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Richard Wagner: DER FLIEGENDE HOLLÄNDER

Conductor: Asher Fisch
Direction and Lighting: Josef E. Köpplinger
Stage: Rainer Sinell
Costumes: Birte Wallbaum
Video: Meike Ebert, Raphael Kurig, Christian Gasteiger
Dramaturgy: Karin Bohnert
Daland: Gabor Bretz
Senta: Nina Bezu
Erik: Jamez McCorkle
Mary: Shannon Keegan
Helmsman: Matthew Newlin
Flying Dutchman: Christopher Maltman
Orchestra of the Tiroler Festspiele Erl
Choir of the Tiroler Festspiele Erl

The man wandering in his entanglements, yearning for redemption, is a recurring motif in Wagner's operas. In the Holländer the composer's self-image seems particularly clearly reflected in an operatic figure. A captain condemned to eternal life is stranded on Norway's coast, meets Senta, who redeems him through her suicide. At that time, the young Kapellmeister Wagner's wife was unfaithful, so he composed for himself, as a reaction to the storms in his own life, the icon of unconditional love.

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Team

Asher Fisch Conductor

Asher Fisch is Chief Conductor of the West Australian Symphony Orchestra and has been Music Director of the Tiroler Festspiele in Erl since the beginning of the 2024/25 season. He is internationally recognized as one of the leading conductors and has an extensive repertoire that covers both opera and concert areas. He began his career as an assistant to Daniel Barenboim and as a conductor at the Berlin State Opera. Since then, he has conducted at major European opera houses, including Vienna, Milan, Munich, Paris and Madrid. As an acknowledged Wagner specialist, Fisch has recorded two complete "Ring" cycles as well as "Tristan und Isolde". In addition, he has intensively studied the Italian repertoire and recently released a Puccini album together with tenor Jonas Kaufmann, the new Artistic Director of the Tiroler Festspiele Erl.

As a concert conductor, Asher Fisch has led renowned US American and European orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony, the San Francisco Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra and the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Munich Philharmonic, the Orchestre National de France and the London Symphony Orchestra. Asher Fisch is also active as a pianist and can be experienced in piano concerts, with chamber music and as a song accompanist.

Josef E. Köpplinger Direction and Lighting

Josef E. Köpplinger, an internationally sought-after director and theater manager, was born in Lower Austria in 1964. He studied at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. His repertoire spans the genres of drama, opera, operetta, and musicals. From 1999 to 2003, he directed the Schloss Prugg Musical Festival. From 2004 to 2007, he served as director of drama at the Theater in St. Gallen, and from 2007 to 2012, he was artistic director of the Stadttheater Klagenfurt. Since 2012, he has been Artistic Director of the Gärtnerplatztheater in Munich, where he personally directs a wide variety of productions and has already staged numerous world premieres. His directing work has also included, among others, the Graz Opera, in Vienna at the Volkstheater, the Volksoper, the Staatsoper, and the Theater in der Josefstadt; at the Opéra national du Rhin; the Aalto Theater in Essen; the Hamburg State Opera; the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona; the Nuremberg State Theater; and the Semperoper in Dresden.

Rainer Sinell Stage

Rainer Sinell grew up in Berlin and studied set and costume design there and in New York. His engagements have taken him to venues including the Hessian State Theater in Wiesbaden, the Augsburg City Theaters, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Burgtheater in Vienna, the Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux, the Washington Opera, the Hamburg State Opera, the Leipzig Opera, the Graz Opera, the Vienna Volksoper, and the Vienna State Opera. He is a regular guest at the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz in Munich. He has a long-standing collaboration with Josef E. Köpplinger. Together they have created, among other works, the productions Die Fledermaus for the Maggio Musicale in Florence, as well as Les Misérables (in co-production with the Theater St. Gallen) and La Cage aux Folles at the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz.

Birte Wallbaum Costumes

Birte Wallbaum, born in Kiel, completed her training as a set and costume designer at the Weißensee Academy of Art in Berlin and subsequently worked as a set design assistant at Theater Basel. In 2019, she designed the costumes for Operation Kamen at the Staatsschauspiel Dresden, which was presented at the Radikal jung Festival in Munich. From 2019 to 2024, she was employed as a set and costume designer at the Theater Nordhausen, where she created numerous sets and costumes. Since 2024, she has been working as a freelancer and is active at venues including the Gärtnerplatztheater in Munich, the Staatstheater Cottbus, the Schleswig-Holsteinisches Landestheater, and the Theater Hof. Her projects in Munich include Der tollste Tag (directed by Josef E. Köpplinger) and The Pirates of Penzance (directed by Adam Cooper).

