PARSIFAL

About the show

Can one man heal a broken society? A bold new production by Evgeny Titov features a stellar cast including Stanislas de Barbeyrac, Ekaterina Gubanova, Christian Gerhaher and Brindley Sherratt. Jakub Hrůša conducts. In a religious society in crisis, the Knights of the Grail long to cure their ailing leader, Amfortas, who suffers from a wound – from the Holy Spear – that will not heal. His ruin is blamed on a woman, Kundry, and his enemy, Klingsor, to whom he lost the Holy Spear. When the innocent Parsifal arrives, having killed a sacred swan, he seems unaware that he has done anything wrong. Gurnemanz, a knight of the Grail, wonders if Parsifal could be the ‘pure fool’ from the prophesies, come to redeem Amfortas. Gurnemanz takes Parsifal to the Grail ritual – a process intended to renew the immortality of the knights through the blood of Christ. Kundry, under Klingsor’s influence, is ordered to seduce Parsifal. Initially Parsifal is immune to the attractions of both her and the seductive Flower Maidens, but when Kundry kisses him, he realises his mission is to cure Amfortas, and he shuns her. The Knights gather once more for the Grail ritual, culminating in the ultimate test of Parsifal’s powers.