For this year’s annual opera presentation, Shao-Chai Lü has chosen something truly extraordinary. Wagner’s Parsifal is a strange conflation of plot sources: Arthurian myths, Buddhist philosophy and Christian legends, plus a good dose of Wagner’s own contributions. It is the story of a man’s road to self-enlightenment and spiritual discovery, and although the opera is set in Moorish Spain in the Middle Ages, a sense of timelessness hovers over the music, for its message is relevant to all people in all times. The orchestral writing is exquisite: liquescent colors and tonal blends are used with a sophistication and subtlety that surpass even Wagner’s own previous efforts. Claude Debussy called Parsifal “one of the most beautiful edifices in sound ever raised to the glory of music.” How right he was!

Cast Change: NSO Opera Concert Parsifal on July 6 & 8, 2018

The role of Gurnemanz will be performed by Mr. Michael Lion.