Meike Ebert Video

Video artist Meike Ebert was born in Munich. After studying film editing at the Bavarian Academy for Television and Digital Media, she focused on digital video design for theater. For over twenty years, Ebert has been working for renowned theaters in Germany and abroad. For drama, opera, dance, and musical productions, she creates three-dimensional and dynamic visual worlds that expand the respective stage spaces and visually enrich the action on stage. Her designs emerge at the intersection of video, lighting, and spatial design. Her artistic language has evolved from classical editing techniques and two-dimensional image processing to complex three-dimensional modeling and digital real-time environments.

Raphael Kurig Video

Video and lighting artist Raphael Kurig studied film and animation in Munich and Los Angeles. Since 2010, he has headed the video department at the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz in Munich. In this role, he and his team have created numerous video designs for operas, ballets, operettas, and musicals, each tailored specifically to the respective production. In addition, he has worked for, among others, the Semperoper Dresden, the Cologne Opera, the Carl Orff Festival in Andechs, and the Culture Square Center in Shanghai. In addition to his work in theater, he creates a wide range of video and light art projects for the stage, architecture, and museums through his studio WE ARE VIDEO, which he co-founded in 2020.

Christian Gasteiger Video

Media artist Christian Gasteiger, from Bad Aibling, began his career at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich and worked as a video technician at the Residenztheater and the Münchner Kammerspiele. He has created video designs for, among others, the Freie Bühne München, the Landestheater Salzburg, and the Pfalztheater Kaiserslautern. Since 2017, he has been working in the video department of the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz, where he has designed, among other things, visual effects for the interactive ballet *Salome tanz*, AI-generated landscapes for the ballet opera *Amor’s Feast*, the 360-degree projection for *Peer Gynt*, and the video projections for *Cinderella*. In 2020, he co-founded the studio WE ARE VIDEO, which produces video and light art projects for the stage, architecture, and museums.

Karin Bohnert Dramaturgy

Karin Bohnert studied German language and literature and art history in Stuttgart. From 2003 to 2010, she served as senior music theater dramaturg at the Wuppertaler Bühnen, and from 2010 to 2022 at the Theater an der Wien, where she collaborated with directors such as Keith Warner, Peter Konwitschny, and Torsten Fischer, as well as with conductors such as René Jacobs, Michael Boder, and Stefan Gottfried. From 2022 to 2024, she served as a curator helping to develop the Johann Strauss 2025 Vienna anniversary year. In Wuppertal and Vienna, she taught practical dramaturgy at the universities. Since the 2024–2025 season, she has been employed as a music theater dramaturg at the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz in Munich, where she works with Josef E. Köpplinger, Herbert Föttinger, and Karl Alfred Schreiner, among others.

Gabor Bretz Daland

Since graduating from the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, Hungarian bass-baritone Gábor Bretz has appeared regularly at the Hungarian State Opera. He is also in high demand internationally at leading opera houses and festivals. He has enjoyed great success, among other roles, in the title role of Don Quichotte (Opéra national de Paris, Bregenz Festival), as Heinrich der Vogler (Lohengrin) at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin, at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels, at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in London, and at the Hamburg State Opera; as Jochanaan (Salome) at the Salzburg Festival and the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence; and as Escamillo (Carmen) at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, as well as in Munich, Hamburg, London, and Tokyo.

Nina Bezu Senta

Berlin-born soprano Nina Bezu studied at the Berlin University of the Arts under Robert Gambill and Carola Höhn. She has won prizes at several singing competitions. From 2019 to 2021, she was a member of the ensemble at the Theater Vorpommern. In 2023, she made her debut at the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples as Gerhilde (Die Walküre). She has appeared as the Countess (The Marriage of Figaro) at the Hanover State Opera and the Cottbus State Theater, in the title role of Salome at the Teatro Massimo di Palermo, and at the Finnish National Opera in Helsinki, where she also performed as Elisabetta (Don Carlo). Engagements for the current season include, among others, Hanna Glawari (The Merry Widow) at the Theater Baden and the title role in Iolanta at the Finnish National Opera.

