(©Cory Weaver/San Francisco Opera) The San Francisco Opera has announced plans for the Company’s upcoming presentation of Richard Wagner’s “The Ring of the Nibelung (Der Ring des Nibelungen).” The company noted that it will present the tetraoly in summer 2028 with director Francesca Zambello reviving her acclaimed production. The cast will include Tamara Wilson as Brünnhilde, Brian Mulligan as Wotan, and {…}
Historically, Wagner stagings have stirred up controversy. They are–to put it bluntly–like a fashion show: seasonally recurrent, fanciful (for better or for worse), and tailored, if you will, to fit just about anything, the blatant as much as the abstruse. New productions, then, warrant a healthy degree of skepticism–especially when, as so often happens, the integrity of the work is {…}
The Berlin State Opera has announced that it will present The Ring Cycle during the 2025-26 season. The company said that it would present Dmitri Tcherniakov’s production in two cycles at the beginning of the 2025-26 season. Christian Thielemann who conducted the Staatskapelle at the celebrated premieres of the productions in October 2022, will conduct Wagner’s monumental work as General Music {…}
(Credit: Bernd Uhlig) The Deutsche Oper Berlin has announced that it will present the Ring Cycle during the 2025-26 season. The company said that it will present full cycles from May 16 to May 31, 2026. There will be two cycles featuring Stefan Herheim’s production. Among the cast are Ya-Chung Huang (Mime), Iain Paterson and Thomas J. Mayer (Wotan), Annika {…}
(Credit Steve Gregson) Regents Opera has added an extra performance of “Götterdämmerung” due to high demand. The company will be showcasing Wagner’s famed tetralogy in early 2025 with one cycle opening on Feb. 9 and running through the 16th and the second starting on Feb. 23 and finishing up on March 2, 2025. The added performance of the climactic opera {…}
Fabio Luisi is one of the world’s greatest conductors who has performed many great symphonic works and operatic repertoire. His work has been recognized through many awards including Italy’s Cavaliere della Repubblica Italiana and Commendatore della Stella d’Italia, and Genoa’s Grifo d’Oro, the highest honor given by the city of Genoa. He has served as music director at the Zurich {…}
(Photo credit: Bernd Uhlig) The man who gave the opera world its most dazzling 21st century “Parsifal,” Stefan Herheim, continues his quest to interrogate the Romantic text that is Richard Wagner’s “Ring of the Nibelungen.” Inspired refreshing of a 150-year-old work of art can provide new insights and flashes of illumination. But conceptual pyrotechnics can just as easily destroy its {…}
(Photo credit: Raftermen Photography) Of late, The Atlanta Opera (TAO) makes possible the nearly-impossible. In March, your reviewer summarized the robust health this company enjoys despite the current fiscal climate that shrinks arts organizations. With each gut punch to classical music lovers in the United States—the Metropolitan Opera Guild evaporating and Opera News taking the form of a brief supplement {…}
(Photo by Bernd Uhlig) I’m back in Berlin, a city I favor and enjoy so much, ready for yet another Ring cycle at Deutsche Oper, a large, comfortable 1850-seat theatre boldly designed in the Modernist style and simply ideal for large-scale productions. And none comes much larger than those penned by Giacomo Meyerbeer, Richard Strauss and Richard Wagner Therefore, with {…}
Regents Opera has announced that it will be moving the location of its performances of Wagner’s Ring Cycle. The company revealed that it had heard from Freemasons’ Hall that operational changes since an agreement was made in 2021 made it impossible for the venue to host the 2024 cycle. As such, the company has moved the venue to York Hall {…}
Credit Frank Caliri Jonathan McPhee boasts a diverse musical portfolio. As the Music Director for the Lexington Symphony in Massachusetts and a Guest Conductor at the Houston Ballet, his expertise doesn’t stop there — he’s also a composer and arranger. With an affinity for arranging, he’s notably transformed grand pieces, such as Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring” and “Firebird” into reductions. {…}