The Tolkien estate has approved the release of an operatic adaptation of J.R.R Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings.”

In a statement by Volante Opera, the company said, “We’re extremely proud to announce that we are working on a Complete Demo Recording of Paul Corfield Godfrey’s Musical Chapters from ‘The Lord of the Rings’ after the mythology of JRR Tolkien  – this mammoth task (over 17 hours of music) is already well on the way, we were just waiting for the rights to clear before announcing.”

The company added, “It will be released in 2025 and will be followed up by a Complete Demo Recording of Paul’s Musical Chapters from ‘The Hobbit’ in 2026. The recording pages have been unlocked and all the recording information is now online.”

According to Classic FM, composer Godfrey has been working on sketches and fragments of the work for nearly 60 years. The estate finally approved following Godfrey’s cycle of “epic scenes from ‘The Silmarillion’” which was finally completed in 2023 with the issue of a 10 CD series of recordings from Volante Opera and Prima Facie Records.

For the recordings of “The Lord of the Rings,” 30 singers will come from the Welsh National Opera. The cast will include Simon Crosby Buttle as Frodo, Julian Boyce as Sam, Philip Lloyd-Evans as Gandalf, Stephen Wells as Aragorn, Michael Clifton-Thompson as Gollum, Helen Jarmany as Éowyn, Huw Llywelyn as Bilbo, Emma Mary Llewellyn as Arwen, Laurence Cole as Boromir/Denethor, Martin Lloyd as Treebeard/Herb Master, Helen Greenaway as Lobelia/Ioreth, Rosie Hay as Gwaihir, Sophie Yelland as the Barrow-Wight, Louise Ratcliffe as Lindir with George Newton-Fitzgerald and Jasey Hall taking on a plethora of roles.  Angharad Morgan will also be reprising her role as Galadriel from The Silmarillion.