(Credit: Rosie Hardie) Lise Lindstrom has canceled her participation in Dresden’s Ring Cycle. The soprano took to social media and said, “due to unforeseen circumstances, the situation in Dresden has changed and I have withdrawn from the Ring. To my dear fans, friends, and family: I am disappointed to not be bringing my Brundhilde to you at this time.” As {…}
Per reports, the Metropolitan Opera will no longer be able to present its upcoming Ring Cycle production in 2025. Back in 2021, the company announced that it would showcase a new staging of Wagner’s famed tetralogy in co-production with the English National Opera. However, earlier today the ENO announced that while it had been given new funding by Arts Council {…}
Konzert und Theater St. Gallen is set to present “The Ring in One Evening,” at Tonhalle St. Gallen from Jan. 12 -15, 2023. The abridged concert version of Wagner’s epic includes interludes by German humorist, cartoonist, film director, and actor Loriot. Loriot cut the 14-and-one-half-hour saga into a digestible concert featuring highlights from each opera. At the concert’s premiere in {…}
(Photo: Andrea Ranzi) For the Teatro Comunale di Bologna’s final production at the Sala Bibiena, before its four-year closure for major refurbishment, it presented Wagner’s “Lohengrin” conducted by Asher Fisch and directed by Luigi De Angelis. For those who like their operas to be a challenge, this production may have proved to be a worthwhile experience, but even then, this {…}
Theater Basel is set to preview its upcoming production of “Der Ring des Nibelungen” on Oct. 31, 2022. The organization announced that artistic director Benedikt von Peter and his team will present ideas for the first Ring cycle to grace the company’s stage in over 40 years. Von Peter will direct the cycle alongside co-director Caterina Cianfarini. The production team {…}
On September 17, 2022, the newly renamed Detroit Opera, formerly Michigan Opera Theatre, mounted the first production of their 2022-2023 season. What Detroit Opera (DO) presented was nothing short of unique. Marketed as a “one-night miracle” by the Los Angeles Times, DO’s digitally enhanced retelling of Act three of Wagner’s “The Valkyries,” the second in his four-opera epic “The Ring {…}
The Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra is set to live stream the Sept. 8 performance of the second Act of “Tristan und Isolde.” The performance, which is led by conductor Susanna Mälkki, stars Stuart Skelton and Lise Lindstrom in the title roles. They are joined by Jenny Carlstedy as Brangäne, Markus Nieminen as Kurwenal, Brindley Sherrat as King Marke, and Roland Liiv {…}
The German Minister of State for Culture has called on the Bayreuth Festival to reform. Per BR Klassik, Claudia Roth, who holds the position, did not specify what she meant when she called for reform but did note that festival management had to “design the general conditions of the festival in such a way that artistic excellence can be achieved.” {…}
(Photo by Pablo Faccinetto) Katharina Wagner has announced that conductors Semyon Bychkov and Daniele Gatti will be making their returns to the Bayreuth Festival in the coming years. In an official release, the director of the famed institution noted that Gatti would be returning in 2025 to lead a production “Die Meistersinger” while Bychkov would lead a new “Tristan und {…}
While taking in a divisive production of “Der Ring des Nibelungen,” it was quite refreshing to take in the August 12 performance of “Tristan und Isolde” and come away hearing deserved bravos and cheers. While most productions are usually planned years in advance, director Roland Schwab was only commissioned to take on this a new production of Wagner’s masterpiece in {…}
(Credit: Enrico Nawrath) With “Götterdämmerung,” any chance of Valentin Schwarz giving an understandable meaning to his production went nowhere. For the first time in the tetralogy, Schwarz presented paranormal elements like the three Norns (represented as three faceless woman wearing sparkling costumes and makeup) or the transformation, thanks to the magic helmet, of Siegfried into Gunther for the last scene {…}
