Torsten Kerl to Perform Tannh‰user

Tenor Lars Clevemann, who sang the title role of Tannh‰user last
year, has withdrawn from the role this year. “This was at his own
request” explains Festival spokesman Peter Emmerich. He will be replaced
by Torsten Kerl.

Kerl is not new to Bayreuth, having sung Balthasar Zorn in Die
Meistersinger von N¸rnberg
from 1996 to 2000 in the then-new production by
Wolfgang Wagner and was in the cast of The Flying Dutchman in 1998 to
1999.

The controversial Tannh‰user production, by director Sebastian
Baumgarten, was greeted by a chorus of boos at the opening last year. In a
recent interview, Festival co-director Katharina Wagner acknowledged that the
staging needs to be “further developed.”

Frank Cadenhead


image=http://www.operatoday.com/Torsten_Kerl.gif
image_description=Torsten Kerl [Photo copyright Bettina Stˆfl]
product=yes
product_title=Torsten Kerl to Perform Tannh‰user
product_by=By Frank Cadenhead
product_id=Above: Torsten Kerl [Photo © Bettina Stˆfl]