Lohengrin - Richard Wagner

Sound-made Utopia. "A meadow along the banks of the Scheldt near Antwerp": this is how Richard Wagner describes the setting of his Romantic opera Lohengrin. Across the Scheldt comes the Grail Knight Lohengrin, son of Parzival, sailing on a swan as magical savior of the beleaguered Elsa. In an internally divided country without government, she is accused of murdering her brother Gottfried to help a secret love seize power. Lohengrin is determined to prove her innocence. Yet she may never ask about his name and identity. Just as in Parsifal, Wagner draws on an ancient myth to give shape to his vision of humanity and society. Central to this is the offered possibility of redemption from a "world of hatred and envy" (Wagner) that repeatedly betrays mankind. 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 be completely immersed in the sonic magic of Wagner's incomparable score.