Friday 18 June 2010

Meisterlibrary




From print, to sound to vision WNO's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg has been getting the billboard treatment in recent weeks, and with a day to go until opening afternoon / evening / night I thought you all deserved to have the whereabouts of the bits and pieces collected for you in a Meistermobile Library of sorts.

Fancy having a taster of what you will see on stage? There's no better place to go than WNO///3's Flickr page that has shots of detailed props in the making and also illustrations by artist Jane Webster of cast and crew throughout rehearsals.

Staying with WNO///3 their audioboo MeisterMole page is worth a visit. It has a raft of boos from the likes of Christopher Purves and Andrew Tortise in rehearsals, a Bryn Terfel Q&A session and also assistant stage manager Katie Heath-Jones revealing the need for a photographic memory if you want to get the job done.

But goodness! Sirs, siresses, ladies and gentlemenses what about the written word? Enough of this newfangled witchcraftery I want something that doesn't go boo in the night! If you are hankering after newspaper articles they are out there. The Guardian ran a piece earlier this month by Martin Kettle looking at the Meistersinger in general with a contribution from director Richard Jones, the man with the Hans Sachs plan for WNO's production. Earlier this week the FT (scribed by Richard Fairman) published an interview with Bryn Terfel talking in depth about Hans Sachs, taking in Geraint Evans and Gwyneth Jones among others along the way. And in today's Wales Online there's another interview with Bryn Terfel, this time with Mike Smith doing the jotting with the emphasis placed on Terfel's working approach to Meistersinger. Unlike most articles released to coincide with the opening of a production all three are worth your time – as you can probably tell by the chunky nature of this paragraph.

BBC Radio 3 has been getting into the Meistersinger groove with last Monday's In Tune's guests including WNO's Music Director, and Meistersinger conductor, Lothar Koenigs and stage director Richard Jones with Christopher Purves (Beckmesser). You can hear the Boys from the Pitch Stuff on the i-Player for three more days. Fast forward to about twelve minutes in to listen to the whole segment with music included. There's also an opportunity to hear Bryn Terfel talking to Petroc Trelawny about Meistersinger on tomorrow's Music Matters on Radio 3 from 12.15pm.

Anything else? Of course there is! Why not pop over to WNO's own site to watch two videos with Bryn Terfel discussing all things Meistersinger. You'll find the first video here. And you'll find the second video here.

Last of all – if you fancy taking part in some tweeting from the WMC tomorrow evening just #meistermole and your tweet will appear as if by magic here.

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