Review: Atlanta’s SIEGFRIED Showcases Spectacular Cast in Zvulun Production

When we last saw Brunnhilde in Atlanta, in the second segment of Richard Wagner’s Ring Cycle, DIE WALKURE, she’d been punished by the gods for saving Sieglinde, but rescued by her father, Wotan. She was forced into sleep on a rock surrounded by a ring of fire, until wakened some day by a hero. Ta-da! SIEGFRIED’s eponymous hero, sung brilliantly by heldentenor Stefan Vinke, arrived to save the day.

Tomer Zvulun’s new production at the Atlanta Opera of the third opera in Wagner’s Ring Cycle, under the steady baton of Roberto Kalb, is an indubitable success. His team included Erhard Rom (scenic and projection design), Mattie Ullrich (costumes), Anne Nesmith (wigs/makeup), Robert Wierzel (lighting), Ran Arthur Braun (live action director), and Felipe Barral (filmed media).

Of course, this being an opera by Wagner, there’s lots going on before that heroic meeting between Siegfried and Brunnhilde in Act III (including a buffet dinner between Acts I and II). Yet the last part of Act III is so thrilling—not just in its story-telling but with a stunning cast—that one almost forgets how much has happened in the two acts that preceded it.

But I feel I must start with that ultimate scene between soprano Lise Lindstrom and Vinke, because of the impact of the performers. Anyone who knows the composer’s work understands the incredible demands that he puts on his singers, but you couldn’t tell from the seemingly effortless work that came bursting out from these exceptional acting-singers. These performers personify one of the kinds of love that the Ring encompasses: Eros, or erotic love. (The others are friendship, love of family, love of humanity and love of self.)

Vinke, of course, had been showing his keen vocal skills for hours by the time of his meeting with Brunnhilde, showing no sign of flagging. (The opera has 4 hours of music plus two intermissions.) He may not have looked 17, as the teenage Siegfried is supposed to be, but then who does?  Hardly anyone under 40 has reached the vocal maturity to sing the role, let alone sound as fresh as Vinke when he finished the brutal part. He earned all the bravos that greeted his curtain call at the opera’s end.

He was well matched by Lindstrom, who sang fearlessly yet finely as the warrior princess with a pure, unforced sound you don't often hear in this role. Increasingly the go-to choice for the Ring’s Brunnhilde, she showed just why, with a beautifully nuanced portrayal that grew from immortal to mortal without a hitch. 

The third key role in the opera is the Wanderer, better known as Wotan, king of the gods in disguise, and here the company ran into something of a problem. Bass-baritone Greer Grimsley was scheduled but was laid low by allergies and unable to sing, though he could still bring his well-practiced acting to the role. Luckily, another fine singer was available to be called in to sing the part from a box adjacent to the stage.

Kyle Albertson, who had sung the role elsewhere, did an impressive job in a situation that couldn’t have been easy for anyone involved: those who had to interact with Grimsley’s mime version of the role and Albertson’s performing in what amounted to a closet. He succeeded wonderfully in singing under challenging circumstances (and acting as well, for I could see him from my seat) and deserves his place in the sun sometime again soon.

To riff on the old acting saying (“there are no small roles, only small actors”), in Wagner, there are no minor roles because even the ones with less music can be key to a performance’s success.

Of course, no one could call Mime in SIEGFRIED a minor role at all, merely a character part. Tenor Rodell Rosel did a fearsomely good job as the adoptive father of Siegfried, who really takes him in to see if he can help in getting the ring of Wagner’s title along with the rest of the hoard of gold that had been stolen earlier in the tetralogy.

He is by turns nasty, deceitful, treacherous—everything a good character performer could wish for. He succeeds—and sings--mightily. His early scene with Siegfried, as he tries to teach him how to fix the magic sword, Nothung, is fascinating. So is his frustration as the student outdoes the master, when Siegfried figures out on his own what he must do to make the sword whole again.

As Mime’s brother Alberich, chief of the Nibelungen and main antagonist from DAS RHEINGOLD, baritone Zachary Nelson provides another outstanding performance. Alberich had stolen the gold from the Rhinemaidens that was cast into the ring of the cycle’s title. His role in SIEGFRIED is much smaller, but nonetheless key and he shines when he’s on stage.

Making his US debut, bass Alexander Kopeczi is the dragon Fafner and does a brilliant job of it. Earlier in the Ring, he was a giant, who killed his brother Fasolt and accepted the gold—including the magic helmet that he uses to turn himself into the dragon and the ring, both from Alberich. He is entangled with the giant’s impressive costume, designed by Jason Hines.

The last two of the opera's characters are both making their Atlanta Opera debut. The Forest Bird is gorgeously sung by soaring soprano Amber Norelai, while mezzo Lindsay Ammann makes a staggering impression as Erda, goddess of the Earth, wife of Wotan and mother with him of Brunnhilde.

SIEGFRIED sometimes doesn’t get credit for being as good as it is—or as important as it is to the Ring as a whole. But when you have a performance as smartly cast as this one, I for one would like to lay that to rest once and for all. There are two more performances this season, on Friday, May 2 at 6:30 and Sunday May 4 at 2:00.

Stay tuned for the last installment of the Ring Cycle next season, as Zvulun and the Atlanta Opera complete the tetralogy—the first in the US since Covid—with TWILIGHT OF THE GODS (GOTTERDAMMERUNG).

Caption: Stefan Vinke and Lise Lindstrom

Credit: Raftermen