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IU OPERA THEATER TO COMMEMORATE 50TH ANNIVERSARY
OF ITS FIRST PARSIFAL PERFORMANCE
WITH CONCERT PERFORMANCE FEB. 14
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Fifty years after becoming the first university to produce Richard Wagner's religious music-drama Parsifal, Indiana University will present a concert version of excerpts from that opera in a special performance Feb. 14 at 8 p.m. in the Musical Arts Center.
Thomas Baldner, IU professor of music and instrumental conducting chair, will conduct the performance, which will include the Prelude, the Good Friday Spell from Act III, the Transformation Scene from Act I, and Act II in its entirety. IU alumna Carole Ann Farley will sing the role of Kundry; Professor of Music James King will sing Parsifal; Professor Emeritus of Music Roy Samuelsen will sing Gurnemanz; and student Brian Banion will sing the role of Klingsor.
Parsifal is Wagner's last work. Set in medieval Spain, the story is based on the legend of the Holy Grail, the cup from which Christ drank at the Last Supper. Psychologically and symbolically, the opera deals with the conflict between good and evil.
King (Parsifal) received his master's degree from the University of Missouri in 1952. He has sung leading tenor roles in all of the world's major opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera, Vienna State Opera, La Scala, Bolshoi Theater, San Francisco, Salzburg Festival, Covent Garden, Paris, Chicago and Tokyo, and has had leading roles in four German film productions of operas.
Farley (Kundry) made her Metropolitan Opera debut in the title role of Lulu, a role she has repeated more than 100 times in four languages (German, English, French and Italian). She has appeared in the world's foremost opera theaters, including Lyric Opera of Chicago, Canadian Opera, Oper der Stadt Köln, New York City Opera, Welsh National, Teatro Colon, and the opera theaters of Zurich, Düsseldorf, Paris, Torino, Lyon, Brussels, Nice and Florence.
Other cast members include Samuelsen, singing the role of Gurnemanz, and Banion, appearing as Klingsor. Gurnemanz and Klingsor are both elderly members of the brotherhood of Knights of the Holy Grail.
Baldner received his master of music degree from IU in 1951. He was the former chief conductor at Rheinisches Kammerorchester in Cologne, and has been a guest conductor at Berlin Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, London Symphony and many other orchestras.
Additionally, he was a winner at the International Competition for Conductors at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, and has recorded for numerous radio and television productions.
The IU Opera Theater performance of Parsifal in 1949 was the world's first collegiate production of the work. For the next 20 years, it was presented during Lent. IU's Parsifal symbolized the demanding works the IU Opera Theater has tackled throughout its history and was hailed by many as the most prominent yearly music event in the Midwest. This tradition attracted thousands of opera-goers over its lifetime.
Tickets for the Feb. 14 performance are $30 for the general public and $10 for students. They are available in person at the MAC box office, by phone through TicketMaster (812-333-9955), or on the Web by clicking on the TicketMaster link at http://www.music.indiana.edu
For more information about the performance contact Maria Talbert, assistant director of communications ( 812-856-5719, mtalbert@indiana.edu), or Arizeder Urreiztieta, director of communications (812-855-9846, aurreizt@indiana.edu).