Wagner's opera, "The Flying Dutchman," will get its Connecticut premiere this weekend, 170 years after the opera made its debut in Dresden, Germany. The Connecticut Lyric Operawill present Wagner's early masterpiece Friday night at Trinity-on-Main in New Britain, and Saturday night at the Middletown High School Arts Center.
Excerpts from the Connecticut Lyric Opera's production of "The Flying Dutchman":
According to the opera company's artistic director, Adrian Sylveen, it's the first time "The Flying Dutchman," or any fully-staged Wagner opera, has ever been performed in Connecticut. He said that although the opera was written early in his career, "The Flying Dutchman" has elements that would later become trademarks of Wagner's operatic style. "It's a work that does not fully realize the 'theme motifs' that Wagner was famous for," said Sylveen. "They are there. The overture begins with Daland's theme, but they are in the early stage of development." The opera tells the story of the the Flying Dutchman, doomed to sail the seas until he finds true love.
Besides the two performances this weekend, the Connecticut Lyric Opera performs "The Flying Dutchman" Friday, November 15 at the Palace Theater in Waterbury, and Saturday, November 23 at the Garde Arts Center in New London.
