Hawaii Wagnerites Hang Ten
Waimanu Street, tucked behind Kapiolani and Ward, is a 19th century
semi-tropical, frontier-town industrial alley, with some 20th century car
and moped (!) repair shops, and a little organization getting ready for the
21st century... of opera.
You go by Balloons and Things, and enter the *very* small offices of the
Hawaii Opera Theater, find your way to the *very* small office of the HOT
director, Henry G. Akina, and see a handsome poster on the wall for the
Lyon Opera's production of Busoni's "Turandot."
That would be one of 50 operas directed in Europe by the 44-year-old
Punahou graduate, founder of the Berlin Chamber Opera, and its director
for 15 years, before returning to Honolulu.
The Big Operatic Kahuna of Waimanu Street has worked with Vaclav Kaslik,
Harry Kupfer, Goetz Friedrich, Peter Windgassen, many others.
He is opening the 2000 season in Honolulu with Wagner's "Tristan und
Isolde." Gasp! even for me, who had spent 10 years in Hawaii, writing
about the ebb and flow of the arts here. "Tristan" is a big one, for any
company, regardless of its size. Just ask the San Francisco Opera about
that.
But that's not all, not by a long shot. In the middle of the
three-performance run (Jan. 28, 30 and Feb. 1), Akina and the Wagner
Society of Hawaii will host "Tristan 2000," an international "Wagner
Convocation," to be attended by Bayreuth's Wolfgang and Gudrun Wagner,
and representatives from Wagner societies from around the world.
How did this happen? The trail leads to a man (you'll never find a committe
behind something so bold and incongruous) whose card reads: Laurence B.
Lueck, president, the Wagner Society of Hawaii. That is his
identification, not Larry Lueck, Mr. Magnetic Media.
Among the first half dozen employees of the 3M Company in his native
Minnesota, Lueck organized and directed companies for the past 45 years in
Japan, the U.S., and Europe to cover everything from the coating of audio
tapes to the material for optical discs. A resident of Tokyo for three
decades, Lueck and his wife, Kiyomi, have been running Magnetic Media
Information Services from there and Honolulu.
But here, the couple's mission is "Tristan 2000," with phone calls to
Germany from him, hand-made (but professional-looking) informational
releases from her.
And so the Luecks and Akina are bringing together a sun-and-surf
program that features Edda Moser on Jan. 29, in the "Wesendonck Lieder,"
accompanied by Ivan Toerzs (who is also the conductor for "Tristan"). By
a happy coincidence, on Jan. 29, the Tokyo Quartet appears in Honolulu
(*not* playing Wagner), and on Jan. 31, "Convocation of Wagner Societies:
hither Wagner in the 21st Century?" begins, with addresses by Wolfgang and
Gudrun Wagner, and Josef Lienhart, president of the international Wagner
Society.
The day-long program includes presentations by Bryan Magee, Martin
Bernheimer, Guenther Schneider-Siemssen, Simon Williams, Patrick Smith,
Janis Martin, Jim Becker, and Akina.
The "Tristan" cast: John Treleaven (Tristan), Susan B. Anthony (Isolde),
Alexandra Hughes (Brangaene), Gary Simpson (Kurvenal), Greg Ryerson (King
Marke). Akina is director.
Janos Gereben/SF
[log in to unmask]
|