Richard Wagner’s monumental opera The Mastersingers of Nuremberg, the composer’s only comedy, is a vibrant celebration of art, love and creative freedom. Pablo Heras-Casado and Laurent Pelly direct an exceptional cast of artists, including Gerald Finley as the wise cobbler Hans Sachs, and Leigh Melrose as the arrogant yet amusing Sixtus Beckmesser.
Set against the backdrop of the craft guilds of medieval Germany, the plot follows the young knight Walther as he attempts to revolutionise the strict rules of the Nuremberg singing competition and win the hand of his beloved Eva.
Opera in three acts
Music and libretto by Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
Premiered at Royal Court Theatre of Munich on 21 June 1868
Premiered at the Teatro Real on 18 March 1893
New production of the Teatro Real, in co-production with the Royal Danish Opera of Copenhagen and National Theatre Brno (Národní divadlo Brno)
Artistic team
Conductor | Pablo Heras-Casado
Stage direction | Laurent Pelly
Costumes | Laurent Pelly & Jean-Jacques Delmotte
Set design | Caroline Ginet
Lighting | Urs Schönebaum
Chorus master | José Luis Basso
Cast
Hans Sachs | Gerald Finley
Veit Pogner | Jongmin Park
Kunz Vogelgesang | Paul Schweinester
Konrad Nachtigal | Barnaby Rea
Sixtus Beckmesser | Leigh Melrose
Fritz Kothner | José Antonio López
Balthasar Zorn | Albert Casals
Ulrich Eisslinger | Kyle van Schoonhoven
Augustin Moser | Jorge Rodríguez- Norton
Hermann Ortel | Bjørn Waag
Hans Schwarz | Valeriano Lanchas
Hans Foltz | Frederic Jost
Walther von Stolzing | Tomislav Mužek
David | Sebastian Kohlhepp
Eva | Nicole Chevalier
Magdalene | Anna Lapkovskaja
Nightwatchman | Alexander Tsymbalyuk
Teatro Real Chorus and Orchestra
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