Richard Wagner
Parsifal
Live in HD
A profound philosophical meditation on compassion and reconciliation, this transcendent rendering of a medieval knight’s heroic quest for the Holy Grail returns to the big screen in François Girard’s celebrated production, a “thoughtful and intrepid staging, full of striking imagery” (The New York Times). Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts a cast of Wagnerian superstars, including tenor Piotr Beczała in the title role, mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča as the enigmatic Kundry, baritone Peter Mattei as the ailing Amfortas, bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green as the sorcerer Klingsor, and bass Jongmin Park as the wise Gurnemanz. This live cinema transmission is part of the Met’s award-winning Live in HD series, bringing opera to movie theaters across the globe.
English StreamText captioning is available for the Met’s transmission of Parsifal here. A transcript of the transmission will also be available to view after the live performance.
Buy tickets for Parsifal live in the opera house here.
Production a gift of the Gramma Fisher Foundation, Marshalltown, Iowa
Major funding from Rolex
Additional funding from Marina Kellen French and the Edgar Foster Daniels Foundation
The Met gratefully acknowledges the support of the Gramma Fisher Foundation, Marshalltown, Iowa
Sung In
German
Estimated Run Time
6 hours 5 min
World premiere: Festspielhaus, Bayreuth, 1882. Wagner’s final opera is a musical journey unlike any other. The composer preferred to call his mature works “music dramas,” but he set Parsifal even further apart by naming it a Bühnenweihfestspiel, a “festival play for the consecration of a stage”—the stage in question being that of his Bayreuth Festival House. The opera tells the tale of a young man who is destined to renew a brotherhood of knights charged with guarding the relics of Christ’s last days. The psychological, mythical, and mystical possibilities of such a story are obvious, and Wagner’s accomplishment results in an air of reverence that surrounds this piece.
Creators
Richard Wagner (1813–83) was the complex, controversial creator of music-drama masterpieces that stand at the center of today’s operatic repertory. Born in Leipzig, Germany, he was an artistic revolutionary who reimagined every supposition about music and theater. Wagner insisted that words and music were equals in his works. This approach led to the idea of the Gesamtkunstwerk, or “total work of art,” combining music, poetry, architecture, painting, and other disciplines, a notion that has had an impact on creative fields far beyond opera.
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composer
Richard Wagner
Production
François Girard
SET DESIGNER
Michael Levine
COSTUME DESIGNER
Thibault Vancraenenbroeck
LIGHTING DESIGNER
David Finn
Video Designer
Peter Flaherty
CHOREOGRAPHER
Carolyn Choa
Dramaturg
Serge Lamothe
C. Graham Berwind, III Chorus Director
Tilman Michael
Setting
Parsifal takes place in and around the sanctuary of the knights of the Holy Grail, at the mythical location of Monsalvat in Spain, during the Middle Ages. The Met’s current production, directed by François Girard, places the action in an unspecified, timeless setting.
Music
The score of Parsifal is an extraordinary blend of musical transcendence and dramatic cohesion. The use of bells and offstage choruses are among the unusual effects that create an almost liturgical atmosphere. The magnificent and expansive prelude conveys the important role the orchestra will play in creating a world in which time itself is experienced in an unusual way. The vocal parts call for superior control to sustain the long melodic lines. Many passages demand a high degree of sheer lyrical beauty, but there are also jarringly dramatic moments, as well.
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