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Wagner has been performed in Asia for some time. I have, for example, a DVD of a 1997 performance of Lohengrin in Tokyo that had at least a good proportion of the chorus who seemed to be Asian in support of a fully imported set of leads and conductor and orchestra.
However, in the last few years, some home-grown performances seem to be emerging in parallel to the continued importing of overseas productions. As reported in the last Newsletter, Beijing recently experienced a fully imported production of The Ring Cycle. We are lucky to have a report on this performance from Dr Andrew Byrne who made the trip in October 2005 In addition, and perhaps more excitingly, Thai director, Somtow Sucharitkul, has completed the Rheingold stage of a proposed full Ring Cycle (further comments below). This growth of imports and new productions in the Asian region is interesting for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that Bangkok and Beijing are significantly closer for Australian Wagnerites than the traditional performance halls of Europe and the USA . Asian productions will also allow all Wagnerians to experience different perspectives on Wagner's works, similar to the experience many Australian and international Wagnerians had with the slightly Oz-flavoured Neidhardt Ring in Adelaide in 2004. Experiencing the works in other environments may also generate insights into how universal Wagner's works are (or are not!).
In researching this article, I came across one blogger in the Asian region, who describes his blogs as Baked by Richard TPD (the pun, I take to refer to the Peking duck, not that Richard is “baked” – half or fully). Richard, I also assume to be a western name, although it does not preclude the bearer being Asian – or any other nationality. He writes, candidly, “Every year, as May 22nd approaches, I give the day some special thought. It is a mystical day for me, the birthday of the composer who, more than any other person living or dead, inspired me and shaped me into the person I am today (for better or worse)” – and many of us probably share his feelings about Wagner's impact on us.
This comment by Richard is also probably familiar: “There are few if any other classical composers or artists to have entire cultural movements bearing their names. The word "Wagnerian" is applied to theater, music, paintings, literature, poetry, philosophy and even behaviour. Most major cities have Wagner Societies, groups of unashamed fanatics who meet monthly to hear lectures on their hero and exchange opinions. Infinite numbers of books have been written about him, and every year there are more and more. And fanatics like me snap them up with an unquenchable curiosity. No, there is truly nothing else quite like it.” You could read the full blog at www.pekingduck.org/archives/000072.php , and share your views with him as well.
A number of newspapers, not including any Australian ones as far as I can ascertain, carried the news of the first fully indigenous Wagnerian performance in South East Asia when Das Rheingold was premiered in Bangkok on Sunday, 5 February 2006.
Das Rheingold in Bangkok - Peter Bassett In the Taipei Times, the director, Somtow Sucharitkul, is quoted as “ draw[ing] parallels between launching Das Rheingold in Asia with its original premiere in Germany 1869: the audience and performers for the most part are unfamiliar with the music. ‘It's like turning the clock back 150 years. That's why it could be very exciting, despite the imperfections.'" I'm sure that Elke Neidhardt and her team in Adelaide had similar reservations, despite the (longer but still somewhat shaky and erratic) tradition of Wagner performances in Australia .
According to the Bangkok Opera company website ( www.bangkokopera.com/news.html#firstseason ): “Five years ago, the Bangkok Opera was founded with the vision of establishing a credible opera season in Bangkok by the year 2006. That plan is now about to come to fruition with the announcement of the first full-scale opera season in the Southeast Asian region.
“ February 5 will see the beginning of a five-year project to present Wagner's entire Ring Cycle in Bangkok by 2010. Years in the making, Somtow's interpretation presents a new Asian perspective on the opera rooted in Buddhist and Hindu mythology. Tickets for Das Rheingold are already being snapped up by Wagner fans as far away as the U.S. , Germany , and Australia , and the Bangkok Opera hopes to open a new era of opera tourism in Thailand with this production.” This means that Bangkok will have a complete, indigenously produced Ring Cycle before Sydney manages it.
The Thai Times (on the day following the premier) reported: “More than 120 years after his death, German composer Richard Wagner makes his operatic debut in Southeast Asia with a performance of Das Rheingold that portrays a divine Eastern kingdom humbled by greed and Western culture.” “With its themes of power and political corruption, the opera could have been crafted for modern-day Asia , says…Somtow”. “‘It's all about how the gods become corrupted, so it fits,' he said during a dress rehearsal a few days ahead of the show's opening night.” “‘Maybe we'll end up getting arrested or sued for libel,' he quips, alluding to the frequent fate of government critics in this region.”
