Der fliegende Holländer

I went to see Der fliegende Holländer last night at the Royal Opera House. I will admit to being a bit of both an opera and Wagner fan and so the combination of the two had me excited yesterday. This was a Wagner Opera I was yet to see, I saw the entire ring cycle in a week in 2007 which I enjoyed. But I had a few hang ups with Wagner, one being that a lot of the ring cycle is one person singing at a time and I find this can get rather boring. It's the big choral pieces which chill and excite me. But there is a beauty to his work, the haunting motifs which stay with you and the driving force of the music is truly wonderful.

So last night I had high hopes, it was only 2 hours 20 minutes, I had heard the overture on the radio before and enjoyed it and I thought it could be good. And boy was it good, not just good actually but superb. The singers were fabulous, the lead female Senta, was played by Anja Kampe whose voice has a wonderful quality. But not only is her voice good her acting was also believable. The story is a simple one and is easy to follow from the subtitles. It is a story of hope and redemption, love and faithfulness and is a heartlifting story.

I was also impressed by the production, it was a new one and I have seen new productions before which risk being too modernist and dull. However this production captured the feeling of the music, the characters and balanced different locations without huge scenery changes.

I would absolutely recommend this to anyone who is interested in opera. It drives on and captures you and the music is really magical. It doesn't play often so grab your chance now while you can!