Frankfurt Richard Wagner Society donates €10 000 for the Renaissance of the Wagner Theatre in Riga

The end of the year continues to bring good news for the Riga Richard Wagner Society – we have received a donation of €10 000 from the Richard Wagner Society Frankfurt a. M. (Richard Wagner Verband Frankfurt a. M.).

This is the second time that the Wagner Society Frankfurt has supported the renovation project of the Richard Wagner Theatre in Riga – already at the end of 2021 we received a generous donation, which has contributed significantly to the activities of the Society and the development of the project up to the present moment. We are delighted that representatives of the Frankfurt Wagner Society had the opportunity to witness the laying of the cornerstone of the Wagner Theatre in May this year and to see the theatre that will be reborn thanks in part to their support.

Dirk Jenders, Chairman of the Frankfurt Richard Wagner Society:

The second fundraising campaign organised by the RWV Frankfurt to support the Renaissance of the Richard Wagner Theatre was also a great success. Thanks to the response of the members, the first donation from 2021 was repeated and a few days ago another 10,000 euros were transferred to the Riga Richard Wagner Society.

This strengthening of the cultural bridge between Frankfurt and the Latvian capital is not only an expression of the connection between Wagner fans, but also of solidarity in these difficult times.

After years of preparation, including obtaining expert opinions, launching tenders, analysing cost estimates and raising funds, the project is now undergoing excavation, drilling, demolition and rebuilding of walls and ceilings. So work has started on the theatre, and this marks a very exciting new phase. Every day we are witnessing a vision become reality.

Read the original publication on the Frankfurt Richard Wagner Society website here.

The Renaissance of the Wagner Theatre is also supported by the International Association of Wagner Societies as well as the Wagner Societies in Berlin, Coburg, Freiburg and Minden.

The full list of supporters can be found here: https://vagneriga.lv/sponsors/


Building permit for the renovation of the Wagner Theatre in Riga received

On 24 November, the Riga Richard Wagner Society (RRWS) received confirmation from the Riga City Municipality Urban Development Department – the construction project for the Wagner Theatre building has been approved and a building permit has been received.

Earlier this year, RRVB announced that work had started on the technical design of the Wagner Theatre, and now, at the end of November, the Riga City Council’s Urban Development Department has approved the building permit.

The building has already been handed over to the main builder, SBSC – demolition works are currently underway, the existing heating system is being dismantled, partition walls are being removed, windows, doors and other interior elements are being gently dismantled and will be handed over for restoration. The main construction work, which will start with the strengthening of the foundations, will start in January 2024. The detailed design of the project – planning the interior and restoration work – will continue until February. It is significant that the City Council has taken a positive decision to put the road elements into free use, which is an important contribution to the project, as nearby streets will be used and partly occupied during the construction works.

The restoration of the Wagner Theatre will bring a number of important benefits, not only in terms of the diversity and accessibility of cultural events for the people of Latvia, but also in terms of strengthening the image of Riga and Latvia as a cultural centre and the link with Richard Wagner, who was Kapellmeister at the House for two years (1837-1839). The project will not only renovate the building and the theatre hall, but will also create masterclasses and a Richard Wagner museum. The house will realise Wagner’s vision of “GesamtkunstWerk21″ – an incubator for all art forms that will become an international centre for young artists worthy of the 21st century.

Last year, the main contractor, SBSC, was selected through a public tender process, with Sarma un Norde Arhitekti as the main designer, and Būves un Būvsistēmas SIA as the engineer and construction supervisor. Zaiga Gailes birojs” has been hired as a subcontractor for the architectural and interior design. Experts from other countries have also been brought in – for example, theatre technology solutions are being developed by Theater Advies from the Netherlands, while Nagata Acoustics, headed by Yasuhisa Toyota, are acting as consultants on theatre acoustics, having been involved in the design of the Elba Philharmonic and Paris Philharmonic, as well as many other notable projects.

The project “Reduction of greenhouse gas emissions at the Riga Wagner House”, 4 Riharda Wagner Street, Riga, LV-1050, by renovating and restoring the Riga Wagner House” is supported by the Emissions Trading Instrument, the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the German Embassy in Riga and the Riga City Council.


Riga City Council becomes partner of the Wagner Theatre renovation project

On 18 October, the Riga City Council adopted a positive decision on the transfer of road elements for gratuitous use for the implementation of the renovation project of the Richard Wagner Theatre in Riga, at 4 Riharda Vāgnera Street.

