On the rugged coast between the fjords of Norway
In melancholy daydreams, the captain's daughter Senta fantasises about the eerie figure of a sailor condemned to eternal life, who is only allowed to go ashore every seven years in order to win the love of a woman. Such love and unwavering loyalty until death alone can redeem the undead from his curse.
No composer before Richard Wagner has set the roaring of the whipped-up sea so thrillingly to music, no one has been able to give the horror of a ghost ship such a vivid sound. With a playing time of less than two and a half hours, the first ever production of a work by Richard Wagner at the ‘Opera in the Quarry’ promises to be a fascinating summer experience, with the rugged rocky landscape of the St. Margarethen quarry once again providing the ideal backdrop for a thrilling performance.
ideal backdrop for a captivating opera performance.
A place where nature can work it's magic
20-30 million of years ago, this quarry was part of the seabed. The limestone rocks contain a wealth of marine fossils. If you are lucky, you will find prehistoric mussels, corals, sea urchins and coralline algae. The limestone from the quarry was used for building St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna, and the grandest buildings along the Vienna‘s Ringstraße. The colours and shapes of the rocks appear to change, according to where the sun is shining.
Ever since 1996, the St. Margarethen Quarry has been a favourite meeting place for international opera lovers. This open-air stage in beautiful Burgenland (65 km southeast of Vienna) provides a natural forum for bringing together cultures and people from East and West.
Set in the midst of a historic landscape, this venue will transport you to a world of new, unique experiences. By providing first-rate facilities for staging popular and top quality opera productions, their festival has succeeded in attracting enthusiastic audiences as well as international opera stars and musicians.
One of Europe’s most beautiful and impressive open-air arenas, operas have been performed at St. Margarethen Quarry since 1996. With the Esterházy Foundation as its owner, this location was redeveloped in 2006. AWG, a young, international architects group from Vienna, designed exciting architecture that was also sensitively attuned to the setting, a space that had actually been an industrial site for many centuries.
For an unforgettable evening
The director in St. Margarethen will be Philipp M. Krenn, who is highly experienced in staging works by Richard Wagner as well as for large stages and festivals and will also present a “Parsifal” at the Erl Festival in 2025. Momme Hinrichs, entrusted with the stage design, is known for the perfect symbiosis between stage spaces and projection, creating a total work of art that merges with the music and stage action and is complemented by Eva Dessecker's magnificent costume creations.
The director will be Philipp M. Krenn, who is experienced in Wagner productions
The breathtaking stage design only comes to life through the artists on stage: For the first time, the ensemble of top international singers will be conducted by the internationally renowned German maestro and experienced Wagner conductor Patrick Lange.
The breathtaking stage design only comes to life through the artists on stage
