Christina Pier as Senta and Wayne Tigges as “The Dutchman” in Virginia Opera’s “The Flying Dutchman.” Photos by Lucid Frame Productions/Courtesy of Virginia Opera
Where and When
Virginia Opera presents Richard Wagner’s “The Flying Dutchman” at George Mason University/Center for the Arts, 4400 University Drive, Fairfax.
Performances: Saturday, April 23, 2016 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, April 24, at 2 p.m.
Tickets: $48, $80 and $98. Call 888-945-2468 or visit http://www.cfa.gmu.…">www.cfa.gmu.edu.
Note: There will be a free 30-minute pre-performance discussion with Dr. Glenn Winters (Doc Opera) 45 minutes before the curtain.
Its rumbling, intense music, shiver-inducing dark forces and ultimate story of redemption by love have enthralled audiences since its premiere nearly 175 years ago. Its title and ghostly matters are immediately recognized. It is “The Flying Dutchman,” composer Richard Wagner’s enduring tale of a sea captain sentenced to sail the turbulent seas with a doomed ship for all eternity. That is unless he finds a woman prepared to risk her own life to save him from a curse.
Famous for its tempestuous overture that brings the storm tossed seas to life, Wagner’s “The Flying Dutchman” closes the Virginia Opera’s performance season at the George Mason University Center for the Arts.
The production is directed by Sara Widzer, under the guidance of Francesca Zambello, artistic director, Washington National Opera. Zambello originally created the production. Virginia Opera’s Principal Conductor, Adam Turner, will lead the Richmond Symphony Orchestra in the opulent driven score.
Bass-baritone Wayne Tigges (The Dutchman) and soprano Christina Pier (Senta) both indicated patrons will be treated to an exhilarating evening of powerful music, rich voices, abundant lively dramatic staging in an earthy production. The scenic design which includes a sailing ship with plenty of riggings and rope will add character and vitality to the trance of “The Flying Dutchman.”
“The Flying Dutchman" is a great fable that allows the imagination to soar. It is far from stuffy opera.” said Tigges. He spoke of its music as one contemporary audiences can hear as “a hard-rock beat and power ballads. It is just so visceral.” He described his “Dutchman” character as having a punk-rock edge “with great vitality and sensuality along costumes with an almost hard-metal/steam-punk visual appearance.”
Pier described “The Flying Dutchman” as an opera with something for everyone, even if someone is new to opera. “It is accessible and will resonate.” She described her character Senta as “fearless. She is a woman finding herself; beginning to know who she is.” Unexpectedly caught between the man she is expected to marry and a mythical man she falls in love with, making her final choice of a suitor, “she is not giving up herself, but is validating the truth of who she is as she knows it.”
Virginia Opera’s “The Flying Dutchman” examines in a stirring manner, can loyalty and love save a cursed sea captain from a harsh fate. See for yourself; the stuff of legends.