NEW YORK (AP) — Günther Groissböck was about to walk onstage at Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre for the first act of a new “Lohengrin” production last winter when his wife, Isabel, texted that she and their 12-year-old daughter were about to take off on a flight home to Milan.
“Then she texted me back and said, no, the pilot just announced we are not allowed anymore to enter European airspace,” the Austrian bass recalled. “And then they were trapped because they only had the one entry visa.”
On Feb, 24, 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine 13 hours before the opening performance of François Girard’s staging of the Wagner opera — a production that starts the second half of the Metropolitan Opera’s season on Sunday. The war quickly impacted the cast and audience at the Bolshoi, a short walk from the Kremlin. And would lead the Met to scrap using the Russian set and build a duplicate.
“Something happened in the theater that night that was incredible — the energy on…
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