Readers may have noticed that the poll has now closed for favoured director of the 2013 Bayreuth Ring. (Most votes came in immediately; I think I left it open for a little too long..) Stefan Herheim was the run-away winner, with 38% of the vote from ten candidates. (Any regular readers will perhaps be less than surprised that I cast my vote for him.) Calixto Bieito also polled strongly, with half of Herheim's tally. In third place was Keith Warner, director of the Royal Opera's most recent Ring. In the comment section, there was also enthusiasm voiced for Werner Herzog. Click here for the full results. Doubtless the Festival already has...
Parterre Box's parallel poll presented Bieito in first place and Herheim in second. However, a major difference was Katharina Wagner (who here received but a single vote) almost beating Herheim to that second place.
We shall probably hear before too long who actually will be directing the production. In the meantime, here is an extract from my preferred DVD version, with one of the most exciting - and dramatically credible - denouements ever presented for Act I of Die Walküre. Patrice Chéreau's Volsung twins (Peter Hofmann and Jeannine Altmeyer) truly are on fire, and for anyone who has ever described Pierre Boulez as 'cold', please listen to this as well as watch:
... and here is the entire Boulez/Chéreau Bayreuth 'Centenary' Ring on DVD, a production that is rightly the stuff of legend:
