The Wagner Society Zoom Events 2021

Richard Wagner: Wahn! Wahn!

Events cost £5 to all members (including all non-UK Wagner Societies), £10 for
non-members (refundable on joining) and free for students/under 30s.

Please book here: https://wagnersociety.org

January

• 19th Jan: Sir Willard White in conversation with Christopher Cook
• 20th January: “The new ‘Gurl’” with Stephen Brown (prt 3/7 of “Wagner at the Met
from 1901-present”)
• 22nd January: Nadine Secunde in conversation with Stephen Brown
• 24th January: Doris Soffel in conversation with Christopher Cook
• 27th January: Ben Heppner in conversation with Stephen Brown
• 29th January: Michael Volle in conversation with Christopher Cook

February

• 1st February: Ann Murray DBE in conversation with Stephen Brown
• 2nd February: Lise Davidsen in conversation with Christopher Cook
• 3rd February: “Bingo” with Stephen Brown (prt 4/ 7)
• 6th February: Grace Bumbry in conversation with Christopher Cook
• 10th February: “TE Lawrence and Wagner” with Susan Vincent
• 12th February: Reminisces of Lohengrin at Bayreuth in the 1960s, with Eduardo
Bennaroch
• 13th February: Eva Randova in conversation with Christopher Cook
• 17th February: “One down, three to come”, with Stephen Brown (prt 5/7)
• 19th February: Petra Lang in conversation with Christopher Cook
• 24th February: Sir Graham Vick CBE in conversation with Christopher Cook
• 26th February: Jane Eaglen in conversation with Christopher Cook

March

• 3rd March: “Choosing the Jews” with Stephen Brown (prt 6/7)
• 5th March: Andrew Shore in conversation with Christopher Cook
• 10th March: "The spectre of success: Wagner, Mendelssohn and anti-Semitism in
19th-century music" with Dr Barbara Eichner
• 12th March: "The flowing stream from wire-less to video” with Stephen Brown (prt 7/
7)
• 17th March: Robert Lloyd CBE in conversation with Stephen Brown
• 19th March: Dunja Vejovic in conversation with Christopher Cook
• 24th March: “Wagner’s Prayers” with Helena Matheopolous
• 26th March: Sir David Pountney CBE in conversation with Christopher Cook

April

• 2nd April: “Parsifalmania for Good Friday”, with Jeffery McMillan
• 7th April: "Two Rings Revisited: Wagner and J.R.R. Tolkien" with Dr Jamie
McGregor (prt 1/ 4 of Wagner and Literature)
• 9th April: Lotte Lehmann (as singer), with Gary Hickling
• 10th April: Sir Mark Elder CH CBE in conversation with Christopher Cook
• 14th April: "Hört ich oft von Engeln sagen": Wagner Lieder on record with Professor
Laura Tunbridge
• 16th April: Lotte Lehmann (as teacher), with Gary Hickling
• 21st April: “Oed’ und leed das Meer”: Wagner and T.S. Elliot with Dr Jamie
McGregor (prt 2/ 4)
• 28th April: Wagner in Victorian England, with Eduardo Bennaroch

May

• 5th May: “The Sea, music and death”: Wagner and Virginia Woolf with Dr Jamie
McGregor (prt 3/ 4)
• 7th May: Frida Leider, with Eva Rieger
• 12th May: Roger Neill, topic tbc
• 14th May: From Goodall to Longborough, with Anthony Negus
• 19th May: Dr Mark Berry, topic tbc
• 21st May: Wagner in Buenos Aires, with Eduardo Bennaroch
• 26th May: “Nothung up my sleeve”: Wagner and James Joyce with Dr Jamie
McGregor McGregor (prt 4/ 4)

June

• 2nd June: Hans Richter, with Christopher Fifield (part 1)
• 9th June: Hans Richter, with Christopher Fifield (part 2)
• 16th June: Wagner's Italianism, Bellini's Norma, and melody's Sinnlichkeit, with Dr
David Trippett
• 23rd June: Professor Emma Sutton, topic tbc
• 25th June: James Rutherford in conversation with Christopher Cook

July

• 7th July: Richard Jones in conversation with Christopher Cook
• 14th July: The Met Database, with Jeffery McMillan

Social Media

One of the finest monuments in sound ever to have been raised to the everlasting glory of music. (Claude Debussy on Parsifal)

"The thing about Wagner is that there can be no true success in any production of his operas, only degrees of failure. There is so much in these bloody pieces, all you can do is try to live up to them." (Keith Warner, The Guardian)

"I have never come across an audience with so much hatred, so much anger, such a thirst for revenge. They take everything personally. It makes you a little bit scared, and it's really quite terrifying." (Lance Ryan on the audiences at Bayreuth)

"People sometimes complain that Wagner operas are too long, that they get stiff and sore about 10.30 because they have rushed in to hear one of his works straight from work and are not properly prepared for listening to his music. The audience, as much as the artists, must be prepared for a performance."
(Benjamin Britten to Alan Blyth, Gramophone)

"I was bowled over. It was the year after Wieland Wagner had died; to be able to see his productions was a total knock-out. These bare stagings, where everything was done with lighting. The light changed with the music, and the shadows and patterns seemed as archetypal as the music itself. Nobody had done that on the stage before. I thought it was extraordinary and wonderful."
(Patrick Carnegy to The Guardian)

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