Wagners Rheingold as an experimental approach on the Future of Opera
A world premiere awaits visitors to the Brucknerfest this year: on two evenings, 26 and 28 September 2004, Richard Wagner's "Das Rheingold" will be performed as a concert version linked with a virtual 3D world. This is the impressive result of a collaboration between the artist Johannes Deutsch and the media artists of the Ars Electronica Futurelab, initiated by the Brucknerhaus Linz.
850 square meters of projection surface enclosing the stage and large portions of the auditorium in the Large Hall of the Brucknerhaus, 20 large projectors and an innovative computer system: these are the "ingredients" of the interactive, three-dimensional, computer-controlled visualization on 26 and 28 September, while the Bruckner Orchester Linz with Chief Conductor Dennis Russel Davies takes the stage of the Large Hall to ensure a high-quality musical production of Richard Wagner's “Das Rheingold”.
Wolfgang Winkler, artistic director of the Brucknerhaus, whose initiative enabled this cooperation, sees the world premiere of "Das Rheingold" as part of the tradition of unusual opera productions in Brucknerhaus: "Hans Hoffer's productions of 'Salome' and 'Elektra', which were especially adapted for the Large Hall of the Brucknerhaus, certainly contributed to 'writing the history of opera'. 'Rheingold' now continues the idea of producing an opera especially for and in Brucknerhaus. This production, the result of a collaboration between Johannes Deutsch and the Ars Electronica Futurelab, paves the way to new possibilities of performance practice – a path that could certainly become a feasible variation for theater productions as well."
What is fascinating about the character of the "Rheingold" production is the joint treatment of a classical work with music and art. The musical interpretation by Dennis Russell Davies, the Bruckner Orchester Linz, and the soloists directly, interactively influences the visual manifestations that will be visible on the 850 square meter projection surface on each of the performance evenings.
For the Ars Electronica Futurelab, the artificial processes that result in making it possible to experience this special performance are in the foreground. The three-dimensional images are autonomously created by a computer intelligence within given parameters, reacting to the music of the orchestra. For this, the computers make use of drafts and formalized intentions, modifying them according to the music. "These images emerge at the moment, they are not prepared ahead of time or pre-specified. The visitor experiences a visual work that is entirely newly created in real time or live. This processuality of the performance turns 'Das Rheingold' into a pioneering experiment in the concert performance of opera," says Horst Hörtner, head of the Ars Electronica Futurelab, describing the uniqueness of the project.
"Based on thorough research into the musical, historical and dramaturgical background, our task was to find a path leading to a new direction for arranging music and drama," explains Johannes Deutsch, who has already been working for over a year on the realization of this large-scale project together with the Ars Electronica Futurelab. "The artistic concept had to take into consideration the special structure of the narration in 'Rheingold', which contrasts the singing, which follows the plot of the libretto, with leitmotif references that vary in time. In order to balance psychoanalytical (R. Donignton, D. Schickling) and political interpretations (H. Mayer), and also to work with scene experiences such as in the Century Ring by P. Chéreau, we decided in favor of a visual ambiance that not only creates the locations and spheres of the world of the gods, but also the gods themselves. The latter appear as an abstract virtual sculpture garden.
The artistic idea concentrates on the development and transformation of this virtual world interactively controlled by the music. The precision of the adaptation of the new media makes it possible to directly work with the music dramaturgically. In the conviction of achieving a closer proximity to the ideas of the 'music poets' and 'music thinkers' (A. Schönberg), Wagner's stage is employed in both concert performances of the Brucknerfest as 'a podium for a kind of scenic concert, [...] the most radical staging of the music' (Mauricio Kagel in the program booklet of the Bayreuth Festival 1982). The wish that Kagel expresses – representatively for many music poets – of seeing a realization of 'Wagner's longing for the absolute on stage, [...] The singers constantly find themselves on a completely darkened stage. Sometimes the actions are carried out, though, so that the audience can enjoy the illusion of a possible action', will be realized here."
The visualizations will be seen on a panorama screen – a special adaptation of the "ARSBOX" developed by the Ars Electronica Futurelab for "Rheingold". 3D glasses and stereoscopic projections will allow the "Rheingold" visitors on both evenings to become immersed in a fascinating virtual reality.
For further enquiries, please contact:
AEC Ars Electronica Center Linz
Wolfgang Bednarzek
Press Agent
T: +43.732.7272.38
wolfgang.bednarzek@aec.at
BRUCKNERHAUS LINZ
Annette Jäckel
PR
T: 43.732.7612.21220
F:43.732.7612.2130
a.jaeckel@liva.co.at
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