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Wagner: Parsifal, WWV 111
Every new production of Parsifal in Bayreuth is a special event, as it was written specifically with the Bayreuth acoustic in mind. In summer 2016, director Uwe Eric Laufenberg presented his reading of Wagner’s Bühnenweihfestspiel, transposing it to a region bordering Iraq, Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan – in other words, to the very heart of today’s religious wars. The cast boasted Klaus Florian Vogt as a silvery yet clarion-toned Parsifal, the fabulous Elena Pankratova as Kundry, the “Rose from Hell”, rich-voiced Georg Zeppenfeld as Gurnemanz, Ryan McKinny with his burnished baritone as Amfortas and Gerd Grochowski in one of his last major roles as Klingsor. The New York Times was full of praise: “Sensitive, visually arresting … With an excellent cast and the conductor Hartmut Haenchen drawing radiant sound and striking transparency from the festival orchestra, this was a sublime and provocative Parsifal.”