SF Opera Presents Wagner's THE RING at War Memorial Opera House 5/29 - 7/3

The San Francisco Examiner reports that "The Ring of the Nibelung," the beloved cycle of Richard Wagner operas, is coming back to San Francisco for the first time since 1999 at the War Memorial Opera House between May 29 and July 3.  There will be three cycles of the 17-hour colossus (15 hours of music) divided into four operas. 

"For San Francisco, having the full ‘Ring' cycle here is like hosting a Super Bowl or World Cup soccer for the arts," Kary Schulman, the director of Grants for the Arts told the Examiner. "We gain not just additional hotel stays, restaurant meals and shopping, but, because these are culture-goers, our other arts and visitor attractions are likely to benefit as well."

The man responsible for the decision to produce "Ring," opera general director David Gockley, emphasizes the size of the project.   "It is the most monumental piece of music theater ever conceived by the mind of man," Gockley said. " For anyone in my position, it is the dream of a career in opera to essay this Everest of challenges."

So large is that challenge that this will be only the sixth time in the company's 88-year history that "Ring" is presented. Previous years were 1935, 1972, 1985, 1990 and 1999. The first "Ring" came to The City in 1900, when New York's Metropolitan Opera performed it on tour in the Grand Opera House, long before the War Memorial opened in 1932.

In order to sucessfully accomplish the monumental production, huge forces are coming together. World-famous Wagner specialist Donald Runnicles conducts an orchestra of more than 100. Principal roles are filled by acclaimed singers, and the rest of the cast includes some participants in the Merola Opera Program; veterans of Merola now take on major roles, and there are scores of stagehands, costumers, makeup artists, ushers and others involved.

The focal point of Richard Wagner's "Der Ring des Nibelungen" ("The Ring of the Nibelung") is the ring made from gold stolen from the Rhine River. It can be forged only by one who renounces love forever, and it gives whoever possesses it unlimited power. The cycle is made up of four operas.

1. ‘Das Rheingold,' 1869 (first performance)
2 hours 35 minutes

Nibelung Alberich (Gordon Hawkins) renounces love and takes the gold, fashioning the all-powerful ring from it. The ruler of the gods, Wotan (Mark Delavan), takes the gold and the ring from Alberich by trickery, with the fire god Loge's (Stefan Margita) help, but realizes there is a curse on the ring that might destroy the world.

2. ‘Die Walküre,' 1870
4 hours 30 minutes

Wotan's human children separated since birth, Siegmund (Brandon Jovanovich) and Sieglinde (Anja Kampe/Heidi Melton), find each other. Their unlawful union will produce the hero, Siegfried (Ian Storey), capable of destroying the ring and saving the gods and the world. Wotan's favorite daughter, Brünnhilde (Nina Stemme), defies Wotan, helps Sieglinde escape and is punished by being put to sleep, not to be awakened until a hero reaches her through a ring of fire.

3. ‘Siegfried,' 1876
4 hours 50 minutes

Siegfried (the role sung by Jay Hunter Morris in this opera) grows up, forges Notung the mighty sword, slays dragons and enemies, finds and awakens Brünnhilde, and for one grand scene, the dark, menacing story of the ring turns into celebration and a potential happy ending, but ...

4. ‘Götterdämmerung' (Twilight of the Gods), 1876
5 hours 15 minutes

Hagen (Andrea Silvestrelli), Alberich's son, ensnares Siegfried, who betrays Brünnhilde and is killed. What happens at the end will not be disclosed here so that, for followers of the 17-hour saga to its conclusion, the grand, cataclysmic finale will not be spoiled. Lucky contemporary audiences can follow the complex story with the supertitles.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Where: War Memorial Opera House, 301 Van Ness Ave., San Francisco

When:
Premiere of new productions for "Siegfried," May 29, "Götterdämmerung," June 5
Cycle 1, June 14, June 15, June 17, June 19
Cycle 2, June 21, June 22, June 24, June 26
Cycle 3: June 28, June 29, July 1, July 3

Tickets: $60 to $360 for individual operas, $460 to $1,440 for cycle; standing room is $10
For more information, call: (415) 864-3330 or visit: www.sfopera.com

 

 

 

 

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