Unfortunate start of the Bayreuth “Valkyrie”: At the premiere of “Valkyrie” there was an accident on stage, in which the main actor Tomasz Konieczny was involved.
Tomasz Konieczny in a 2018 recording at the Vienna State Opera.
(dpa)
At the Bayreuth premiere of “Valkyrie”, “Wotan” singer Tomasz Konieczny injured himself so badly on Monday evening that he could not continue singing. Michael Kupfer-Radecky stepped in for him at short notice in the third act of the Richard Wagner opera. Konieczny sustained the injury in Act II when he fell into an armchair, the back of which then broke off. At first there was nothing to notice of his injury. He finished the second act professionally.
However, he did not return to the stage after the break. The press spokesman for the Bayreuth Festival, Hubertus Herrmann, stepped in front of the curtain before the beginning of the third act and informed the audience about the last-minute cast change.
The “Wotan” role in this year’s new production of “Ring des Nibelungen” does not bring luck to the festival: Kupfer-Radecky is already the fifth father of the gods in the production. Günther Groissböck was originally intended for this, but he canceled last year.
Singer John Lundgren, who was supposed to replace him, then canceled in June of this year. “For personal reasons” Lundgren was not able “to be available in Bayreuth for the intensive rehearsals necessary for the new production,” the festival announced at the time. Egils Silins then stepped in for Lundgren in the first “Ring” part “Rheingold”. Konieczny was intended for the role in “Valkyrie” and “Siegfried”. It was initially unclear whether he could appear in “Siegfried”, the third of the four “Ring” parts, on Wednesday.
It’s not just the “Wotan” changes that make it difficult for “Ring” director Valentin Schwarz this year. Conductor Pietari Inkinen also had to throw in the towel shortly before the premiere due to a corona disease. Cornelius Meister took over for him.
Incidentally, the “Wotan” incident is not the first time that a broken seat has made headlines at the Bayreuth Festival: in 2015, a chair under the then Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) collapsed during the break. Reports of an alleged dizzy spell made the rounds, but were quickly denied.