Kaohsiung: The National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (Weiwuying) will present Wagner’s Lohengrin in full on Thursday, marking its premiere in Taiwan and the first time a Wagnerian opera has been performed in southern Taiwan. With many years of experience, the Weiwuying team is confident in taking on the challenging 4.5-hour masterpiece, Chien Wen-pin, the performing center’s general and artistic director, told a news conference Tuesday.

According to Focus Taiwan, Chien, who also serves as conductor, will lead the production in collaboration with the creative team behind the 2014 staging of Lohengrin at Germany’s Opera on the Rhine. It will be performed four times from Thursday through Sunday. Lohengrin follows a mysterious knight who weds Elsa on the condition that she never asks his name. When the vow is broken, he must depart, revealing a meditation on love, trust, power, and desire.

The production brings together leading vocalists from Taiwan and abroad. Vincent Wolfsteiner and Brenden Gunnell, two internationally renowned tenors known for their Wagnerian performances, share the title role of Lohengrin. Members of the 2014 Opera on the Rhine premiere join the production, including soprano Sylvia Hamvasi as Elsa and mezzo-soprano Heike Wessels as Ortrud.

Taiwanese singers will make their Wagnerian Lohengrin debuts, with soprano Keng Li and mezzo-soprano Weng Jo-pei taking on the same roles, respectively. Meanwhile, emerging Taiwanese vocal talents Chao Fang-hao, James Lai, Chien Cheng-yu, Hu Ting-wei, and Cheng Yu-hsuan also join the cast, reflecting Weiwuying’s support for local talent on the international stage, the organizers said.