“It’s a good thing to be second, it’s proof that things are changing.” Nathalie Stutzmann is like this: a combination of strength and optimism. The 58-year-old Frenchwoman is the second woman to lead the Bayreuth festival orchestra. On Friday, she conducted Tannhäuser, and her performance was greeted with fourteen minutes of applause, as reported by The Washington Post. Beautiful consecration for the memorable contralto and director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, invited to the Wagnerian temple on the occasion of the revival of the production, directed by Tobias Kratzer.
At almost 150 years old, the Bayreuth Festival continues its transformation, today under the direction of the composer’s great-granddaughter, Katharina Wagner. In 2021, she had chosen Oksana Lyniv to direct The Flying Dutchman. The Ukrainian had added her name to the prestigious list of 92 chefs who had preceded her, all men.
By calling on Nathalie Stutzmann this year, Katharina Wagner intends to lead her festival on the right track. “I hope that this question will disappear over time, that we will only talk about good conductors and more about male or female conductors,” she explained to the American daily.
Because in Bayreuth, neither the hall nor the public suffer from mediocrity. There is this orchestra pit to which Nathalie Stutzmann had to adapt. It was designed by Wagner to hide the orchestra from the public, does not allow its leader to hear exactly the same sounds as those reaching the spectators. “I knew that the experience would be new, unexpected and delicate, testifies the contralto. Since we hear the sound differently from the public, we have to rely a lot on our assistants… On stage, we barely hear the singers and their voices reach us late, even when everyone is playing as one man!”
The first attempt was conclusive. Stutzmann is already invited for the 2024 edition of the festival where she will find Tannhäuser and the direction of Tobias Kratzer.
