Thoughts on the Mahler Players’ Parsifal

Inverness Cathedral, 31/05/2026

The Mahler Players, musical director Tomas Leakey

I first saw Wagner’s ‘Parsifal’ at Covent Garden in the late 1970s, then at the Bayreuth Festival in 1990, and later in the 90s at Bern, in Switzerland, conducted by the late Scottish conductor, Roderick Brydon. I have always loved this magical final work by Wagner, premiered at Bayreuth in 1882, the year before the composer died, and have studied the role of Gurnemanz over a long period. As I said in my recent book of memoirs, ‘A Singer’s Life’, sadly the role never came my way in my career, although I was desperate to sing it. In addition, later in that career, I often found myself at Covent Garden understudying Sir John Tomlinson in various roles, during the rare lulls in my diary.

Consequently when I heard that the marvellously ambitious Mahler Players from Inverness were planning to put on a semi-staged production of ‘Parsifal’ in Inverness Cathedral at the end of May, with Sir John singing Gurnemanz, I had to get tickets, and my wife and I and two friends found ourselves in the Cathedral just before 4pm on Sunday 31st May.

Now the EMR, keen to cover music from all over Scotland, has quite correctly reviewed the opera with a writer from the Highlands, and I have no wish to step on any toes here. However, our editor has suggested that I might add a few thoughts on the opera and this performance, being someone who knows the score intimately. So, having not seen any other reviews of the Mahler Players’ ‘Parsifal’, here are those few thoughts.

First of all, I must congratulate the Mahler Players and their founder and musical director, Tomas Leakey, for their enterprise and vision, in gradually assembling this full performance of ‘Parsifal’ over a period, building act by act. As a semi-professional orchestra, using professionals, music teachers and talented amateur players mainly from the Highlands, it would have been largely impossible to play the full score, and the Players have used a marvellous reduced score by Matthew King, which sounds very similar to the full orchestration, but with heavily reduced numbers, especially in the strings. I am very familiar with this concept, having been in on the beginning of reduced scale Wagner, appearing as Fafner and Hagen in Jonathan Dove’s reduction for the City of Birmingham Touring Opera of Wagner’s Ring Cycle, in 1990 and as Wotan in Longborough Festival Opera’s version of the same score in 1997.

In the warm acoustic of Inverness Cathedral, the score sounded terrific, and was played with some aplomb. The other benefit was that the singers had a chance to be heard over the orchestration, since there is no pit in the cathedral, and trying to sing on the same stage as a full symphonic orchestra is almost impossible to achieve balance, even with the quality of voices on display.

Mention of the quality of voices takes my thoughts in that direction. Let’s start with the legendary John Tomlinson. This great bass, originally from Oswaldtwistle via Accrington in Lancashire, where he was born nearly 80 years ago, has had a fantastic career over many decades. I first heard him while I was a student at the Guildhall School of Music, singing Figaro at ENO, and the voice clearly was one of phenomenal power and range. Over the years, he expanded from the bass repertoire into the bass-baritone (or Heldenbariton, as the Germans say) range, singing all the great Wagner roles for both voices. I have always considered him a true bass, and that, I feel, is where his true greatness lies, and that is what Gurnemanz is. A holy knight living in the environs of Montsalvat, wherein lies the Holy Grail, Gurnemanz is the figure through which most of the action of ‘Parsifal’ takes place. It’s a long role, and, badly handled, can be exceedingly dull and boring. No Tomlinson performance of anything can be boring, and that was clearly the case today, as he led us through the tale of good corrupted by evil, and eventually redeemed by love and wisdom. The voice, although still extraordinary, is not what it was, and the exertion it took to sing out strongly did cause some audience members to worry for his health. Fortunately, the end result was very fine, a deeply human and sympathetic account of one of Wagner’s great roles, and he was loudly cheered at the end.

The Mahler Players somehow managed to assemble a superb cast for the other roles, even down to the small but significant role of Titurel, the aged King of Montsalvat, who, as his final act, calls upon his son to reveal the Grail at the end of Act 1. The Welsh bass, Sion Goronwy, impressed with his stentorian singing, and his great height! The three flower maidens who are conjured by the wizard Klingsor to seduce Parsifal in Act 2 were strongly and sexily presented by Catriona Clark, Jessica Leary and Laura Margaret Smith, and I, for one, would have given up all heroic deeds in a heartbeat!

Their mistress, Kundry, the temptress, trapped in a cursed cycle to endlessly seduce knights, was sung and acted impressively by Almerija Delic, who plies her trade in Germany in an impressive variety of mezzo-soprano roles. Only at the end of Act 2, famously a killer for mezzos ever since Wagner’s day, was she at all challenged by the role, and she acted it wonderfully.

The two baritones in the cast, both native German speakers, were immense. Renatus Mészár, from Germany, exuded menace as Klingsor, the would-be knight of the Grail, whose failure to be admitted led him to self-castration, leading in turn to possession of evil power. His scene with Kundry was extremely strong and his voice and artistry were exemplary. Thomas Weinhappel as Amfortas, from Lower Austria, was for me the stand out performer of the show, dominating every scene with his acting and really superb heroic baritone voice, and, even in extremis as a wounded cripple for most of the opera, immensely powerful on stage. Admirably assisted by good looks and impressive baritone hair, he gave a strength to the role that is hard to find.

Our Parsifal, Julian Hubbard, was wonderfully convincing at the start as a holy fool, reckless and brainless, who announces his arrival by shooting a swan with an arrow, in a place where all creatures are sanctified. Wagner’s music here reaches beyond human understanding to a mystical place of enormous beauty – he was a very early vegetarian and his shock at this sacrilege comes through in the music, as it does also later in the deeply spiritual Good Friday Music in the Third Act. Mr Hubbard’s transformation to a man filled with knowledge and wisdom during Acts 2 and 3 was well judged. Like Kundry, the end of Act 2 tested him, but his return in Act 3 was real Heldentenor singing, and he took over as King from Amfortas very effectively. I found some of his vowel sounds a bit odd, but that can be sorted, and if he is careful with his voice, he can have a fine career.

Tomas Leakey conducted the complex score of ‘Parsifal’ with great skill, and enormous credit can be given to him for putting this project together. He is obviously a visionary, able to come up with ideas that most people would consider impossible, and he clearly has important contacts. With Malcolm King (orchestrator) and John Tomlinson on board, he has collaborators of top quality, and the standard of his singers was astonishing, especially when you consider how little the Highlands region is allotted for classical music by either government.

I found Mr Leakey’s control over the vast timescale of the opera exceptional. He is an unobtrusive conductor, but that’s no bad thing, as he allows the music to breathe and flow. The crucial moments were all beautifully brought out, and his speeds throughout were exemplary. Balance on the whole was well-maintained, and only occasionally were the voices covered by the orchestra, a minor miracle if we remember that, in the theatre, they would be under the singers, not on the same level.

These are my thoughts after the event, and I can only repeat my admiration for the whole marvellous project and look forward to future events with great anticipation.