Wagner: Siegfried Idyll - Daniel Harding & SRSO, film by Andrew Staples

As the snow fell during the darkness of February 2021, Berwaldhallen commissioned Andrew Staples to make a film with the Swedish Radio Symphony of Wagner’s Siegfried Idyll. Together with SRSO Music Director Daniel Harding, Staples imagined the piece as a heartwarming love letter not from a composer to his wife but from the players of the SRSO to their city and their absent audience.

This is the third film project Berwaldhallen has created with Andrew Staples as director and Daniel Harding as conductor. The first was Mozart’s Don Giovanni in June 2020 featuring Peter Mattei and Malin Byström, the second was Bach’s St John Passion in April 2021 with Christian Gerhaher and Ann Hallenberg.

Staples says… “The film tries to capture the aching desire of an entire cultural organisation that is reaching out into its environment to connect with its audience across the temporary digital divide. The sumptuous performance becomes its own “emotional soundtrack” as the camera invites the viewer to share the stage with the musicians and to glimpse their life behind it. Our aim is to bring the audience closer to the players, to their art, skill and passion while, for the time being at least, the auditorium remains empty.”