Wagnerâs Romantic opera demands singing actors who can truly inhabit their parts, and thatâs just what we have here. Is it possible for a Knight of the Holy Grail to look more enticing than Peter Hofmann? No wonder Elsa (Eva Marton) falls in love at first sight. Martonâs heroine is innocent, but she is also a passionate, real-life young womanâwhich is good, because Leonie Rysanek is positively demented as Ortrud, the sorceress who accuses Elsa and Lohengrin of using magic. With James Levineâs superb conducting, the orchestra and chorus are similarly magical.
