Lohengrin - Richard Wagner

Sound-made utopia 'A meadow along the banks of the Scheldt near Antwerpen': this is how Richard Wagner describes the location of his romantic opera Lohengrin. The Grail knight Lohengrin, son of Parzival, comes across the Scheldt on a swan as a magical saviour of the besieged Elsa. In an internally divided country without government, she is accused of murdering her brother Gottfried to help a secret love to power. Lohengrin is determined to prove her innocence. Yet she may never ask about his name and identity. Just as in Parsifal, Wagner uses an ancient myth to give shape to his vision of man and society. Central to it is the offered possibility of redemption from a 'world of hatred and envy' (Wagner) that betrays mankind time and again. What remains is a utopian vision that the composer translates into the ethereal Grail music that surrounds Lohengrin. The concert performance of Lohengrin at OBV invites you to become completely absorbed in the sound magic of Wagner's matchless score.