Opera Daily

Share this post

Opera Daily 🎶 — The Floating Opera Stage

www.youroperadaily.com

Opera Daily 🎶 — The Floating Opera Stage

This week's Opera Daily features Bregenzer Festspiele and Lake Constance, the world's largest lake stage

Opera Daily
Nov 6, 2022
16
8
Share this post

Opera Daily 🎶 — The Floating Opera Stage

www.youroperadaily.com

👋 Hello to the new Opera Daily subscribers who have joined us this week. A reminder that you can check out the complete Opera Daily archives and the playlist on YouTube for more selections. If you were forwarded this email by a friend, join us by subscribing here:

2017 Production of Georges Bizet’s Carmen, Bregenz Festival (Photo Credit: Karl Foster)

The Floating Opera Stage

The Bregenzer Festspiele is a world-renowned music and arts festival that takes place every summer in the picturesque city of Bregenz, Austria.

Every year, the festival attracts thousands of visitors from all over the world.

But let’s not kid ourselves — they come for its unique setting: an open-air opera house on a floating stage on Lake Constance.

The lake is situated where Germany, Switzerland, and Austria meet.

The imagination of the festival’s set designers has no limits. They are the secret stars of this festival. Every new set takes, on average, 215 days to construct, and they seem to outdo themselves every year.

The stage is surrounded by an enormous water basin, which allows for an incredible view of the surrounding mountains. The stage itself is large enough to accommodate an orchestra of 100 musicians and a chorus of 200 singers.

Thankfully they require all singers not to be afraid of heights and be able to swim. In 2013 during a production of The Magic Flute, three singers and an extra accidentally feel into the lake, including Kathryn Lewek who was singing The Queen of the Night.

2013 production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute

Let’s listen to a selection from a past season at Bregenz and look at some photos of the amazing stages over the years.

🎧 Listening Example (3 minute listen): Compilation from Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, Bregenz Festival, July 2022, Barno Ismatullaeva (Cio-Cio-San), Annalisa Stroppa (Suzuki), Edgaras Montvidas (Pinkerton), Brian Mulligan (Sharpless), Wiener Symphoniker, Enrique Mazzola, conductor

Share

2011 production of Umberto Giordano’s Andrea Chénier
1995 production of Beethoven’s Fidelio
2002 production of Puccini’s La bohème
2007 production of Puccini’s Tosca. The colossal iris transformed into a mechanical mobile platform, becoming a new circular stage.
1999 production of Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera
2019 production of Verdi's Rigoletto. The last from the pre-pandemic era, as the 2020 festival was canceled. The clown's head and the balloon stood around 130 feet in the air.

Thank you for reading (and listening), and feel free to reply with feedback or leave a comment.

Michele

PS. If you missed last week’s selection, we featured the English opera Peter Grimes by British composer Benjamin Britten.

❤️ If you enjoyed this selection, please hit the heart to like it (and share it too!)

8
Share this post

Opera Daily 🎶 — The Floating Opera Stage

www.youroperadaily.com
8 Comments
Leibniz
Nov 6, 2022Liked by Opera Daily

How many people can attend these performances? Also, is this one of those festivals where you have to buy tickets years in advance?

Expand full comment
Reply
1 reply by Opera Daily
Daniel P Quinn
Writes ArtsPRunlimited, Inc
Nov 6, 2022·edited Nov 6, 2022Liked by Opera Daily

Did the Queen of the Night (Lake) sue the Festival ? When the fog or mist move in, it could be a very perilous stage. Are the singers miked ?

Expand full comment
Reply
3 replies by Opera Daily and others
6 more comments…
TopNewCommunity

No posts

Ready for more?

© 2023 Opera Daily
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start WritingGet the app
Substack is the home for great writing