From the Deutsche Oper, Berlin Orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos - conductor Götz Friedrich - stage director Go to Act 2: youtu.be/OMS77qr_FCQ Watch the complete opera: goo.gl/VHn9dq Solisten/Soloists: Wolfgang Brendel - Hans Sachs Victor von Halem - Veit Pogner David Griffith - Kunz Vogelsang Barry McDaniel - Konrad Nachtigall Eike Wilm Schulte - Sixtus Beckmesser Lenus Carlson - Fritz Kothner Volker Horn - Balthasar Zorn Peter Maus - Ulrich Eißlinger Otto Heuer - Augustin Moser Klaus Lang - Hermann Ortel Ivan Sardi - Hans Schwarz Friedrich Molsberger - Hans Foltz Gösta Winbergh - Walther von Stölzing Uwe Peper - David Eva Johansson - Eva Ute Walther - Magdalena Peter Edelmann - Ein Nachtwächter Richard Wagner - Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Erster Akt / The Master-Singers of Nuremberg, First Act Opera in three acts This magnificent production of Wagner's masterpiece at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, brilliantly directed by Götz Friedrich and staged by Peter Sykora, was not only a great success in Berlin, but in Tokyo as well. Synoosis of Act I: As the congregation of St. Katherine's Church sings a closing hymn, the young knight Walther von Stolzing tries to catch the eye of Eva Pogner. After the parishioners have filed out, she informs her suitor that she is to be betrothed the next day to the winner of a song contest sponsored by the local Mastersingers. Eva's companion, Magdalene, tells her sweetheart, David, apprentice to the cobbler and poet Hans Sachs, to explain the rules of song composing to Walther, who is taken aback by the complicated ins and outs of mastersinging. David's fellow apprentices set up for a preliminary song trial, and the Masters arrive; but before the group's secretary, Kothner, can call the roll, Walther applies for the contest, making an enemy of fellow contestant Beckmesser, the town clerk - a spiteful, jealous pedant, suspicious of anything new. As proof that tradesmen value art, Pogner offers his daughter's hand as prize for the next day's contest. When Sachs suggests that Eva - and the people - should have some say in the matter, Pogner announces she may reject the winner but must marry a Mastersinger. Now Walther introduces himself, describing his self-taught, natural methods of composition. Going on to his trial song, Walther sings an impulsive, free-form tune, breaking all the Masters' rules, punctuated by Beckmesser's chalk and slate to count the errors. Rejected by the Masters, the young knight stalks out, leaving Sachs to muse on the distinctive appeal of Walther's melody.

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