The Wagner Interviews: Waltraud Meier

Is Richard Wagner a genius or a monster? Is his music a remedy or a poison? As the opera world celebrates his 200th birthday, Wagner's legacy remains the source of fiery debate. To mark his bicentenary, the KT Wong Foundation takes you to an exciting tour of the man and his music, in the company of those who know Wagner best: singers, conductors, directors, composers. Waltraud Meier is one of the great Wagnerian singers of the age, prized almost as much for the intensity of her acting as the supremacy of her mezzosoprano voice.
www.ktwong.org
200岁的瓦格纳，是凡人还是偶像？他的音乐，是直面人生还是言不由衷。对瓦格纳的遗产，后人当何以应对？由拿督黄纪达基金会在三国五地采访，与睿智、有趣、尖锐的人物交谈，了解每人心中的瓦格纳。《众说纷纭瓦格纳》，即将问世。

[@mathildewesendonck7225]

Thank you so much for sharing. Waltraud Meier is one of my all-time favorite singers, and I sort of grew up with her. I was 14 years old when I saw her for the first time on stage. My father told me: "watch her, remember her. This is really good"! The Bayreuth tickets were quite expensive for us, but my dad sad: "Don´t worry. That´s like school fees or health insurance, expenses we have to take. That´s culture." He was right! Waltraud Meier and Wagner are worth every single cent!

[@mathildewesendonck7225]

She is a beautiful woman, I love her looks. Modern, yet classical and beautiful- the haircut, glasses, makeup, clothes. Not like one of these Primadonnas with vast blow-dried hair and ugly lipstick. Meier is really stylish.

[@publicclammer]

What a wonderfully charming and intelligent woman!

[@martinstrau3491]

@publicclammer I agree. I had the pleasure to be a few Times her private driver. I picked her up at her apartment in Berlin and drove her for recordings to the Philharmonic Hall in Berlin. We had same nice discussions.

[@eliomarnascimento2997]

Funny they do an interview with Waltraud Meier and show another singer for the little excerpts of the mentioned opera....

[@charlesedwards5302]

The singer doing Kundry is Michaela Schuster, also a wonderful artist.

[@LendallPitts]

"Can't I have some jazz with me?" What an extraordinary artist and what an extraordinary woman Waltraud Meier is! The intelligence and insight she shows in this interview are clearly the same intelligence and insight which informed her singing. And yes, we must thank Wolfgang Wagner and James Levine for casting her as Kundry in Bayreuth. The rest was history. And what a history it has been.

[@sueallot8292]

Just discovered this woman singing Isolde. Completely blown away and now, having seen and her, Iam passing Neptune at great speed!

[@leonardothierry]

She's an absolutely overwhelming artist, hers is one of the most beautiful voices ever heard anywhere in the world, and what she accomplishes with that voice is nothing short of a miracle. But we have known all that for quite a while. Tell me something I don't know. Here: what an incredibly nice woman! What an amazing, immensely likeable person is the singer we all adore! Such warmth! She looks like a naughty child when she asks if she couldn't take jazz, not opera, to that island... It made me laugh so much. How wonderful it must be to work with her.

[@joeandflosilverstoneirmgaa353]

Leonardo Thierry imgaard seefried

[@ivancaragia9993]

adorable comment!

[@Xingqiwu387]

NO ONE has ever performed Isolde like Meier! True genius!

[@tenorschofield]

Brava one of my alltime favorite wagenrian singers, Waltraud Meier...BRAVA!!!!

[@ironwhistle3]

You're damn right

[@tenorschofield]

ironwhistle3 Thanks; she has not only a great vocal color, but a special musical talent..besides she is a beautiful woman. Thanks.

[@tenorschofield]

[@tenorschofield]

Brava Waltraud Meier, one of the best ever!!!!(again and again!!!)

[@bodiloto]

+John Schofield Veramente ti piace la sua vocalità mediocre ?!... no comment.

[@christacartwright9083]

Thank you so much for posting this! Waltraud Meier is my favourite mezzo soprano. If I'm going to buy an opera on Blu Ray or DVD and she's in a particular performance, that's the one I buy.

[@michaelrock223]

so charming and filled with life!

[@severusfloki5778]

God bless her! Long life

[@kidmarine7329]

She is amazing. Her Isolde is incredible.

[@ivancaragia9993]

Adorable human beeing

[@HerrBaton]

Best Kundry of all time. Since I saw Her with Elming, I never went out of charm.

[@bodiloto]

Piotr M. Salomon Ahahahahahah! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣💡

[@stephengude3582]

Absolutely the very best in the opera world in my opinion. Her portrayal of Isolde is the very peak of operatic excellence!

[@johngeary6876]

An exceptional singer and woman!

