More long days

These are long days. On Saturday I was supposed to have the whole day off. But it was partly “stressed” into pieces because Penelope in Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria was ill, and we had to find another singer for the part in a hurry. Things like this occur. Sunday we had a first night on Il ritorno, which, including the evaluation, took most of the day. But after a difficult rehearsal it all went incredibly well. Therefore it is a great relief that everything is okay now. Monday, 14 straight hours of meetings, interview, and rehearsal in the rehearsal room, more meetings and e-mails in a row. After that we had a rehearsal on stage for the first time with Das Rheingold in the evening from 8 to 11 pm. This went all right, except that Wotan, Alberich and Flosshilde were all absent due to illness. So my assistant and I really got the chance to play it through. The scene with Alberich and Flosshilde looked a bit like a parody, with my assistant and me as the only two on stage singing! But technically it looks like all the pieces are coming together: Alberich’s magic potion, the pool, the first big open scene change from the prologue, the flight with the giants etc. were all working well, so that is a giant step forward. Lovely. Technically it’s a very difficult performance. We still have to face the challenge of the scene changes, which have to be done very quickly during the orchestral interludes. But we’ll make it on time, I think. Hopefully the singers will stay healthy from now on… Today, Tuesday, we are running Die Walküre. Due to on-stage rehearsals on The Tempest (which opens on Saturday), Das Rheingold will not be rehearsed until Thursday - except for a stunt rehearsal with Martin Spang Olsen on Wednesday. But we start rehearsing Die Walküre in the rehearsal room today, so now we’re moving ahead.