Wagner songs publicly performed at Milo Rau event in Jaffa
In Jaffa, Israel, songs by Richard Wagner were publicly performed during an event connected with a project by Swiss theatre director Milo Rau. As reported by the Jerusalem Post, the event took place outdoors in the square in front of the Jaffa Theatre while Rau was preparing to stage the opera “The Flying Dutchman” at Deutsche Oper Berlin.
Preparations for the Berlin production
Rau came to Israel for research work on the upcoming production of Wagner’s opera. Performances of “The Flying Dutchman” at Deutsche Oper Berlin are scheduled to begin in October and continue until February 2027.
According to PR materials received by the Jerusalem Post before the director’s arrival, the production is planned as a “road movie” about German-Israeli history. In particular, it is intended to address the Holocaust, the restoration of diplomatic relations in the 1950s, the attack on the Israeli team at the 1972 Munich Olympics, and the opening of the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin in 2005.
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Rau said that from the outset he had linked the production to the theme of the Shoah because of Wagner’s antisemitic views. He also said that he distinguishes between Israel and the Israeli government and supports Israeli and Palestinian civil society.
Reaction to the performance of Wagner
Yonatan Livni, founder of the Wagner Association, who met with Rau before the event, said this was the first case of Wagner’s songs being publicly performed in Israel. He positively assessed the singer’s performance but criticized the political part of the program, calling it anti-Israeli.
Livni, whose family suffered losses at the hands of the Nazis, advocates for performances of Wagner’s music in Israel despite the composer’s antisemitism. In contrast, conductor and founder of the Jerusalem Orchestra East and West Tom Cohen said he would not perform Wagner if it could offend even one listener, especially a Holocaust survivor or their descendant.
