Lohengrin

Richard Wagner

Finally – here is Karita Mattila’s debut at the Savonlinna Opera Festival. She is a cunning sorceress and deep-voiced plotter in Wagner’s opulent Lohengrin. And what a Finnish celebration the evening will be, with Tuomas Katajala, the most internationally successful Finnish tenor of today, singing the title role.

‘Only one Finnish star can fill Olavinlinna alone.’
Helsingin Sanomat about Karita Mattila’s concert, 15 July 2012 

Wagner’s mythical work of art is a fairy tale about the relationship between utopia and reality. ‘It is a child’s dream of an intact, reconciled world. The world has dreamed of this hundreds of times and keeps dreaming of it again and again. The work is about this human longing – and the painful realization that it can never come true’, says director Roman Hovenbitzer.

Right from the intense prelude, Lohengrin grips the listener. There’s a rumble of thunder in the castle walls. The music is highly charged, even hypnotic. With Wagner, time loses its meaning. When the secrets are revealed and the performance ends, you walk out of Olavinlinna into the summer night and ask yourself what really happened.

How does the plot of Lohengrin unfold? Read the synopsis here.

Team

  • Conductor

    Stephan Zilias

  • Director

    Roman Hovenbitzer

  • Set designer

    Hermann Feuchter

  • Costume designer

    Hank Irwin Kittel

  • Lighting designer
    Wolfgang Göbbel 
  • Video designer

    Andreas J. Etter 

  • Choreographer

    Janne Geest

  • Chorus master

    Jan Schweiger

  • Savonlinna Opera Festival Choir
    Savonlinna Opera Festival Orchestra

  • Language

    German

  • Surtitles

    Finnish and English

  • Duration

    approx. 4 hrs 30 min, 2 intervals

Cast

Tuomas Katajala
Lohengrin
More
Karita Mattila
Ortrud
Sinéad Campbell Wallace
Elsa
More
Lucio Gallo
Friedrich von Telramund
Timo Riihonen
Heinrich der Vogler
Kristian Lindroos
The King’s Herald

‘There is an empire on the verge of collapse, a people waiting for its saviour, and Lohengrin, the saviour. There is love, loyalty and Wagner’s medieval world of myths.’ – Director Roman Hovenbitzer 

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