Latest updates from Mastersingers
5th July
We had the very great pleasure of enjoying the second Ring cycle at Longborough which was a triumph for Mastersingers alumni. All of them were excellent, particularly Rachel Nicholls wonderful performances as the three Brünnhildes and Lee Bissett’s singing and acting as Freia, Sieglinde and Gutrune. The rest of the roll call is Julian Close as Fafner and Mark Le Brocq as Loge, Andrew Rees as Siegmund and Meta Powell as Ortlinde and Third Norn, Jonathan Stoughton as the Gotters Siegfried, Stuart Pendred as Hagen, and even Malcolm Rivers as the elderly Alberichs and Nick Fowler as Assistant Director and riveting Vassal. Roger Lee is desperate for a volunteer to write a review for Wagner News so please consider this.
Roll on 2015 when Rachel Nicholls is scheduled to sing Isolde at Longborough!
Also on the rest days at Longborough David Edwards organised and excellent series of evening events at Blockley – we went to a fascinating interview with Anthony Negus with rare recordings, a very entertaining divertissement The Merry Nibelungs by Oscar Straus adapted by Nick Fowler and featuring Lee Bissett, Rachel Nicholls, and Stephen Rooke, and an interesting understudy rehearsal of the second half of Die Walkuere Act I with Carmen Jakobi directing Meta Powell and Stephen Rooke.
We understand that Rachel Nicholls and Jonathan Stoughton have been engaged to sing Eva and Walther in Meistersinger at Karlsruhe. The prima is scheduled for 27th April and later performances have been tentatively scheduled for 7th and 29th May, 22 June and 6 July.
The young Finnish conductor Pietari Inkinen has been announced as Richard Mills’ replacement for the four Melbourne Ring cycles from November 18 to December 13.
We were very disappointed that this was not to be Anthony Negus’ great opportunity.
We were also a little disappointed by the TV programme on the Castles of King Ludwig II and it was strange to never see a queue! It is still available on the iPlayer.
David Waters
