Being a bit of fan of Mr. Schager, today was a special evening. I first had seen Andreas Schager during the 13 Opera Wagner Festival in Leipzig, in Bayreuth’s controversial Ring of 2022 and then again for the Ring Cycle at the Staatsoper in Berlin, where he as Siegfried managed to deliver besides a brilliant singing performance also an “all net” score with the basketball.
Bottom line, Mr. Schager was one of the big reasons for me to make the trip to this year’s Ring in Vienna from Silicon Valley.
Today’s performance was brilliant again, and he afterwards was bestowed the honor of being awarded the title “Kammer Saenger” by the president of Austria.
His “Laudatio” was describing his career from his Operetta-days to being one of the leading Wagner performers of our time. Not knowing that he would be honored after the performance, I had dubbed him earlier in a discussion with seat neighbors as the “Peter Hofmann of our times”.
It was great to learn about his amusing assessment that a “Siegfried is just twice a Zigeunerbaron” from his Operetta days. And it is clear that his humble beginnings growing up on a farm keep him grounded and natural, and his Thank You note included besides family also Daniel Barenboim who “picked him from the Operetta circle and have him new challenges to work on.”
Cheers, Mr. Schager and Congratulations!
Can’t wait to see the remaining two parts of the cycle and hopefully many more to come. Would love to see you at my home-of-choice Opera in San Francisco!
StageAficionado 