Achim Freyer and Matthew Gurewitsch - Ring Festival - Götterdämmerung In conversation June 4, 2010

Achim Freyer and Matthew Gurewitsch
Ring Festival - Götterdämmerung
In conversation
Friday June 4th, 7:00 p.m
Goethe-Institut Los Angeles, 5750 Wilshire Blvd. Suite 100, Los Angeles CA 90036
Free Admission
Info: +1 323 5253388
Every new production of Richard Wagner’s epic cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen sets the stage for musical, dramatic, intellectual, and spiritual adventure of the highest order.
Even within those parameters, Achim Freyer’s Ring-in-progress at the Los Angeles Opera (the first Ring in the city’s history) already stands apart.
Ravishingly colorful, chockablock with creativity, never conventional for a moment, it is zany at times yet imbued with tragic grandeur.

In far-ranging conversations with the noted writer and commentator Matthew Gurewitsch, the master explores the intricate web of thought and imagery behind the historic production of Goetterdaemmerung.

Written questions for the speakers may be sent to:
Freyer RING, c/o Goethe-Institut
5750 Wilshire Blvd. Suite 100,
Los Angeles, CA 90036
or per email to:
[email protected]

Achim Freyer made his LA Opera debut with Bach's Mass in B-minor in 2002, returning in 2003 for La Damnation de Faust.
He studied painting before turning toward the theater, staging productions with numerous important theater companies including the Berliner Ensemble and the Burgtheater in Vienna.
In 1982, he directed a production of Die Zauberflöte in Hamburg which made theater history and is to this day still celebrated by consistently sold out houses. Freyer is at home a all major European opera houses.
In 1992, he founded the Freyer Ensemble, an integral part of his large-scale opera and theater productions, with whom he has created more than 20 pieces for the theater.

Matthew Gurewitsch began his career as senior editor for the performing arts at Connoisseur magazine in the 1980s.
Since the early 1990s, his essays and features have appeared steadily in The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic Monthly, Smithsonian, Opera News, and leading international publications.
For The New York Times, he has covered classical music with an emphasis on opera and song, pop music, theater, Old Masters, living artists, dance, circus, and film.
A generalist by conviction, he has also written on architecture, archaeology, sports, travel, and the business of culture.
Born in Schenectady, New York, Mr. Gurewitsch grew up in Zurich, Switzerland.
He holds a B.A. in English from the State University of New York, Stony Brook, a Ph.D. in comparative literature from Harvard, and an M.B.A. from the Yale School of Management.