The Vienna State Opera also had to close its doors until further notice due to the corona virus. All performances and events are cancelled until April 2, 2020. In this difficult situation, the “Haus am Ring” is opening its online archive – free of charge and open to all. In addition to performances, such as the Cavaradossi debut of Piotr Beczala, “Figaro” and “Rheingold” with Adam Fischer at the podium, there will also be two “Ring” performances from last year.

“The fact that Brünnhilde had to push as little as Siegfried during his ‚Schmiedelied‘ was due to Axel Kobers musical direction. This develops into the actual event of this ‚Ring‘. From act to act, the conductor and the orchestra seem to act more freely and relaxed with each other. Kober’s certainty gives the musicians the freedom to play solos with the highest tonal beauty, quasi improvisatory – and even allows the underlying comedy of Wagner’s score to be heard. The fact that ‚Siegfried‘ is rightly called the ‚Scherzo of the Nibelungen Symphony‘ is also noticeable on such an evening. Even the brass armoured first finale gains a lightness of touch that borders on the miraculous, given the difficulties of this very score. After all, one knows that orchestral rehearsals are almost unthinkable in the Viennese repertoire. However, if a maestro is able to confidently mobilize the notorious skills of the musicians,” Wilhelm Sinkovicz writes about the “Siegfried” direction by Axel Kober, who conducted the run without orchestra rehearsals.

And even after the “Götterdämmerung”, the critic of the renowned newspaper “Die Presse” is enthusiastic: “It takes a Kapellmeister of first format. He was available with Axel Kober and not only led all forces safely through the fourteen and a half hours of music, but also intervened consistently in the overwhelmingly increased ‚Funeral March‘ as in moments of extreme concentration. While Irene Theorin’s partly whispered final monologue, the last cough in the auditorium is muted; the air conditioning abstracts, which means: complete silence – with which in truth the utmost drama is achieved…”.

Both performances can be experienced in the online archive of the Vienna State Opera. (Siegfried: 22 March; Götterdämmerung: 28 March)