The revival of the Wagner Theatre requires a series of large-scale works, and this would of course not be possible without the development of the construction site and the use of nearby streets during the construction works. This usually also means a significant part of the funding going directly to road occupation.

This is an important contribution to the project, and we very much appreciate the city’s support in this journey – in just a few years’ time, the Wagner Theatre will bring together music and art lovers and will become an integral part of Riga’s and Latvia’s culture.

The project “Reduction of greenhouse gas emissions at the “Riga Wagner House”, 4 Riharda Wagner Street, Riga, LV-1050, by renovating and restoring the Riga Wagner House” is supported by the Emission Trading Instrument, the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the German Embassy in Riga and Riga City Council.


Riga Wagner Theatre is handed over to the builders

At the beginning of this week, the acceptance and handover act was signed and the Riga Richard Wagner Society (RRVS) has fully handed over the Wagner Theatre to the main contractor, SBSC.

In February this year, it was reported that a total of €20 million had been raised for the renovation of the Wagner Theatre – €15 million from the Emissions Trading Instrument (ETS) and €5 million from the German government. With the funding secured, the project was able to get off the ground; in total, more than €40 million is needed to revitalise the house.

Work is currently continuing on the technical design of the Wagner Theatre – all the main artistic and technical design solutions have been developed, while the restoration and renovation of the building has already been agreed with the National Heritage Office. At the end of July, the building permit for the demolition works was received – the partition walls will be removed, as well as the historic stoves and parquet floors, which will be restored and used in the restored theatre building. The project is scheduled to be submitted to the Riga Construction Board in September.

The vision for the revival of the Wagner Theatre in Riga is to create a beacon of European culture in Riga. Over the next few years, the unique 5000 square metre building ensemble in Old Riga will be renovated and given a new lease of life. The importance of the project is also confirmed by the patrons of the Wagner House restoration project – former President of Latvia Egils Levits, President of the Federal Republic of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier, and Eva Wagner-Pasquier, former artistic director of the Bayreuth Festival and great-granddaughter of Richard Wagner.

The restoration of the Wagner House will bring a number of important benefits, not only in terms of the diversity and accessibility of cultural events for the people of Latvia, but also in terms of strengthening the image of Riga and Latvia as a cultural centre and the link with Richard Wagner, who was Kapellmeister at the House for two years (1837-1839). The project will not only renovate the building and the theatre hall, but will also create masterclasses and a Richard Wagner museum. The house will realise Wagner’s vision of “GesamtkunstWerk21″ – an incubator for all art forms that will become an international centre for young artists worthy of the 21st century.

Last year, the main contractor, SBSC, was selected through a public tender process, with Sarma un Norde Arhitekti as the main designer, and Būves un Būvsistēmas SIA as the engineer and construction supervisor. Zaiga Gailes birojs” has been hired as a subcontractor for the architectural and interior design. Experts from other countries have also been brought in – for example, theatre technology solutions are being developed by Theater Advies from the Netherlands, while Nagata Acoustics, headed by Yasuhisa Toyota, are acting as consultants on theatre acoustics, having been involved in the design of the Elba Philharmonic and Paris Philharmonic, as well as many other notable projects.

The project “Reduction of greenhouse gas emissions at the Riga Wagner House”, 4 Riharda Wagner Street, Riga, LV-1050, by renovating and restoring the Riga Wagner House” is supported by the Emissions Trading Instrument, the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the German Embassy in Riga.


Cornerstone Ceremony of the Wagner Theatre in Riga on May 21

On Sunday, 21 May, a time capsule ceremony will be held at the Wagner Theatre, symbolically marking the start of the restoration work of the building.

Since 2017, the Riga Richard Wagner Society (RRVS) has been organising flash events on Wagner’s birthday to draw public attention to the need to renovate the Wagner House. This year, the reconstruction of the theatre will finally start and the Society has decided to celebrate the 210th anniversary of Richard Wagner by burying a time capsule in the facade of the building. It will contain various documents and testimonies of the time, including the founding minutes of the RRVB, historical images of the building and current drawings of the project, messages from the patrons of the project, a message from the members to their descendants, as well as a joint message from three generations of Wagnerians – Eva Wagner-Pasquier, her son Antoine Wagner and her granddaughter Daphne Wagner.

