Among the early Wagner operas, Lohengrin is the most thoughtful in musical and dramatic terms, for here the composer endeavors not only to portray an individual under scrutiny, but a portrait of an entire society. This fact inspired director Hans Neuenfels, whose controversial and highly stimulating production brought Lohengrin to the center of attention at the 2011 Wagner Festival. The stage designer Reinhard von der Thannen created a laboratory-like place with the model-like spaces and the strictly geometric sketching, where even the emotions seem to be under the microscope. Musically, too, with shooting star Andris Nelsons on the podium and the celebrated representatives of a new generation of singers such as Klaus Florian Vogt and Annette Dasch, the visually intended dissection of Wagner's masterpiece is vividly realized. Wolfgang Rubsam (organ)