For anyone coming to see Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, there will be things to look at, things to laugh at, and things to think about. The Middle Ages in Germany; master craftsmen and other characters, both real historical figures and imagined ones. And, of course, there is also an allusion, a caricature, for we know that with the pedantic Beckmesser, Wagner is sardonically having his nemesis, the critic Eduard Hanslick, swept away by angry townspeople. Singing Beckmesser will be the German baritone Markus Eiche, who has performed many Wagnerian roles at the Bayreuth Festival and elsewhere. He is already familiar to the Müpa Budapest audience as well, having taken the stage here as Wolfram von Eschenbach in the production of Tannhäuser at the 2018 Budapest Wagner Days. The formidable Thomas Johannes Mayer, who will portray Hans Sach, has long been familiar to the Müpa Budapest audience, but the great German baritone, a former student of Kurt Moll's, receives similarly enthusiastic welcomes in Paris, Berlin and Zurich - and not only in Wagnerian roles, as he also sings Mozart, Weber, Verdi and even Berg and Hindemith. AJ Glueckert, the American tenor performing the role of the young Franconian knight Walter von Stolzing, is likewise versatile, at home in every famous opera house from Frankfurt and Florence to New York (the Met) and Tokyo. In addition to his Wagnerian roles (Lohengrin, Froh, Erik), he also sings parts in all kinds of styles, ranging from Pinkerton to Don José. Portraying Eva will be the German soprano Mojca Erdmann, whom the world knows first and foremost as a Mozartian heroine, although her repertoire actually ranges from the Baroque to contemporary works. The Müpa Budapest audience last had the opportunity to hear her on New Year's Day 2022 as the soloist in The Creation. The Hungarian audience welcomes the presence of Hungarian artists at every performance of the Budapest Wagner Days series with particular joy: this time around the production will be strengthened by singers like Gábor Bretz as Pogner, and Andrea Ulbrich as Magdalena.

Presented by: Müpa Budapest