The unexpected opera house manager
Ole Wiggo Bang doesn't immediately strike you as being a representative of Sweden's cultural elite. His red checked shirt was bought in China for SEK 15, he adds, and his jeans look worn and comfortable. The son of a smith from the little village of Hemnesberget in Northern Norway has come a long way over the years, but his origins are deeply ingrained in him.
TEXT: ÅSA JERNFÄLT PHOTO: SEVERUS TENENBAUM
The opera house manager meets us at the construction site for Wermland Opera, Karlstad's traditional music theatre dating back to 1893. This construction work has been in progress for more than a year now, and it has to be completed imminently. People are painting, connecting up electrics and practising arias as they go; tomorrow is the first dress rehearsal of the enormous Der Ring des Nibelungen by Wagner.
"This will be finished in time!" he says, dragging a hand through his tousled hair. "Just as long as nobody falls ill now."
"The Ring" is considered to be one of the most important works in musical history. And one of the most demanding. Wermland Opera doesn't flinch in the face of difficult works, as demonstrated repeatedly.
Ole Wiggo Bang doesn't immediately strike you as being a representative of Sweden's cultural elite. His red checked shirt was bought in China for SEK 15, he adds, and his jeans look worn and comfortable. The son of a smith from the little village of Hemnesberget in Northern Norway has come a long way over the years, but his origins are deeply ingrained in him. When he was 15, he decided quite simply to become a musical director and moved 1300 kilometres to Kristiansand in order to study music at upper secondary level. His will to make something of himself, to be special, was great; and this strong inner drive has been with him his whole life through.
"You have to have a strong objective, otherwise you won't achieve anything. I'm probably a real pain in the neck to have around! If I were a woman, people would be sure to have referred to me as a right bitch, but men are just seen as being brave." His pale blue eyes glitter provocatively.
Music has brought him from Norway to Karlstad via Gothenburg, where he worked as a musical director for many years. With young children in the family, it was time for him to put down roots; and Värmland was a good place to live. Ole Wiggo took over as head of Musikteatern, as Wermland Opera was known in those days, at a time when the theatre only employed 15 staff. Nowadays more than 300 people are linked with this important cultural institution. The journey of the opera house from the early 1980s to today is impressive, and much of this is thanks to this imperturbable Norwegian man.
When asked which is his favourite opera, he looks amazed. There are other things in his life which he enjoys just as much.
"Going swimming is every bit as fun as staging an opera," he says. "It all depends on what mood I'm in. I'm very much guided by my mood, controlled just by my feelings. For instance, I can't just sit and listen to music, I have to be taking part in it. A great musical experience is like sex; you can't intellectualise it or put it into words, you just feel it in your heart. These kinds of experiences are what I hope people have when they visit us here at the opera house."
