The opera stage set is an important part of the art

At Metalier HQ we’re very interested in opera stage sets and opera stage design. In fact we confess that opera is our favourite type of classical music. (We’re fond of Leonard Cohen, Bob, Fleetwood Mac and the Beatles too.)

Living in New Zealand we don’t get much live opera so we’ve been devotees of the Metropolitan Opera Live in HD series. This series, which you view at a cinema, takes you to an opera at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.  A live performance at the opera is filmed and transmitted immediately to a live audience at many places round the world. It is also recorded of course and the recordings are played in cinemas.  That’s what we go to see.

Most of the popular operas have already been performed including Wagner’s Ring Cycle. One of the operas took 6 hours and we had to have a dinner break in the middle.

The opera stage set for the Ring Cycle was captivating

The opera stage for Wagner’s Ring Cycle was deceptively simple and modern. It involves 24 identical wedges which are able to rotate independently on a horizontal axis across the stage. This provides level, slopping, angled or moving surfaces facing the audience. Bubbles, falling stones, fire and all sorts of colours are projected onto these surfaces.  The visuals are linked by computer with the movement of the characters and the music. Just magical!

Rhine maidens could slip down the blue slopes of the surfaces – in fact it looked very slippery. The Valkyries rode them like horses.  It’s impossible to describe the effect in words but you can watch the opera stage in action on this Youtube video of the Ride of the Valkyries.

And the relevance to Metalier you ask? Well it looks very much to us that the opera stage is made of metal. Indeed that’s logical because only a shiny surface would be able to reflect the light, flame and bubbles sufficiently. We rather fancy doing an opera stage set or maybe a movie set so if you’re thinking about creative we’d love to hear from you. We like the Valkyries’ metal costumes too – Metalier Flexible metal could be the go here too.

If you want to talk to us about your next creative idea, musical or otherwise, or want to talk to us about opera or even sing to us you could contact us or complete the form below. Either way, we’re looking forward to it.

 

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