Wagner in the East: Ulf Schirmer Brings Leipzig to Hong Kong
A city steeped in musical history. A conductor shaped by four decades at the heart of European opera. And a work by Wagner that feels, even now, like an act of revelation.
Maestro Ulf Schirmer—Intendant and Chief Conductor of Leipzig Opera—speaks with the quiet authority of someone who has spent a lifetime inside the music. Ahead of the Hong Kong Arts Festival performances of Tannhäuser on 1–2 March, he sat down to reflect on Wagner, storytelling, and what it truly means to lead one of Germany’s most storied opera houses.
Why Wagner Belongs to Leipzig
For Schirmer, Tannhäuser is not simply a programme choice. It is a homecoming. Wagner was born in Leipzig, and that civic identity runs deep. In 2022, Schirmer led a landmark undertaking: all thirteen of Wagner’s operas performed across three weeks. The ambition alone speaks to his conviction that Leipzig has a particular custodial duty toward this composer.
A Production That Tells Its Story
The Hong Kong staging is directed by Calixto Bieito—a name that often conjures expectations of provocation. Schirmer is measured on this point. The production is not, he insists, a exercise in Regietheater in the disruptive sense. “You come into the theater and you learn the story,” he says simply. The emotional arc of the work—Tannhäuser’s return, the second act’s towering climax—remains clear, present, and felt.
Opera Without a Manual
Schirmer’s philosophy of storytelling is disarmingly direct. An audience should be able to follow the drama without preparation. No books. No prior knowledge required. His analogy is illuminating: “You don’t read books before a James Bond film.” That same instinctive accessibility, he believes, is achievable in opera—and it is what Leipzig strives for.
This is not naivety. It is a conscious response to a shifting audience. Younger listeners arrive without the cultural scaffolding that earlier generations inherited. Schirmer sees that not as a problem to lament but as a dialogue to embrace. “We have to think about their emotions,” he says.
The Architect Behind the Scenes
Central to Leipzig’s creative process is the dramaturg—a role unfamiliar to many outside German-speaking opera culture. Schirmer describes it as a “think tank” within the theater: a scholar who researches the historical and social foundations of a work, then enters into deep discussion with the conductor before a director is ever chosen. Chief Dramaturg Christian Geltinger will bring that same intellectual rigour to Hong Kong, offering a pre-performance talk for audiences ahead of each night.
275 Years of Dialogue
The Gewandhaus Orchestra arrives in Hong Kong carrying an extraordinary weight of history—275 years, and a legacy that includes the world premiere of Bruckner’s Seventh Symphony. Schirmer describes his decade with the orchestra as a genuine exchange. He has reintroduced swathes of mainstream repertoire—Strauss, Wagner—that had quietly receded during the DDR era, when the theater leaned toward modern and Baroque programming as a form of cultural distinction.
Don’t Fear the Audience
On the enduring popularity of 19th-century opera over contemporary work, Schirmer is characteristically candid. The old repertoire offered escape—gods, grandeur, worlds entirely unlike the daily grind. Modern opera, by contrast, often turns that mirror back on the audience. His advice to today’s composers is pointed: “Don’t fear the audience. Don’t fear the dialogue with them.”
It is a small sentence carrying considerable weight—and perhaps the clearest expression of everything Schirmer believes about what opera is for.
Hong Kong will experience that belief in full when the curtain rises on Tannhäuser. Some performances remind you why this art form endures. This may well be one of them.
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Ulf Schirmer on Wagner, Leipzig & Hong Kong Opera
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Maestro Ulf Schirmer discusses Tannhäuser, the Gewandhaus Orchestra, and his philosophy on opera accessibility ahead of the Hong Kong Arts Festival.