The ceremony will be attended and solemn speeches will be made by Māris Gailis, Chairman of the Board of the RRVB, Egils Levits, Patron of the Wagner House restoration project, and Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, Chairman of the German-Baltic Parliamentary Cooperation Group, David Bartels, Deputy Head of Mission of the German Embassy in Latvia, Kerstin von Lingen, President of the Baltic Armour Association, and Rainer Fineske, President of the International Association of Wagner Societies. There will also be a celebratory address by the project’s patron, former artistic director of the Bayreuth Festival, Eva Wagner-Pasquier.

The ceremony will take place in front of the Wagner House, 4 Vāgnera Street, Riga.The artistic design of the event is by the Grāfienes collective – set designers Marianna Lapiņa, Dace Ignatova, Ildze Jurkovska and Justine Jasjukeviča – while the time capsule is by metal artist Uģis Traumanis. After the ceremony, everyone is invited to a short solo concert by the Kremerata Baltica Chamber Orchestra in Wagner Hall.

The last public event at the Wagner House will be the closing concert of the Andrey Osokin Freedom Festival for Ukraine on 10 June. The building will be handed over to the builders for the first light demolition work in July, and the building permit is expected by autumn this year.

Earlier this year, it was announced that €20 million had been raised for the Wagner House renovation project – €15 million from the Emissions Trading Instrument (ETS) and €5 million from the German government. These funds represent half of the total amount needed for the project and will renovate the building to a so-called “grey finish” – the building’s structures will be renovated, the external envelope will be insulated, internal and external networks will be replaced and energy-saving systems will be installed. The technical design of the building was launched in February and is now actively underway. Last year, the main contractor, SBSC, a general partnership with Sarma and Norde Arhitekti as main designers, was selected through a public tender procedure, while the engineering and construction supervision will be carried out by Būves un Būvsistēmas SIA. Zaiga Gailes has been hired as a subcontractor for the architectural and interior design.

The vision of the project is to create a beacon of European culture in Riga. Over the next few years, the unique 5000 square metre building ensemble in Old Riga will be renovated and given a new lease of life. The importance of the project is also confirmed by the patrons of the Wagner House restoration project – Egils Levits, President of Latvia, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, President of the Federal Republic of Germany, and Eva Wagner-Pasquier, former artistic director of the Bayreuth Festival and great-granddaughter of Richard Wagner.

The restoration of the Wagner House will bring a number of significant benefits, not only in terms of the diversity and accessibility of cultural events for the people of Latvia, but also in terms of strengthening the image of Riga and Latvia as a cultural centre and the link with Richard Wagner, who was Kapellmeister at the House for two years (1837-1839).

The project will not only renovate the building and the theatre hall, but will also create masterclasses and a Richard Wagner museum. The house will realise Wagner’s vision of GesamtkunstWerk21 – an incubator for all art forms that will become an international centre for young artists worthy of the 21st century.


Exhibition “The Return” by textile artist Inta Amolina at the Wagner Hall

After more than a decade, textile artist Inta Amoliņa returns with her personal exhibition The Return, which will be on view at Riga Wagner until 29 April, showing visitors the diversity of textile art and highlighting one of its techniques in particular – textile mosaics.

The exhibition will feature eighteen of the artist’s works created between 1992 and 2023, ranging from large bedspreads to wall hangings, and incorporating a variety of textile techniques – batik, embroidery, painting and printing. The exhibition will provide an opportunity to explore this historic and once famous centre of Riga’s cultural life, before the restoration of the Wagner House.

In the mid-20th century, textile mosaics emerged as a unique branch of textile art in Europe, Scandinavia and the United States, alongside crafts. Until the middle of the last century, textile mosaics were not widespread in Latvia (the process of inheritance was missing) and no information about them was available in the local information space. Therefore, the first attempts of textile artist Inta Amoliņa in 1983 to research and interpret the possibilities of the textile mosaic technique in the context of professional textile art are particularly noteworthy. The newly discovered technique became the main form of artistic expression for Ita Amolina, which she skillfully transformed into outstanding textile works and several collections of textile mosaic works. Thanks to her initiative in exploring textile mosaic techniques, this branch of textile art aroused the interest of other Latvian artists. “Textile mosaic is a play with the density, texture, colour, sheen of fabric and its treatment – batik, printing, embroidery, painting. It is a great friendship with fabric and thread,” says Inta Amoliņa.

Nature is her source of inspiration, which is realised in geometric compositions. Some of the textiles on display will be tonal, geometrically saturated works of textile mosaic art that have enriched the Latvian textile art scene for 30 years. The artist’s works are held in the Latvian Artists’ Union Museum, the Museum of Decorative Arts and Design, the Latvian National Museum of Art, as well as other museums and private collections.

