As we have discussed earlier, the upcoming production of “Das Rheingold” will feature the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra on the stage and the singers staged on a rising and lowering pit. This staging precludes a standard opera set. So our talented young director set about designing how forms and images could be used to create a “virtual set.”
One of Joachim's images that will be used as part of the "virtual set" of Das Rheingold.
German stage director Joachim Schamberger has put together some very creative ideas! First a “megalithic” set piece will be present in the pit, symbolic of mountains, castles, underwater formations, and other images that are already deep in your imagination. The epic visual aspects of the production also will include “virtual” set pieces that will frame the stage and feature frequently changing digital images representative of the story and the power of the Rhine. In a standard staging, you have giants who are not that much larger than other characters. Think what virtual images can do for giants!
You probably have noticed the otherworldly Rheingold illustration here on our web page. This is one of Joachim’s images and it is among the digital imagery that will be projected on the Rheingold stage. That one individual can be such an excellent director of “standard” operatic staging and also so talented at creating virtual sets is most impressive. I think Wagner himself would be impressed.
And, I believe, this kind of talent illustrates the future direction of opera and theater.
Next time a preview of some of the internationally recognized Wagnerian singers that our collaborative production has attracted to Indianapolis!
Jim
