Enjoy Welsh National Opera’s revival of Verdi’s Falstaff, starring Bryn Terfel in the title role, in full on Good Friday.
In what is his only operatic role this year, Bryn teams up with legendary director Peter Stein, conductor Carlo Rizzi and the WNO Orchestra, and fellow North Walian singer, tenor Rhys Meirion to perform Falstaff at the Wales Millennium Centre.
Production company Opus TF is responsible for the coverage. They also followed WNO cast and crew for a month before the performances for a behind-the-scenes documentary Falstaff: Tu Ôl i’r Llenni broadcast on the night before the TV broadcast of the opera.
Peter Stein says, “The music is thought to be amongst the most complicated ever composed. It has a modern structure which demands a lot from the singers.”
At first glance, the rise and fall of Sir John Falstaff seems a light-hearted tale about a man who thinks so highly of himself he believes he can marry anyone and own anything. Misunderstandings and conspiracy lead to hilarious situations, but the opera has a more serious message about man’s greed and vanity.
Playing Falstaff is considered one of the most difficult roles for a bass baritone, but Bryn Terfel loved the challenge of the task as he followed in the footsteps of another legendary ‘Welsh’ Falstaff, the late, great Sir Geraint Evans.
The documentary shows how Bryn is transformed into the uber-obese Falstaff by the WNO costume team and follows twelve lucky primary school pupils from Cardiff’s Ysgol Melin Gruffydd who were chosen to play the part of fairies and pages in the production.
© 2008 S4C
O Gymru / Made in Wales