Greenbrier Valley Theatre (GVT), in partnership with The Met: Live in HD, presents Richard Wagner’s Tannhäuser on Saturday, Oct. 31, at 12 noon. The broadcast will run approximately 4 hours and 20 minutes with two intermissions. Dr. James Caplinger, from the University of Charleston, will give a complimentary lecture beginning at 11:30 a.m. Tickets are $18 for general admission, $12 for seniors and $10 for children/students. For tickets or more information, contact GVT’s Box Office at 304-645-3838 or visit www.gvtheatre.org.
The Met’s first production of Tannhäuser in over a decade stars Johan Botha as Tannhäuser, Eva-Maria Westbroek as Elisabeth, Michelle DeYoung as Venus, Peter Mattie as Wolfram and Günther Groissböck as the Landgraf. Tannhäuser is the season debut for conductor James Levine.
“The most powerful voice onstage was that of soprano Eva-Maria Westbroek, who sang Elisabeth. Her G in the opening phrase of “Dich, teure Halle” filled the house. Her voice has the richness usually heard with mezzos, with a soprano’s shine, and throughout the night, her instrument had more presence than any other, including those in the pit.” —New York Classical Review
Tannhäuser opened in 1845, but it was not the success Wagner had expected. He spent the next few years revising the production. When Emperor Napoleon requested a show in 1861, there were two versions of the opera – the original “Dresden version” and the revised “Paris version.”
