(Credit: Metropolitan Opera official website)

The Metropolitan Opera House will stage Wagner’s epic tetralogy “Der Ring des Nibelungen” in a brand new production by the British theatre and opera director Richard Jones.

Per an article from the New York Times, the Metropolitan Opera House will begin presenting Jones’ production in 2025, and will produce full cycles by the end of the 2026-27 season. The Metropolitan Opera initially intended to transfer the Deutsche Oper Berlin’s new production of “Der Ring des Nibelungen” by Stefan Herheim to New York, but found it unsuitable upon closer inspection.

“A transfer deal with the Metropolitan Opera was never contract-ready,” said the Deutsche Oper’s Intendant Dietmar Schwarz at a press conference in June 2021.

Jones’ production will succeed a production by Robert Lepage that was last seen in New York in 2019. The production‘s central feature was a huge 45-ton machine that was prone to glitches and ill-timed malfunctions.

“I’m a big fan of Richard Jones,” noted Metropolitan Opera’s General Manager Peter Gelb. “He is a director who is very attuned to the narrative of the operas that he’s doing. And his work as a theater director is very impressive. He brings all that work to the opera.”

Jones’ new production of “Die Walküre,” a second part of “Der Ring des Nibelungen” will premiere at the English National Opera on Nov. 19, 2021. The cast for the opera includes Matthew Rose in the role of Wotan, Nicky Spence as Siegmund, Emma Bell as Sieglinde, Rachel Nicholls in the role of Brünnhilde, Brindley Sherratt as Hunding, and Susan Bickley as Fricka. ENO will present the Ring Cycle as four individual operas over five seasons, ending in 2025.

Peter Gelb declined to reveal more information about the cast when Jones’ production reaches the Metropolitan Opera, except for the fact that Lise Davidsen will sing Sieglinde. The full cycle will be conducted by the Metropolitan Opera’s General Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin.