Melbourne Opera Announces New Ring Cycle

By Francisco Salazar

Melbourne Opera has announced a new Ring Cycle production.

The company is to climb opera’s Mount Everest starting February 2021 with “Das Rheingold.”

Melbourne is not a state-sponsored company and relies on ticket sales and sponsors including founding patron Lady Primrose Potter, who says the company “couldn’t be more proud” to be taking on the Ring Cycle.

In a statement, Melbourne Opera Director and Resident Conductor Greg Hocking said, “Someone has to get things started. And there’s a hunger for large-scale mainstream opera. It’s the responsibility of all local companies to keep the industry going by employing local artists. There is so little work at the moment for all the great Australian singers.”

He also noted that two of the four-opera will be cast locally and “Das Rheingold” will employ more than 140 Victorian singers, musicians, creatives, and technicians.

The Melbourne Opera is planning to allow at least 1,000 people in the recently-renovated Regent Theatre pending COVID-19 restrictions. It also announced the 80-piece orchestra will spill into the stalls from the Regent Theatre.

The Ring Cycle production is set to take the company into 2023 when it completes the cycle.

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