In the 2025 season, the Opera im Steinbruch will present “The Flying Dutchman,” a work by Richard Wagner, for the first time. In their production of the story about an enchanted sailor, the Viennese director Philipp M. Krenn and set designer Momme Hinrichs will transform the quarry into a surging, whipping sea complete with a ghost ship. The international ensemble, consisting of experienced Wagner interpreters and ambitious, promising young talents, is led by Patrick Lange. Premiere is on 9 July 202524 performances are scheduled.
A “Romantic Opera in three acts”…
… that is the subtitle of Richard Wagner’s fourth opera, which premiered in 1843. It is the only work from his early creative phase that is still played regularly today and is, for many, Wagner’s most popular work of all. The play tells the mystical story of an enchanted sailor who is condemned to sail the world’s oceans until he wins the love of a pure, innocent woman. With a duration of around two and a half hours, it is one of Wagner’s shortest works. In St. Margarethen, Philipp M. Krenn will direct, who already has extensive experience in staging Wagner’s works as well as in pieces for large stages and festivals and will, among other things, present a “Parsifal” at the Erl Festival in 2025. Krenn about the Wagner production in the coming season: “The Opera in the Quarry and ‘The Flying Dutchman’ are an ideal combination for me – I’m all the more pleased that the piece is now being performed in this special location. This work impresses me in its entirety because it contains strength, anger and despair as well as longing, romance and love, peppered with a bit of humor. In short: It’s a great love story with romantic music in a unique atmosphere. We will experience a gripping two and a half hours of musical theater in the best sense, paired with the forces of nature and outstanding technology.”
Krenn has been active as an independent director since 2014 and has directed, among others, at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, at the Graz Opera, at the Dutch National Opera, at the Malmö Opera, at the Wiesbaden, Braunschweig and Meiningen State Theaters, at the Neue Oper Vienna, at Styrian Autumn in Graz, at the Vienna Volksoper as well as at the (Music) Theater an der Wien and the Vienna Chamber Opera.
Momme Hinrichs, entrusted with the stage design, is known for the perfect symbiosis between stage spaces and projection, creating a total work of art that merges with the music and the stage action. He made a name for himself internationally as a co-founder of the artist duo fettFilm: With them, Hinrichs has been significantly involved in the development of video projections and the profession of video designer in the opera and theater world since 2000. His work took him to many European opera houses and festivals, including Salzburg, Bayreuth and Bregenz, to the Berlin opera houses, to Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Hanover, Oslo, Paris, Toulouse, Nancy, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Vienna and Budapest , Barcelona and Florence, but also to international theaters in North America, China, India and the Middle East. For production “The Flying Dutchman” At the Donbass Opera Donetsk, where Hinrichs was responsible for set design and projections, he won the Taras Shevchenko Prize in 2012, Ukraine’s highest cultural award. “It has long been my dream to be able to create a stage set in the quarry. The size and resulting possibilities are literally a fantastic playground for outfitters like me! We want to transform the quarry into a Norwegian coastal landscape, in all its roughness, with large waves breaking on the shore. There is also a versatile house, of course spectacular stunts and – last but not least, to put it poetically – ‘A ship will come…’” explained Hinrichs.
Eva Dessecker will be responsible for the magnificent costume creations. Recently awarded the German Musical Theater Prize 2024 in the “Best Lighting Design” category, lighting designer Michael Grundner will also return to the Opera in the Quarry in 2025 and stage the Norwegian coastal landscape using lighting technology.
The stage design is rounded off by Roland Horvath’s video projections, which will visually transform the quarry into the Norwegian sea bays.
Musical direction and top international ensemble
The internationally renowned German maestro Patrick Lange, who is considered an extremely experienced Wagner conductor, will take over the musical direction. He will be at the podium at the Opera im Steinbruch for the first time next summer and will lead the international ensemble consisting of top international singers.
“Wagner’s music is like a drug: This dense harmony, these incredible mixtures of sounds, these seemingly endless lines, this intense instrumentation, this almost cinematic technique of crossfading – all of this has a hypnotic effect and creates a pull that is difficult to escape. You become addicted to it!”, explained Lange.
He began his career as an opera conductor in Zurich and Lucerne. With Mozart’s “Le nozze di Figaro” He made his debut at the Komische Oper Berlin in 2007, where he worked as first conductor from 2008 and as chief conductor of the house from 2010.
