Tuesday 14 December 2010

Stephen Fry on Wagner … and there’s more!

It’s always a pleasant surprise to discover that someone you admire adores something that you do too.

So imagine my pleasure on discovering that Stephen Fry has had a life-long love affair with the music of Richard Wagner (which long pre-dates my own twenty-year obsession), and that he wanted to tell the BBC all about it!

Watch and enjoy. [7 parts, 25 minutes in total]

And then maybe you’ll be in a position to better appreciate New Zealander of the Year nominee Simon O’Neill’s debut in Milan’s famous La Scala Opera House in Wagner’s magnificent opera Die Walkure (even if he was ill for the first performance).

Here he is singing the role in 2008 with both the same conductor and singing partner with whom he made the La Scala debut:

Wonderful stuff!

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