Ekkehard Wlaschiha

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Ekkehard Wlaschiha (born May 28, 1938 in Pirna , Saxony , † February 20, 2019 in Bayreuth ) was a German opera singer ( bass baritone ).

Life

Training and beginnings

Ekkehard Wlaschiha originally wanted to study singing at the Dresden University of Music , but was turned down during his audition there because of an alleged vocal error. He then completed his vocal studies at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Weimar and privately with Helene Jung .

After completing his studies, he made his debut in 1961 at the Thuringian State Theater in Gera , where he sang various roles in operas, operettas and musicals. His inaugural roles there were Dr. Cajus in The Merry Wives of Windsor and Don Fernando in Fidelio . This was followed by permanent engagements at the Saxon State Theater Dresden-Radebeul (1964–1966) and at the National Theater Weimar (1966–1970), where he worked with the then opera director Harry Kupfer . From 1970 to 1983 he was a permanent member of the Leipzig Opera House . During this time he went on his first international guest tours with the ensemble of the Leipzig Opera, mostly to what were then “socialist countries”. During this time he was also a permanent guest at the Dresden State Opera , the Sofia National Opera and the Leningrad Opera House . In 1974 he was appointed chamber singer .

During his engagement in Leipzig he appeared regularly as a guest at the Berlin State Opera . In 1975 he made his debut there as Don Pizarro in Fidelio . In 1977/78 he sang Tonio in Der Bajazzo , 1981/82 Jochanaan in Salome , Escamillo in Carmen and Tomski in Pique Dame . In 1982 he became a permanent member of the Berlin State Opera. There he sang Telramund in Lohengrin for the first time in 1983 and appeared in the great Wagner roles of his subject ( Biterolf , shortly afterwards also as Amfortas ). After his permanent position he also interpreted roles in the Italian field, such as Jago and Rigoletto . In 1985 he played Sebastiano in the opera Tiefland .

In February 1985 he was in the opening performance of the rebuilt Dresden Semperoper Kaspar in Carl Maria von Weber's romantic opera Der Freischütz . His participation in this leading role was one of Wlaschiha's "career highlights". In the following years he was a regular guest at the Dresden Opera, for example in 1995 as the Flying Dutchman and as Telramund. In 1998 he had another great success there as Pizarro. He repeated this role there again in Fidelio performances in 2000. At the age of 65, Wlaschiha took leave of the opera stage at the Dresden State Opera in 2003 with the role of Pizarro.

Guest performances

After a first step in in the summer of 1984 as Alberich in the Götterdämmerung , Wlaschiha was a permanent member of the Bayreuth Festival from 1986 to 1998 . He stepped there u. a. as Kurwenal (1986, Tristan and Isolde , under Daniel Barenboim ), Telramund (1987–1991 and 1993, Lohengrin ), Biterolf (1992/93 and 1995), Alberich im Nibelungenring (1994–1998, under James Levine ) and as Klingsor ( 1998, Parsifal ).

In 1987 he made guest appearances at the Munich State Opera with great success as Jochanaan in Salome (with Hildegard Behrens as partner) and as Alberich in the Nibelungenring. Since the 1993/94 season he had a permanent guest contract with the Bavarian State Opera. In November 1993 he sang Orestes in Elektra at Christa Ludwig's farewell performance from the Munich opera audience. In 1999 he sang the Alberich there in the complete ring cycle.

Wlaschiha also made guest appearances at the Deutsche Oper Berlin (1988, as Alberich; 1991, as Telramund), at the Hamburg State Opera (1995, as Pizarro; 1998, as Kaspar) and at the Cologne Opera House (1998, as Rheingold -Alberich).

International career

In 1982 he made a guest appearance in Reggio Emilia , which marked the beginning of his international career. At the Lausanne Music Festival in 1983 he appeared as Kurwenal. In September 1987 he sang for the first time at the Vienna State Opera , where he appeared in a total of 7 performances as Don Pizarro, Kaspar and Jochanaan until 1989. In 1988 he made his debut as Alberich at the Covent Garden Opera in London , where he could also be heard in October 1991 (“terrific in its dangerousness and deep humiliation”) and again as Alberich from 1994–95. In 1997 he took over the master of ceremonies Severolus in Palestrina .

In 1988 he sang Don Pizarro in Fidelio at the Chicago Opera and the Philadelphia Opera House . He made his debut as Alberich in February 1989 at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City , where he could also be heard regularly as Jochanaan, Amfortas (inter alia in April 1992) and Don Pizarro until 1993. Wlaschiha's last appearance at the MET was in March 1997 as Alberich.

