Harry Kupfer (12 August 1935 – 30 December 2019)

Harry Kupfer at the Bayreuth Festival

1978

Der fliegende Holländer (Stage Director)

Conductor: Woldemar Nelsson
Holländer: Simon Estes
Senta: Lisbeth Balslev
Daland: Matti Salminen
Erik: Robert Schunk
Steuermann: Graham Clark
Mary: Anny Schlemm

Recorded at Bayreuth Festival in 1985. Released on VHS and later DVD.

1979

Der fliegende Holländer (Stage Director)

1980

Der fliegende Holländer (Stage Director)

1981

Der fliegende Holländer (Stage Director)

1982

Der fliegende Holländer (Stage Director)

1984

Der fliegende Holländer (Stage Director)

1985

Der fliegende Holländer (Stage Director)

A new version of of Harry Kupfer's Holländer production was presented at Staatsoper Berlin.

1988

Das Rheingold (Stage Director)
Die Walküre (Stage Director)
Siegfried (Stage Director)
Götterdämmerung (Stage Director)

See more details about Harry Kupfer's productions of Der Ring des Nibelungen here

John Tomlinson (Wotan), Deborah Polaski / Anne Evans (Brünnhilde), Siegfried Jerusalem (Siegfried), Günter von Kannen (Alberich), Graham Clark (Loge and Mime), Poul Elming (Siegmund), Nadine Secunde (Sieglinde), Philip Kang (Fafner and Hagen) and Waltraud Meier (Waltraute in Götterdämmerung).

See interview with Anne Evans (Brünnhilde) and Graham Clark (Loge and Mime)

1989

Das Rheingold (Stage Director)
Die Walküre (Stage Director)
Siegfried (Stage Director)
Götterdämmerung (Stage Director)

1990

Das Rheingold (Stage Director)
Die Walküre (Stage Director)
Siegfried (Stage Director)
Götterdämmerung (Stage Director)

1991

Das Rheingold (Stage Director)
Die Walküre (Stage Director)
Siegfried (Stage Director)
Götterdämmerung (Stage Director)

1992

Das Rheingold (Stage Director)
Die Walküre (Stage Director)
Siegfried (Stage Director)
Götterdämmerung (Stage Director)

A new version of of Harry Kupfer's Ring production was presented at Staatsoper Berlin.

Harry Kupfer obituary by Barry Millington

Selected Biographies

Social Media

One of the finest monuments in sound ever to have been raised to the everlasting glory of music. (Claude Debussy on Parsifal)

"The thing about Wagner is that there can be no true success in any production of his operas, only degrees of failure. There is so much in these bloody pieces, all you can do is try to live up to them." (Keith Warner, The Guardian)

"I have never come across an audience with so much hatred, so much anger, such a thirst for revenge. They take everything personally. It makes you a little bit scared, and it's really quite terrifying." (Lance Ryan on the audiences at Bayreuth)

"People sometimes complain that Wagner operas are too long, that they get stiff and sore about 10.30 because they have rushed in to hear one of his works straight from work and are not properly prepared for listening to his music. The audience, as much as the artists, must be prepared for a performance."
(Benjamin Britten to Alan Blyth, Gramophone)

"I was bowled over. It was the year after Wieland Wagner had died; to be able to see his productions was a total knock-out. These bare stagings, where everything was done with lighting. The light changed with the music, and the shadows and patterns seemed as archetypal as the music itself. Nobody had done that on the stage before. I thought it was extraordinary and wonderful."
(Patrick Carnegy to The Guardian)

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