The forbidden fruit is always the sweetest. That’s why our history started with being thrown out of the garden of Eden. More often than not it isn’t until the ban that we are tempted to cross the boundary it has set up. That’s why the condition set by her helper out of the blue is such a burden for Elsa. He is willing to fight for her to acquit her of the suspicion of fratricide and to spend his life on her side, but in exchange she must not ever ask who she is dealing with.

„I don’t care who you are / Where you’re from / What you did /As long as you love me” - the Backstreet Boys assured us at the end of the past millennium in the wake of romantic notions of love. Love needs trust and newborn happiness might mean completely forgetting all that came before. While the Brabants are celebrating the stranger who had it in him to lead the community out of the crisis, Elsa could keep her word, after all a miracle is a miracle. But doubt is also doubt: Where does he get his wisdom from? What convinced him of Elsa’s innocence? Is he convinced at all? Can a community start afresh based on a secret? Elias Canetti said: „questions raise the questioner’s sense of power”. But doesn’t demanding trust with no questions asked make one feel much more powerful?

'Lohengrin' — Music and libretto by Richard Wagner.

CAST

King Henry the Fowler: Goran Jurić
Lohengrin: Michael König
Elsa of Brabant: Simone Schneider
Friedrich of Telramund: Martin Gantner
Ortrud: Okka von der Damerau
The King's Herald: Shigeo Ishino
First Noble of Brabant: Torsten Hofmann
Second Noble of Brabant: Heinz Göhrig
Third Noble of Brabant: Andrew Bogard
Fourth Noble of Brabant: Michael Nagl

Conductor: Cornelius Meister
Director: Árpád Schilling
Stage design: Raimund Orfeo Voigt
Costume design: Tina Kloempken
Light design: Tamás Bányai
Dramaturgy: Miron Hakenbeck
Chorus: Manuel Pujol

Chorus: Staatsopernchor Stuttgart
Orchestra: Staatsorchester Stuttgart

Dowload PERFORMANCE BROCHURE here.

The PERFORMANCE RECORDING is available on DVD and Blu-ray. 

Photo: Matthias Baus

PRESS

• Dominique Adrian: Lohengrin pour l'humanité d'aujourd'hui. ResMusica, 04. 10. 2018.
   
• Zerbst Von Rainer: Gralsritter ohne Gral: Árpád Schillings Lohengrin an der Oper Stuttgart, Bachtrack.com, 02. 10. 2018.
   
• Heidenreich Von Achim: Der Schwan wird hier zur Martin, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung,
  02. 10. 2018. 
   
• Jürgen Kanold: Schillings „Lohengrin“: Kein Schwan hilft, swp.de, 01. 10. 2018.