This January and February, Elza van den Heever joins the Staatsoper Berlin for Wagner’s Lohengrin, returning to Calixto Bieito’s dark, surreal production. She will bow as Elsa von Brabant, an innocent woman who is falsely accused of murdering her brother. The knight Lohengrin agrees to marry her on the condition that she never ask his name or origin, but manipulation and doubt, stoked by the sorceress Ortrud, drive Elsa to break her promise.
Van den Heever has previously bowed as Elsa at the Wiener Staatsoper, Bayerische Staatsoper, Oper Frankfurt, and Opernhaus Zürich, and most recently at the Bayreuth Festival, where her performance was praised as “radiantly sung and acted” (Operawire) and “bold and searching, every phrase alive with intention” (Opera Scene).
She joins a fantastic cast of Wagnerians, under the baton of Simone Young. Eric Cutler sings the title role, with René Pape as Heinrich der Vogler, Wolfgang Koch as Friedrich of Telramund, and Anja Kampe as Ortrud.