[@draganvidic2039]

Why don’t they show videos with her instead? There are several of them...🤣

[@draganvidic2039]

This was Michaela Schuster

[@bettinchen1986]

Was thinking the same … maybe they thought Schuster is her 🤦‍♀️

[@andreaszanto26]

Yes…its realy strange..the interview is with her!!!

[@SuperFloriatosca]

She is Great and fantastic 💖

[@bobparsons77]

Amazing woman, my heroine!

[@wotan10950]

Meier is always a fascinating and deeply satisfying artist. Before Isolde, she sang Brangane in Paris to the Isolde of Gwyneth Jones. It's a remarkable performance and worth seeking out on private DVD. kzbin.info/www/bejne/jKWamHiYmq-XeaM

[@davidbastardo4154]

It is frankly off-putting that they show Michaela Schuster in that ridiculous Parsifal from Salzburg instead of Waltraud Meier herself.

[@fritshorvers8755]

I admire Waltraud Wagner very much. She is a great singer and a very charming person. I listen her marvellous and overwhelming Liebestod under the direction of Daniel Barenboim and staged by Heiner Müller over and over.

[@vanpittsenbargar889]

I envy you for being able to see such an amazing performance!

[@gergelycsallo5133]

I also admire this 1995 Bayreuth production :)

[@antonioanker2958]

You admire her so much that you named her Waltraud Wagner instead of Waltraud Meier?

[@XlikeZero]

And why haven t you showed her singing?

[@hugovallenas]

Waltraud Meier, one of the most amazing voices that have done Isolde

[@nirodha35]

Probably the best Kundry ever ❤️

[@simonkawasaki4229]

Absolute goddess.

[@2714moyston]

but why; the clips of the singing were not her; who was the singer? I would rather see Meier sing....

[@acacia-bloom]

You are right. What was the point of showing Michaela Schuster as Kundry. It is like having an interview with Domingo and showing clips of Pavarotti singing - it is a trifle insulting!!

[@Isolde227]

Very strange, yes. Michaela Schuster is actually an excellent Kundry as well, but why not simply show Waltraut Meier??? She is absolutely amazing!!!

[@2714moyston]

since I do not know of Schuster at all, it was rather shocking to me. and I do love Meier

[@leonardothierry]

David Johnson I found it freakish. As Acacia Bloom says, it's like an interview with Domingo showing clips of Pavarotti. Then it occurred to me that this could be another case of a TV director feeling that he has just had an inspired idea, something along the lines of Michaela Schuster (whom, shame on me, I didn't know) saying, "Watch me over closely, Waltraud Meier. Tell me what you see!" May the heavens protect us from TV directors who do this kind of thing, watch it on the air and get convinced they are the next Tarantino.

[@bettinchen1986]

I seriously believe that they thought it’s her 😂

[@alfredoechevarrieta7512]

Gracias

[@javiermedina5313]

"In the train I was reading the text of the ring and I expected already the most horrible thing" Yes I know, the text is about incest, betrayal, absolute greed, and all the terrible and marvelous things in the world. LOL.

[@gheorghefalcaru]

SUCH A BEAUTIFUL WOMAN!

[@LucasAllers]

What she says ist a contraction to all real great and unsurpassed Wagner singers beginning from Flagstad, Lehmann, Rysanek, Mödl, Varnay, Nielson, Bjoner etc.

[@Vikingvideos50]

She needs to write an autobiography

[@flemmingdalsgaard4979]

He was a genius, indeed. But he had the misfortune to be able to combine his idiosyncrasies with his art and political influence, and that a person like Hitler was allowed to reflect them at turn them into reality - and the horrible disaster of holocoust. I suppose that many other germans shared the same idiosyncrasies, but they were to insignificant to be laid any responsibility upon.

[@mariawimmer4541]

Dle Parsifal- Ausschnitte singt Christa Mayer. Wie kann das passieren? Das kann man doch nicht verwechseln!

[@terryhammond1253]

🎹 Why did they interview Waktraud Meier and show excerpts sung by another soprano!!!!!

[@shermanpedro1]

Did she say she wanted to take "Chess" with her??? The musical???

[@qamar07]

shermanpedro1 She said "jazz"

[@patrickoconnor8166]

Nein.

[@TheNopeDude]

She looks a bit like Jane Lynch

[@bodiloto]

grande nome,poca voce... viva la mediocrità! il vecchio

[@robertooscarleiva9570]

No pierdo la esperanza de ver la puesta original de El Ocaso de los Dioses y Tristan e Isolda.Seria un acontecimiento de raigam brevedad universal.Se lo merece Wagner,un genio inigualable.Mi agradecimiento a Uds.por la programación.Son únicos y no tiene similitud por lo menos en mi país.Dr.Leiva,Roberto Óscar.