‘Wagner Gala’ to close Korea Opera Festival
By Im Eun-byel

The Korea National Opera is to end the 10th Korea Opera Festival with an opera concert titled “Wagner Gala,” slated for the final days of the event June 8-9.
The opera troupe, taking the stage at the Seoul Arts Center, will present compositions from “Walkure,” the second installment of the monumental opera series “The Ring of Nibelung” and the third act from the opera “Parsifal,” all written by Richard Wagner.
Lothar Zagorsek, who staged the first performance of “Parsifal” in Korea in 2013, will take the baton, leading the Korean Symphony Orchestra, the National Chorus of Korea and the Seoul CBS Children’s Choir.
Bass Youn Kwang-chul, who performed at the iconic Bayreuth Festspielhaus auditorium, or Bayreuth Festival Theatre, an opera house in Germany dedicated Wagner’s works, is to be a member of the cast along with tenor Christopher Ventris, soprano Emily Magee and baritone Yang Joon-mo, also known as Joseph Yang, who all have experience with Wagner pieces.
The opera concert will take place without any theatrical backdrop, as the focus will be on the music.
The annual festival, which began May 17 and wraps up with the opera concert, aims to provide opera companies with opportunities to perform and to show a wide spectrum of operas to a larger audience.
(silverstar@heraldcorp.com)


Caption
Bass Youn Kwang-chul plays Gurnemanz in the Wagner opera “Parsifal.”