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Our motto: "Critical thinking in the cheap seats." Unbiased, honest classical music and opera opinions, occasional obituaries and classical news reporting, since 2007. All written content © 2019 by Paul J. Pelkonen. For more about Superconductor, visit this link. For advertising rates, click this link. Follow us on Facebook.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Heavy Metal at the Met


According to an article by Daniel J. Wakin in the New York Times, the Metropolitan Opera has had to resort to more than just member support in staging its new production of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen.


The production, designed by Canadian director Robert Lepage, uses a large-scale set of planks that raise, lower, and change angles as needed to facilitate the portrayal of mountain-tops, dark forests and Nibelung caves. It's an ingenious solution to the scenery challenges of Wagner's work.

However, the 45-ton set has to be rolled on and off the giant Met stage, and stored on one of the company's huge "side stages" to make room for Tosca, Carmen, and Boris Godunov. The sheer weight of the set has required a quiet construction effort at the opera house, adding 65-foot steel supports underneath the offstage area.

To read the rest of the article, visit my Examiner.com page.
Photo by Yves Renaud
© 2010 The Metropolitan Opera.

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