In 1992 he sang Alberich at the concert performances of the Ring in the Salle Pleyel in Paris . In 1995 he sang Kaspar at the Maggio Musicale Florence . He also made guest appearances at the Oslo Opera House (1996, Alberich in Götterdämmerung ) as well as at the national operas of Ljubljana and Bratislava . In 1999 he made a guest appearance in Sydney (as Alberich in a concert performance by Siegfried ) and in the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden . One of his last international appearances in 2002 was the old man Schigolch in Lulu at the Dutch Opera Amsterdam .

Private

Wlaschiha died in February 2019 at the age of 80. He last lived in the Laineck district of Bayreuth . A longstanding artistic and private friendship linked him to his fellow singer Hans Sotin .

The actor Tom Wlaschiha ( Game of Thrones ) is his nephew.

repertoire

Wlaschiha was mainly known as a Wagner interpreter . He had "a naturally powerful voice with a metallic core". In particular he sang the great hero and character baritone roles such as Holländer, Kurwenal, Telramund, Hans Sachs, Klingsor and especially Alberich. At times he was referred to as "Alberich vom Dienst" due to the large number of his appearances in this role.

His other stage repertoire also included the great dramatic roles of the Italian subject such as Scarpia in Tosca , Rigoletto, Amonasro in Aida , Alfio in Cavalleria rusticana and Tonio. He also occasionally sang French roles such as Escamillo and Coppelius in Hoffmann's stories . He regularly appeared on stage as Jochanaan and Orestes in Richard Strauss' operas .

Wlaschiha was also considered an "eminent" actor for character roles, with a "feeling for dramatic nuances". His Alberich was "not a stage villain per se, more a person with inner conflicts".

Wlaschiha also appeared as a concert and oratorio singer.

Audio documents

Wlaschiha's voice is documented in numerous complete opera recordings, radio recordings and various live recordings.

His recordings have been published by Philips (Matthäuspassion, Kurwenal, Kaspar, Pizarro), Deutsche Grammophon , Berlin Classics (Severolus in Palestrina ) and EMI (Alberich in the complete Nibelungenring under Wolfgang Sawallisch ) , among others . In addition, performances in which Wlaschiha took part were reissued on video and DVD (including a Freischütz recording of the reopening of the Dresden Opera in 1985).

Wlaschiha was awarded two Grammys for his interpretation of Alberich .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h WAGNER BARITON EKKEHARD Wlaschiha DIED: ALS ALBERICH TO WORLD FAME . Obituary for BR-Klassik on February 21, 2019. Retrieved on February 21, 2019.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h Ekkehard Wlaschiha turns 80 . In: Nordbayerischer Kurier on May 27, 2018. Retrieved on February 21, 2019.
  3. ↑ a b c d e f ALBERICH IS NO LONGER! EKKEHARD WLASCHIHA . Obituary at OperaLounge.com. Retrieved February 22, 2019.
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g EKKEHARD WLASCHIHA DIED . Obituary. Official website of the Berlin State Opera . Retrieved February 21, 2019.
  5. ↑ Directory of roles by Ekkehard Wlaschiha. In: Chronik der Wiener Staatsoper 1945-2005 , p. 835. Löcker Verlag, Vienna 2006. ISBN 3-85409-449-3 .
  6. ^ H. Walter: LONDON: THE RING OF THE NIBELUNGS . Performance review. In: Opera glasses . Issue January 1, 1992. pp. 20/21.
  7. ^ Wlaschiha, Ekkehard Baritone . Performance database. Metropolitan Opera Archives . Retrieved February 21, 2019.
  8. ↑ Game of Thrones star dances at the Semper Opera Ball . In: Sächsische Zeitung of January 17, 2019. Retrieved on February 22, 2019.
  9. ↑ a b Ekkehard Wlaschiha died at the age of 80 . Obituary. MDR Klassik on February 21, 2019. Retrieved on February 21, 2019.
  10. ↑ GRAMMY Award: Results for Ekkehard Wlaschiha . Grammy Awards database . Retrieved February 21, 2019.
personal data
SURNAME Wlaschiha, Ekkehard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German opera singer (bass baritone)
DATE OF BIRTH May 28, 1938
PLACE OF BIRTH Pirna , Saxony
DATE OF DEATH 20th February 2019
Place of death Bayreuth