Estonia's National Opera Draws Big Crowd With Wagner

Richard Decker as Parsifal in the Wagnerian production at Rahvusooper Estonia.

"An audience of around 5,000 applauded the National Opera production of Richard Wagner's opera Parsifal, performed for the first time ever in Estonia, at the reclaimed Noblessner Foundry on Tallinn's waterfront. Parsifal, the last opera written by Wagner, premiered in Bayreuth in 1882 and is considered one of the most complex classical music pieces, presenting a major challenge to companies choosing to stage it....On November 5, Giacomo Puccini's opera Manon Lescaut, another first-timer in Estonia, will premiere at the National Opera. The musical director and conductor will be Arvo Volmer, with Latvian-born Andrejs Zagars as the stage director." [Source]