Jamez McCorkle Erik

American tenor Jamez McCorkle gained international attention in the title role of the opera Omar, which premiered at the 2022 Spoleto Festival USA and won the Pulitzer Prize in 2023. It took him to the Los Angeles Opera, the Boston Lyric Opera, the San Francisco Opera, and Carolina Performing Arts. His most recent successes include the role of Bacchus (Ariadne on Naxos) and Laca Klemeň (Jenůfa). This season, he is appearing in roles including Siegmund (The Valkyrie) with the Orchestre de Paris, at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, and with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and makes his role debut as Grigory Otrepjev (Boris Godunov) in London, as well as Parsifal and Erik (The Flying Dutchman) at the Tyrolean Festival in Erl.

Shannon Keegan Mary

Mezzo-soprano Shannon Keegan is from Illinois. She studied at the University of Music Cincinnati and Rice University, and is a graduate of the Houston Grand Opera’s Young Artist Vocal Academy and the International Meistersinger Academy in Neumarkt. From 2022 to 2024, she was a member of the opera studio at the Stuttgart State Opera, where she appeared in roles including Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Cherubino (The Marriage of Figaro), and the Second Lady (The Magic Flute). At the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, she appeared as Suzuki (Madama Butterfly), Second Maid (Elektra), Giovanna (Rigoletto), Clotilde (Norma), and Flower Maiden (Parsifal). Last October, she made her debut as Charlotte (Werther) at the Opéra Nacional de Chile in Santiago.

Matthew Newlin Helmsman

Lyric tenor Matthew Newlin is from Illinois and trained in Edwardsville and Chicago. From 2013 to 2024, he was a member of the ensemble at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, where he appeared in roles including Don José (Carmen), Alfredo (La traviata), Count Almaviva (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni), Tamino (The Magic Flute), Belmonte (The Abduction from the Seraglio), and Lenski (Eugene Onegin). Guest appearances have taken him to venues including the Teatro Real in Madrid, the Semperoper in Dresden, the Opéra national de Paris, the Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam, the Theater an der Wien, the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin, the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels, as well as the Atlanta and Santa Fe Operas.

Christopher Maltman Flying Dutchman

Christopher Maltman is one of today’s leading dramatic baritones. He is from England and studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London. The Grammy Award winner captivates audiences on the world’s most prestigious opera stages, including those in London, New York, Milan, Barcelona, Vienna, Berlin, Frankfurt, Zurich, Amsterdam, Paris, Madrid, Washington, and Los Angeles, as well as at the festivals in Salzburg, Edinburgh, and Glyndebourne. Initially celebrated primarily for his performances of Mozart’s works—and in particular for the title role in Don Giovanni—his steadily expanding repertoire now includes, among others, the roles of Jago (Otello), Wotan (Wagner’s Ring), Jochanaan (Salome), Hans Sachs (The Mastersingers of Nuremberg), and Scarpia (Tosca), as well as, more recently, the Dutchman and the Wanderer (Siegfried).

Orchestra of the Tiroler Festspiele Erl

The music springs from the enthusiasm of a motivated and exceptionally well-prepared ensemble that has grown together over the years. The Orchestra of the Tiroler Festspiele Erl was first formed in the summer of 1999—and today, musicians from 20 nations play together. Already in its first year, the ensemble achieved unprecedented success, which would go on to bring international recognition to the the Orchestra of the Tiroler Festspiele Erl. Top young talents, musicians from major international orchestras, chamber music specialists, and lecturers come together annually in summer and winter—and since 2017, also in fall and spring—as part of the Orchestra of the Tiroler Festspiele Erl. Under the direction of festival founder Gustav Kuhn, the orchestra garnered rave reviews from international critics and cemented its reputation as one of the world’s finest Wagner orchestras. With the start of Jonas Kaufmann’s tenure as artistic director in September 2024, Asher Fisch—a conductor in high demand internationally in both opera and concert settings—has taken over the helm of the orchestra.

Choir of the Tiroler Festspiele Erl

Founded in 2007, the Choir of the Tiroler Festspiele Erl focuses on the careful cultivation of individual voices. As part of the festival, the choir develops a wide range of projects, from a cappella programs to concert and opera productions. Since the opening of the Festspielhaus Erl in 2012, another focus has been on bel canto works and Verdi’s operas. Developing a Baroque choral sound in the works of Bach and his contemporaries is also a key focus of the ensemble’s work; since 2009, it has maintained close ties with Capella Minsk. Founded in 1940, this choral ensemble has made it its mission to preserve Belarusian folk music and to premiere works by modern and contemporary composers. After Lyudmila Yefimova had spent many years developing and shaping the choir’s quality, Olga Yanum took over as the ensemble’s director following her death in 2018.