This certainly throws up an immediate difference between productions in Europe, North America (but possibly not South America) and Australia where, however outré, politically critical, sexually explicit or downright boring, no one is likely to be thrown into prison, although Australia's newly rewritten sedition laws are causing some pause for reflection among our more satirically inclined artists.
According to this report, Alberich's theft of the “ring” [sic] precipitates a Buddhist [and Hindu] style cycle of actions and karmic reactions. The Thai Times comments: “On stage, this is represented by a transformation from a timeless monochromatic Nirvana into a brashly colorful world of Western consumer goods.” And Valhalla is presented as “a modern Asian metropolis”.
The New York Times' review of the performance provided some interesting information on the director, Somtow, including the facts that he was educated in the UK , is the great-nephew of Queen Indrasaksachi, the wife of Thailand's King Rama VI (who reigned from 1910 to 1925), and, as well as composing music, conducting orchestras and mounting opera productions (including designs), writes novels paints and makes films.
Also according to the New York Times, this new "Ring" is “being called the first to address a regional sensibility. Instead of Nietzsche, substitute Buddha: the cycle of destruction and rebirth is wrought not so much by power but by the Buddhist pitfalls of desire and attachment”.
The reports also detailed some of the difficulties faced by Somtow in producing Das Rheingold , including having to borrow Wagner tubas from the Bavarian State Opera Orchestra. Fortunately, they came with a tuba player who taught the Thai players. Somtow, apparently, also had to draft all the local harp players, but then to import more string players from Vietnam ( from the Opera and Ballet Theater in Hanoi ) . Some of this sounds familiar from the Ring productions in Adelaide for both of which additional players had to be drafted to augment the smaller local orchestra. He used 13 opera singers from 11 countries for the lead roles. Donner, the god of thunder, is the only part sung by a Thai. . The cast for this production includes such well-known Wagner specialists as Lars Waage, Julia Oesch, Colin Morris, Barbara Smith-Jones, and Marc Deaton, as well as popular Bangkok Opera favorites like Grace Echauri, Ronit Widmann-Levy, and Ralph McDonald and recently Bangkok International Opera Competition winners [Taiwanese] Grace Lin and Saran Suebsantiwongse All agreed to perform for far less than their normal fees
Unlike Adelaide , where the pit is reasonably large, but very much like the Opera Theatre pit in the Sydney Opera House, the pit in the Bangkok , is also very small, posing a challenge for the rest of the Cycle, when it occurs. In case you were interested in attending, you can find details of the location of The Somtow Center for the Performing Arts, which includes a well-equipped 1,300-seat auditorium , at 28 Sukhumvit Villa, Sukhumvit Soi 36 on their website at www.somtow.net/NewHome.html .
In addition, in November 2003, Thailand inaugurated its Wagner Society, the first in South East Asia , with no less than Herr Wolfgang Wagner, leading a delegation to attend the opening ceremony
Information about the Thailand branch of the Wagner Society can be obtained by telephoning the Bangkok Opera offices, 0 2661 4689.
According to the Bangkok Opera's website, the next instalment, Die Walkure , will have two performances, on 24 and 27 July 2007 ( Price: 500 to 5000 baht) with Janny Zomer, Charles Hens, Barbara Smith-Jones and again directed by Somtow Sucharitkul. Perhaps you would like to add this to your Wagnerian diary! You may still be able to read the full reviews at either the Taipei Times , www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2006/02/06/2003291794 or the Seattle Times, www.seattletimes.com or the New York Times www.nytimes.com/iht/2006/04/18/arts/18wagn.html?pagewanted=print .
As an interesting and instructive footnote, The American Chamber of Commerce in Thailand, which according to its website “ act[s] as media-sponsors or activities partners in order to promote American education, culture and speakers” (where this puts Wagner and his Ring Cycle I'm not sure!) arranged with the Bangkok Opera for AMCHAM members to receive a 20% discount on tickets to Das Rheingold . Would that some overseas organisation would come to the aid of the State Opera of South Australia in reviving its weltberümt production of The Ring Cycle as our local businesses and chambers seem not to be at all interested.
According to the AMCHAM website, “The ‘Ring Cycle' is the epic mythological four-part opera which revolutionised all music more than a hundred years ago, and which has influenced every aspect of popular Western culture today from 'The Lord of the Rings" to Bugs Bunny's ‘What's Opera, Doc?' The recent film "Batman Returns" opens with a scene from Wagner's ‘Ring'”.
This Page was last updated on:
22-Jul-2006
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