His interpretations of “Die Meistersinger von Nuremberg”, “Undine” and “The Freischütz” received international attention. In 2010, Patrick Lange made his debut with Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly” at the Vienna State Opera and has been a regular guest there ever since. Further engagements have taken him to, among others, the Semperoper Dresden, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden London, the Hamburg State Opera, Opera Australia Sydney, Zurich Opera, Canadian Opera Company Toronto, Korean National Opera Seoul, State Opera Stuttgart, Opéra national du Rhin Strasbourg and the Frankfurt Opera. Another highlight was his debut at the Bavarian State Opera in July 2021 as part of the Munich Opera Festival with Wagner’s “Das Rheingold.” As general music director of the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden, he directed acclaimed new productions of Richard Wagner’s “Tannhäuser”, “Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg” and “The Flying Dutchman”.
Senta, who fantasizes in melancholic daydreams about the gruesome figure of a sailor condemned to eternal life, is embodied by the outstanding sopranos Elisabeth Teige, Johanni van Oostrum and Johanna Will. Elisabeth Teige has established herself as one of the most sought-after young dramatic sopranos. She made her debut with the role of Senta at the Norwegian National Opera & Ballet in Oslo and in the following years she sang this role at the Frankfurt Opera, the Bergen National Opera, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the National Theater in Prague and most recently in Dmitri Tcherniakov’s celebrated new production in hers Debut season at the Bayreuth Festival 2022 under the direction of Oksana Lyniv.
The tenors AJ Glueckert, Dominik Chenes and Nenad Čiča take on the role of the hunter Erik. Glueckert already announced Senta’s engagement at the New York MET in the 2016/2017 season. Jinxu Xiaohu (Ismaele, “Nabucco” 2022) and Brian Michael Moore (Don José, “Carmen” 2023) are looking forward to returning to the opera in the quarry in the role of the helmsman. The role of Mary is played by mezzo-soprano Roxana Constantinescu. Liang Li and Jens-Erik Aasbø take on the role of Daland. The Dutchman, who hopes for redemption, is embodied by baritones Georg Gagnidze, James Rutherford and Tommi Hakkala. George Gagnidze is one of the leading singers in his field. Highlights of his past seasons include the title role in Verdi’s “Nabucco” at the MET, his house debut at the Atlanta Opera and at the Dallas Opera as Rigoletto, as Macbeth at the Teatro Comunale in Bologna and at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, as Schaklowity the Berlin State Opera, as Scarpia at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona and his role debut as Grand-Prêtre in Camille Saint-Saens’ “Samson et Dalila” at the Berlin State Opera Unter den Linden.
The Piedra Festival Orchestra will also be heard as a resident orchestra next year and will perform, among other things, the Song of the Senta and the Sailors’ Choir. As in recent years, the Vienna Philharmonia Choir under the direction of Walter Zeh provides an outstanding and proven ensemble – this time performing again on stage.
This season too, daring stunts cannot be missed, which stunt action designer Ran Arthur Braun will skilfully integrate into the production.
“The entire ensemble, the leading team and I are looking forward to playing a work by Richard Wagner at the Oper im Steinbruch for the first time. It can be assumed that Wagner became aware of the legend through Heinrich Heine and experienced the haunting atmosphere at sea during a trip of several weeks to England. I am convinced that we will succeed in captivating the audience with this horrifying, romantic fairy tale,” so Daniel Serafin, Director of the Opera in the Quarry.
The Flying Dutchman – Redemption through Love?
On the rough coast between the fjords of Norway, the captain’s daughter Senta fantasizes in melancholic daydreams about the gruesome figure of a sailor condemned to eternal life who is only allowed to go ashore every seven years in order to win the love of a woman. Such love and unwavering loyalty until death alone can release the undead from his curse. When Senta’s father Daland suddenly appears in the door with a complete stranger, Senta thinks that he really recognizes the legendary figure of the “Flying Dutchman” in this homeless person. Senta’s fiancé, the hunter Erik, has to watch helplessly as the strangers swear loyalty. When the crew of the strange ship comes ashore at night, the ghostly apparitions terrify the entire village and Erik wants to throw himself in front of Senta to protect himself. The unfortunate sailor feels that he has once again been cheated out of his promised loyalty and actually reveals himself to be the Flying Dutchman. And Senta wants to redeem the Dutchman at all costs…
Information about this year’s leading team and cast can be found at: www.operimsteinbruch.at/cast and www.operimsteinbruch.at/leading-team