Wagner’s Romantic opera demands singing actors who can truly inhabit their parts, and that’s just what we have here. Is it possible for a Knight of the Holy Grail to look more enticing than Peter Hofmann? No wonder Elsa (Eva Marton) falls in love at first sight. Marton’s heroine is innocent, but she is also a passionate, real-life young woman—which is good, because Leonie Rysanek is positively demented as Ortrud, the sorceress who accuses Elsa and Lohengrin of using magic. With James Levine’s superb conducting, the orchestra and chorus are similarly magical.

Cast

Peter Hofmann

Lohengrin

Éva Marton

Elsa

Leonie Rysanek

Ortrud

Leif Roar

Telramund

Anthony Raffell

The King's Herald

John Macurdy

King Henry

Charles Anthony

First noble

John Gilmore

Second noble

John Darrenkamp

Third noble

Richard Vernon

Fourth noble

Christian Collins

Gottfried

MET Orchestra