Inta Amoliņa was a lecturer at the Fashion Design Department of the Art Academy of Latvia from 1997 to 2018, as well as a jury member of several competitions for young fashion designers and artists. Her work has been exhibited in Belgium, France, Estonia, Great Britain, Lithuania, the Netherlands and Germany.

The exhibition will be on view at Wagner House, Riharda Wagnera iela 4, from 14 to 29 April. Opening hours: Tuesday to Friday: 13.00-18.00
Weekends: 12.00-17.00


€15 million granted for the renovation of the Wagner Theatre

2023 has started with important news for the project of the Renaissance of the Wagner Theatre: funding of €15 million from the Emission Trading Instrument has been approved and work has started on the technical design of the building.

In autumn 2022, Riga Richard Wagner Society successfully participated in the competition “Greenhouse gas emission reduction in architectural monuments of national importance” announced by the Latvian Environmental Investment Fund. At the very end of 2022, a positive decision was received on the allocation of €15 million from the Emissions Trading Instrument (ETS), which was the maximum funding available for a single project in this competition. The project is co-financed by funds from the German government in the amount of €5 million. Currently, €20 million has been committed for the reconstruction of the Wagner Theatre, which will bring the building to a so-called “grey finish” – the building’s structures will be renovated, the external envelope will be insulated, internal and external networks will be replaced and energy-saving systems will be installed. The technical design of the building started in February this year, and the building permit is expected by the end of this summer. A total of €40 million is needed for the reconstruction of the Wagner Theatre – there is still a gap for interior works, restoration works and theatre technology, so fundraising from various foundations and private donors is ongoing.

Last year, the main contractor, SBSC, was selected through a public tender process, with Sarma un Norde Arhitekti as the main project designer, and Būves un Būvsistēmas as the engineer and construction supervisor. Zaigas Gailes birojs has been hired as a subcontractor for the architectural and interior design. Experts from other countries have also been brought in – for example, theatre technology solutions will be developed by Theater Advies from the Netherlands, while Nagata Acoustics, headed by Yasuhisa Toyota, who have been involved in the design of the Elba Philharmonic and the Paris Philharmonic, as well as many other notable projects, will act as consultants on theatre acoustics.

The vision of the project “Renaissance of the Wagner Theatre in Riga” is to create a European beacon of culture in Riga. Over the next few years, the unique 5000 square metre building ensemble in Old Riga will be renovated and given a new lease of life. The importance of the project is also confirmed by the patrons of the Wagner House restoration project – Egils Levits, President of Latvia, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, President of the Federal Republic of Germany, and Eva Wagner-Pasquier, great-granddaughter of Richard Wagner and former artistic director of the Bayreuth Festival.

The restoration of the Wagner House will bring a number of significant benefits, not only in terms of the diversity and accessibility of cultural events for the people of Latvia, but also in terms of strengthening the image of Riga and Latvia as a cultural centre and the link with Richard Wagner, who was Kapellmeister at the House for two years (1837-1839). The project will not only renovate the building and the theatre hall, but also create masterclasses and a museum. The Wagner House will realise Wagner’s vision of “GesamtkunstWerk21” – an incubator for all art forms that will become an international centre for young artists worthy of the 21st century.

The project “Reducing greenhouse gas emissions at the Riga Wagner House”, 4 Riharda Wagner Street, Riga, LV-1050, by renovating and restoring the Riga Wagner House” is supported by the Emissions Trading Instrument and the German Bundestag.

         


Charity concert in Berlin for the Renaissance of the Wagner Theatre in Riga

On 23 January the Berlin-Brandenburg Richard Wagner Society is having a benefit concert for the Renaissance of the Wagner Theatre in Riga.
The concert programme includes works by Pēteris Vasks, Emīls Dārziņš, Jāzeps Vītols, Lūcija Garūta and other Latvian musicians performed by mezzo-soprano Vizma Zvaigzne, chamber choir Ensemble Fugatonale and Scott Curry at the piano.
Location: Tertianum Residenz Berlin, Passauer Straße 5-7
E-mail for registration: kultur@tertianum.de
More information: https://tertianum-premiumresidences.de/berlin/event/richard-wagner-verband-zu-gast-23012023/

Dialogue of Valkyries: Dance performances at the Wagner House

On Friday, 25 November, at 19.00, Riga Wagner House, Riharda Wagner iela 4, will host the performance “Dialogue of Valkyries” by artists Meija Sarmīte Kalniņa and Simona Orinska, in which the audience will have the opportunity to experience the primal, vital, bodily unconscious aspects of art, reflecting on the relationship between feminine energy, loss and authority.

