Richard Wagner’s final composition leads us straight into the centre of the fellowship around the Holy Grail – a community in deep crisis. The Knights of the Grail are awaiting the ‘fool enlightened by compassion’ who is supposed to redeem them – and find him in young Parsifal. With a cast of over a hundred persons, Wagner’s composition was intended as a ‘festival play for the consecration of the stage’ – he himself wanted it considered a sacred act. The German director Susanne Kennedy and the artist Markus Selg transport this intention into the present day and lead the audience into a world of both archaic and futuristic aesthetics, of religious symbols and AI-generated images. Inspired by Christian motifs, Buddhist teachings and Hindu thought, they create a ritual that seeks out spiritual planes beyond the veils of the digital and material world.
Musical direction Yi-Chen Lin Concept Susanne Kennedy & Markus Selg Direction Susanne Kennedy Set design, video Markus Selg Costume design Andra Dumitrascu Lighting design Sascha Zauner Choreography Dominic Santia Video design collaboration, creative technology Warja Rybakova Dramaturgy Tobias Staab Music dramaturgy Piet De Volder
With Russell Thomas (Parsifal), Dshamilja Kaiser (Kundry, voice from above), Albert Dohmen (Gurnemanz), Kartal Karagedik (Amfortas), Werner Van Mechelen (Klingsor), Kurt Rydl (Titurel), Devin Eatmon (First Grail Knight), Smelo Mahlangu* (Second Grail Knight), Chelsea Guo* (First Squire/Fourth Flower Maiden), Camila Aguilera Yañez * (Second Squire/Fifth Flower Maiden), Martin Piskorski (Third Squire), Timothy Veryser (Fourth Squire), Maria Chabounia (First Flower Girl), Ondelwa Martins (Second Flower Girl), Mira Alkhovik * (Third Flower Girl), Jessica Stakenburg (Sixth Flower Girl), Dominic Santia (Performer/Choreographer), Ixchel Mendoza, Melyn Chow, Nazar Rakhmanov, Martina De Dominicis, Anna Maria Sturm (Performers) Orchestra & stage music ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien Choir Arnold Schoenberg Chor Choirmaster Erwin Ortner Chorus Preparation Juan Sebastian Acosta Vocal Coaching Viktor Mitrevski Children's choir Gumpoldskirchner Spatzen Choir direction Katja Kalmar & Anđelko Igree
Revival Stage Manager Clara Jansen Musical Assistance & Répétiteur Hartmut Keil Assistance Lighting Design Bjorn Hofman Hair Design Sara Mathiasson Assistant Direction Nikiforos Papadoudis Technical Direction OBV Bart Smekens Head of Technical Department OBV Maarten van Trigt Stage Technology OBV Tom Van Cauwenberge, Ken Janssens Video Technology OBV Stefan van den Eede Lighting Technology OBV Ruben Vueskens Props OBV Johan Brutsaert Stage Management OBV Hans Wils Costume Supervision OBV Silke De Greve Make-up OBV Carolien Wardenier Translation Surtitles Simen Van Mechelen Surtitles Suzy Löscher
Production Opera Ballet Vlaanderen Coproduction Vienna Festival (Wiener Festwochen) I Free Republic of Vienna In cooperation with the Opera Studio of the Volksoper Wien* Supported by the Tax Shelter Programme of the Belgian government With the kind permission of UNIVERSAL EDITION AG, Wien, in Vertretung von Schott Music GmbH & Co. KG
Richard Wagner: Parsifal
Bühnenweihfestspiel in drei Akten
Edited according to the text of the Richard Wagner Complete Edition by Egon Voss und Martin Geck
World premiere September 2025, Opera Ballet Vlaanderen (Gent)
