GOTTERDAMMERUNG

If Robert Lepage's production of Wagner's Ring Cycle (formally, DER RING DAS NIBELUNGEN) had worked as smoothly when it opened in 2010 as it did at this season's marvelous premiere of its prologue, DAS RHEINGOLD, on Saturday afternoon, there probably still would have been complaints--not about its focus on technology but on its traditional approach. Personally, i liked it....

Schuster makes her Met role debut as Waltraute, a role she has sung previously at Bayerische Staatsoper and Gran Teatre del Liceu. She made her Met debut last season as Klytämnestra in Strauss' Elektra. She sings regularly for all the leading German opera houses and for international companies including Wiener Staatsoper, Paris Opéra, La Scala, the Salzburg Festival, and Royal Opera, Covent Garden. Her wide repertory includes many Wagner roles such as Fricka in Der Ring des Nibelungen, Ortrud in...