Posted March 04, 2012
Christian Thielemann is already scheduled to conduct the new production of Der fliegende Holländer for Festspiele 2012, he is now taking over as conductor of the 2012 Tannhäuser. The Sebastian Baumgarten production of Tannhäuser was conducted by Thomas Hengelbrock in the 2011 debut. The highly controversial production was panned by the press and loudly booed by the audience, at least what remainded of the audience at the end. One cannot say curtain call because there was no curtain used in this production. By the end of the evening many audience members did not return after intervals. Hengelbrock is more widely known for conducting works of the baroque period and he did not sign on to conduct Tannhäuser for 2012.
With Thielemann presiding over the orchestra, it is certain that the music will be worth the effort of enduring the stage business in this production. Here is a link to radio transmission of the ending of Tannhäuser from YouTube with a photo representation of the scenery. At the very end you can hear for yourself how the production was received by the audience.