One of the conversations in the Valkyrie Dialogue performance will be The Presence of Absence, created by Maya Sarmīte Kalniņa – a visually spectacular, baroque journey into the territory of loss, where individual and collective consciousness merge in a shared ritual action. The conversation continues with Simona Orinska’s performance There She Goes My Beautiful World, which depicts the progression from external authority to internal authority, a complex multi-stage process in the development of any individual, society and even country. The performance will also feature sound artist Arvis Kantiševs and singer Anta Eņģele. The performance will also feature a Lielvārde belt woven by Ligita Embrekte, a crown created by Brigita Stroda and a costume designed by Inese Gibeiko.

Both artists echo Wagner’s notion of total theatre in their performances with operatic baroqueness and drama, a rich synthesis and interplay of performing arts elements using sound, music, body, voice and visuals. The two works are also united by the aesthetics of butoh art. In addition, the unifying element of the performance is the “Valkyries” – divine beings who accompany the souls of the heroes who died in the war to the underworld and are also their favourites. The performance will seek a balance between these different forces, which in today’s situation in our lives are particularly confronted with danger and uncertainty, both on a personal and on a wider scale.

The performance The Presence of Presence, created by Maya Sarmīte Kalniņa, premiered at the International Festival of Performance Art Starptelpa in June 2022. It was created in collaboration with a group of Butō performance artists. Simona Orinska’s solo premiere “There She Comes, My Wonderful World” took place in New York at Grace Gallery in September 2022, as part of the Baltic Art Festival, together with a group of artists from the Latvian Centre for Performance Art.

It is significant that the performance will take place at the Wagner House in Riga, as the audience will have the opportunity to see inside the building before the reconstruction and restoration work begins, which is planned for the middle of next year. Admission from 18.00, with a café on site.

Tickets: https://ticketshop.lv/en/events/4613

Simona Orinska (left) and Sarmīte Meja Kalniņa, publicity photo.


Contract signed for 5 000 000 € for the renovation of the Wagner Theatre in Riga

Already in late 2020, it was reported that the German Bundestag had approved €5.2 million for the restoration of the Wagner Theatre. Last August, an agreement was signed between the German Embassy and the Richard Wagner Society of Riga for the first €200 000. These funds were used to prepare the project’s sketch phase. The project has now developed significantly and on 6 October the agreement for the remaining approved funding of 5 million was signed in the Wagner Hall.

The next phase of the Wagner Hall renovation project – the preparation of the technical design – will start this year. The German government’s co-financing of €5 million will be used over the next four years (2022-2025) and is intended to co-finance the preparation of the technical design and the first phase of construction. The reconstruction and restoration work is scheduled to start in mid-2023, with the opening of the renovated Wagner Theatre planned for 2026.

On 6 October, not only the financing agreement was signed, but also a letter of intent on cooperation in the implementation of the Riga Wagner Theatre restoration project between the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Latvia, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Riga Richard Wagner Society. At the ceremony, the contract was signed by the German Ambassador to Latvia Christian Heldt and the Board of the Riga Richard Wagner Society, while the letter of intent on cooperation in the implementation of the Wagner Theatre restoration project was also signed by the Minister of Culture of the Republic of Latvia Nauris Puntulis.

The vision of the project “Renaissance of the Wagner Theatre in Riga” is to create a European beacon of culture in Riga. Over the next few years, the unique 5000 square metre building ensemble in Old Riga will be renovated and given a new lease of life. The importance of the project is also confirmed by the patrons of the Wagner House restoration project – Egils Levits, President of Latvia, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, President of the Federal Republic of Germany, and Eva Wagner-Pasquier, great-granddaughter of Richard Wagner and former artistic director of the Bayreuth Festival.

The restoration of the Wagner House will bring a number of significant benefits, not only in terms of the diversity and accessibility of cultural events for the people of Latvia, but also in terms of strengthening the image of Riga and Latvia as a cultural centre and the link with Richard Wagner, who was Kapellmeister at the House for two years (1837-1839). The project will not only renovate the building and the theatre hall, but also create masterclasses and a museum. The Wagner House will realise Wagner’s vision of “GesamtkunstWerk21” – an incubator for all art forms that will become an international centre for young artists worthy of the 21st century.

 

More information:
Signe Viška
Public Relations Manager, Assistant to the Chairman of the Board
signe.viska@vagneriga.lv