{"id":69306,"date":"2023-11-14T23:27:26","date_gmt":"2023-11-14T23:27:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/likecelebwn.com\/?p=69306"},"modified":"2023-11-14T23:27:26","modified_gmt":"2023-11-14T23:27:26","slug":"wagner-would-love-it-epic-15-hour-opera-goes-super-hi-tech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/likecelebwn.com\/lifestyle\/wagner-would-love-it-epic-15-hour-opera-goes-super-hi-tech\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Wagner would love it\u2019: Epic 15-hour opera goes super hi-tech"},"content":{"rendered":"

By <\/span>Nick Galvin<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Save articles for later<\/h3>\n

Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time.<\/p>\n

In 1993 Leigh Sachwitz packed a single suitcase and left her native Glasgow for Berlin on a one-way ticket in search of adventure.<\/p>\n

An architecture graduate from the Glasgow School of Art, Sachwitz soon found that adventure immersing herself in Berlin\u2019s burgeoning underground house and techno scene, creating visual worlds using primitive slide projectors and Super 8 film cameras.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Leigh Sachwitz has conjured an entire visual world from Wager\u2019s music.<\/span>Credit: <\/span> Rhett Wyman<\/cite><\/p>\n

\u201cI started with old Russian machines that I could get my hands on for one Deutsche Mark at the flea market,\u201d she says. \u201cI was creating lights in warehouses using that type of technology. And then we moved to VHS and that was like \u2018Oh my God\u2019. And then, of course, the first Apple computer where we had a laptop and we\u2019re like, \u2018Oh my God, I don\u2019t have to travel with my two boxes of slide projectors to a club and set up my stuff\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then we got HD and then 2K, and now we\u2019re combining the creation of imagery with a lot of these gaming engines. Now we\u2019re at the point where we can actually create live generated content.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fast-forward 30 years and flora&faunavisions, the company she founded in 1999, is one of the world\u2019s leading creators of audiovisual environments, employing cutting-edge tools that increasingly include artificial intelligence. It\u2019s light years away from those early Berlin days.<\/p>\n

Now Sachwitz is preparing for the opening of one of the biggest projects she and her team have tackled \u2013 the world\u2019s first all-digital production of Richard Wagner\u2019s Der Ring des Nibelungen<\/em> (\u201cThe Ring<\/em>\u201d) with Opera Australia.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The work, seen here in a tech rehearsal, tells an epic tale of gods battling over a magical ring.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Keith Saunders<\/cite><\/p>\n

Considered the Olympics of the operatic canon, a full Ring cycle consists of four separate operas totalling 15 hours of music that tell an epic tale of gods and mythical heroes battling for possession of a magical ring.<\/p>\n

Any complete production of The Ring<\/em> is a big deal but with eight mobile LED panels 2.5m wide by 8m high, video that can be triggered by the performers\u2019 movements and hundreds of hours of computer programming, this is Wagner like it has never been seen before.<\/p>\n

Sachwitz was first approached with the project in March 2019 and given a deadline of 18 months.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone said you\u2019re totally insane to do that in one and a half years,\u201d she says. \u201cBut I thought it was possible and then I started reading a bit about different people who\u2019d done the Ring cycle and realised that actually if we do this in one and a half years, it is quite quick.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Performers rehearse in front of one of Sachwitz\u2019s striking backdrops<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Keith Saunders<\/cite><\/p>\n

In the end, the pandemic intervened and the on-again, off-again production is only finally reaching the Brisbane stage at the beginning of December.<\/p>\n

At the beginning, Sachwitz had only the barest knowledge of The Ring and few preconceptions.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew of The Ring<\/em> and of Wagner and I\u2019d worked on several operas before but I\u2019d never worked on Wagner,\u201d she says. \u201cI really had to go in there and study from the beginning, which is the first step to just understand what is this about and how can we make this epic and original.\u201d<\/p>\n

Initially, she sat down with director Chen Shi-Zheng and costume designer Anita Yavich. For two weeks they sat in a rehearsal room and listened to many of the roles being sung accompanied by a piano reduction of the score.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe started talking about the patterns and the rhythms and the worlds and where people are and what our vision was,\u201d says Sachwitz. \u201cYou start looking at mood boards and picking out pictures. I\u2019m a super visual person and the looking part of me kind-of got switched on, and then you just start sorting and searching and researching and trying to find images. And then slowly you start to throw a whole bunch of them out again and go back again, and it just goes back and forth.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Sachwitz has avoided being too literal or prescriptive in her visual interpretation of The Ring.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Keith Saunders<\/cite><\/p>\n

So at the end of that intensive fortnight of Wagner, did it all slot into place?<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d only still scratched the surface because at the end I was like, \u2018Oh my God, did I agree to do this? This is insane. This is Wagner. What the hell was he thinking?\u2019\u201d she says. \u201cActually, the work started after those two weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018In the end, if you don\u2019t have a good story, then it\u2019s nothing\u2019<\/p>\n

Ultimately, Sachwitz and her team were led by Wagner\u2019s extraordinary score in all its futuristic glory.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a huge fan of the music,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s so bold, which is great for visuals. It\u2019s very modern, almost science fiction. I think he was a visionary of his time.\u201d<\/p>\n

She has been cautious about being too literal or prescriptive in her visual interpretation of The Ring<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of the digital design and the sets and everything is quite abstract and modern,\u201d she says. \u201cI think it gives you space as an audience member to think for yourself and just to listen to the music and let yourself be kind of hypnotised by the world and the environment without seeing something literal, without seeing something which puts that image into your head.\u201d<\/p>\n

With developments in technology unfolding at an ever faster pace, Sachwitz is excited to imagine what might be possible for opera in the near future.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be so great to work on an immersive opera,\u201d she says. \u201cImagine the audience could be on stage in the orchestra, they could be right next to them. Imagine that different kind of setup. So you get rid of the proscenium for a moment and create the orchestra in the middle and everyone around sitting in these beautiful worlds. It also bridges the gap between generations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not that Sachwitz believes \u201canalog\u201d operas will become a thing of the past any time soon.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnalog art has a place in this world and always will,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd it\u2019s great to have so many tools and new ways of creating art for artists in the future, whether it be on stage or in a gallery or whatever. I see myself as one of the creators of that future. So I\u2019m not painting with oil, I\u2019m painting with interactive technology or whatever. And I think everything will coexist next to each other. And I think that\u2019s cool.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the end, the bottom line is if you don\u2019t have a good story, then it\u2019s nothing. And we are definitely coming from the story and then looking to see what kind of technology do we need to add?\u201d<\/p>\n

And while Sachwitz is aware this version of The Ring<\/em> might not sit well with at least some of the work\u2019s passionate fans, some of whom will travel around the world to see a new production, she is convinced Wagner would approve.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he would be super into it,\u201d she says. \u201cHe did things no one would ever have done before, and he broke the rules and he crossed borders and he took it to the limit. It\u2019s insane. That\u2019s why this piece is still so popular and so well respected. Why would he want to do something which was old school when all he was doing was creating a new school at the time?\u201d<\/p>\n

Opera Australia\u2019s The Ring Cycle, Queensland Performing Arts Centre, December 1 – 21 <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Booklist is a weekly newsletter for book lovers from books editor Jason Steger. <\/i><\/b>Get it delivered every Friday<\/i><\/b>.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Most Viewed in Culture<\/h2>\n

Source: Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Nick Galvin Save articles for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. In 1993 Leigh Sachwitz packed a single suitcase and left her native Glasgow for Berlin on a one-way ticket in search of adventure. 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