Performing Richard Wagner's Parsifal on Good Friday is a widespread tradition. As the last title of a season severely trimmed down by financial cuts, Parma's Teatro Regio offered a concert performance of the third act. In this way, the company paid tribute to the German composer in the hometown of Giuseppe Verdi, his competitor, and in the year of both composers' bicentennial.

There is little action in the last act of Parsifal, so a concert performance can be as compelling as a staged one, and this was the case in Parma. In the dimly lit theater, the singers gave life to the protagonists singing with great commitment and concentration against the background of a screen. In tones of gray, some staging hints, designed by Mietta Corli, were projected: bare trees when Gurnemanz announces the celebration of Good Friday, drops of water when Kundry washes Parsifal's feet, the shadows of knights joining the celebration, until a brighter light signaled the successful performance of the sacrifice. Finally the screen was lifted, and the performance ended in the light on the background of the recently restored Camera da Musica, a 18th century wooden structure serving as a resonance chamber.

The vocal cast featured a number of Wagner specialists. Albert Dohmen was a very authoritative Amfortas, deeply aware of the importance of the celebration. Stephen Milling as Gurnemanz was also compelling, as was tenor Robert Dean Smith in the title role, his handsomely timbred voice especially impressive at the top of the range. Aurelia Florian gave commitment to the small role of Kundry in this act.

The Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini produced a smooth and polished sound under the savvy baton of conductor Juraj Valcuha and the chorus, instructed by Martino Faggiani, gave an outstanding contribution to the successful completion of the performance.

At the end there were two minutes of silence until the Maestro lowered his hands, and then the audience burst out in huge and long applause, certainly deserved by all performers.