Ernest van Dyck as the title hero, Fidès Devriès as Elsa, Marthe Duvivier as Ortrud, Emil Blauwaert as Telramund, and Félix-Adolphe Couturier as Heinrich. There was however an 1881 French performance given as a Benefit, in the Cercle de la Méditerranée Salon at Nice, organized by Sophie Cruvelli, in which she took the role of Elsa. The opera received its Canadian premiere at the opera house in Vancouver on 9 February 1891 with Emma Juch as Elsa. The Palais Garnier staged the work for the first time the following 16 September with van Dyck as Lohengrin, Rose Caron as Elsa, Caroline Fiérens-Peters as Ortrud, Maurice Renaud as Telramund and Charles Douaillier as Heinrich. The first Chicago performance of the opera took place at the Auditorium Building (now part of Roosevelt University) on 9 November 1891. Performed in Italian, the production starred Jean de Reszke as the title hero, Emma Eames as Elsa and Édouard de Reszke as Heinrich. Lohengrin was first performed as part of the Bayreuth Festival in 1894, in a production directed by the composer's widow, Cosima Wagner, with and Ernst van Dyck, alternating as Lohengrin, Lillian Nordica as Elsa, Marie Brema as Ortrud and Demeter Popovic as Telramund and was conducted by Felix Mottl. It received 6 performances in its first season in the opera house that Wagner built for the presentation of his works. A typical performance lasts from about 3 hours, 30–50 minutes. Roles InstrumentationLohengrin is scored for the following instruments: 3 flutes (3rd doubles piccolo), 3 oboes, English horn, 3 clarinets in B-flat, A and C, bass clarinet in B-flat and A, 3 bassoons 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba timpani, triangle, cymbals, tambourine harp 1st and 2nd violins, violas, violoncellos, and double basseson-stage 3 flutes, piccolo, 3 oboes, 3 clarinets in B-flat, A and C, 3 bassoons 4 horns, 12 trumpets, 4 trombones timpani in D, triangle, cymbals, military drums organ, harp Synopsis Place: Antwerp, on the Scheldt River, in the Kingdom of Lotharingia Time: Sometime between 925, when Henry the Fowler acquired Lotharingia as a vassal state, and 933, when his wars with the Magyars ended Summary The people of the Brabant are divided by quarrels and political infighting; also, a devious hostile power left over from the region's pagan past is seeking to subvert the prevailing monotheistic government and to return Brabant to pagan rule. A mysterious knight, sent by