organized by the Cēsis Art Festival and Concert Hall “Cēsis” in cooperation with the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra.

Duration: 3 acts, 2 intermissions
Estimated end time: around 21:30