The productions of the Wagner in Budapest Opera Festival have forged a new style of performing opera that builds on the unique characteristics and outstanding acoustics of the Béla Bartók National Concert Hall to extend far beyond the realm of "semi-staged” performance. Returning every year since 2006, the central event of the "Hungarian Bayreuth” is the staging of the complete Wagner Ring cycle, the creative and philosophical background to which is explored by this documentary. In the film, Adam Fischer explains, "If we are able to find a form that can help people understand the music, if we are able to convey it in the language the audience is accustomed to, then Wagner's art will captivate people...” Fischer approached Hartmut Schörghofer to direct the monumental musical drama series of the Ring of the Nibelung because - as he puts it - "we needed a director capable of expressing the concepts contained in the work in the form of images.” The director does not use familiar opera clichés and devices, preferring to call on complementary disciplines of the arts - film projection, shadow theatre, dancers and puppets, as well as a multi-functional stage backdrop - to present the fantastic scenes of the mythological story. The film sees the creators of the production, Adam Fischer and Hartmut Schörghofer, joined by world-famous singers in talking about Wagner's monumental masterpieces, the unique approach taken to the works at Müpa Budapest, and the principles and philosophies behind the performances.
The documentary was filmed in 2008, during the rehearsal period of the Wagner tetralogy.

Presented by: Müpa Budapest