One Ring To Rule Them All

An Epic Opera Event comes to Melbourne.

 

Melbourne will play host to its first ever staging of Wagner’s epic, Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring Cycle) when Opera Australia brings this gargantuan production to the magnificent State Theatre in 2013.

 

Opera Australia, were delighted today to announce this long-awaited project, which will be presented in collaboration with Houston Grand Opera, the Victorian Government (through the Victorian Major Events Company), and Maureen and Tony Wheeler. The Melbourne Ring Cycle will be a journey through 15 hours of music across four nights in the theatre.

 

It is particularly exciting to note that this production is being designed exclusively for the State Theatre, the Arts Centre. The stage of the State Theatre, as well as the orchestra pit, fly lines and auditorium, are all much bigger than the Sydney Opera House.

 

Adelaide’s Ring Cycle in 2005 made news around Australia, with each opera reviewed by each capital’s leading papers. Any Ring Cycle will also bring international attention. Some opera lovers travel the world following production of these operas.

 

The creative team will be led by two of Australia’s most celebrated talents - director Neil Armfield and conductor Richard Mills. Three complete cycles will be performed during November/December 2013, in celebration of the 200th anniversary of Richard Wagner’s birth.

 

This journey has been made possible through a leadership donation by Maureen and Tony Wheeler – the largest donation ever received by Opera Australia - with additional direct investment coming from Houston Grand Opera, VMEC and Opera Australia itself. It is hoped that this landmark production will ensure that Melbourne becomes the home of The Ring Cycle in Australia for many years to come, attracting a wide interstate and international audience on a triennial basis to the city.

 

Presenting The Melbourne Ring Cycle will be a monumental project,and the rehearsal period will begin a year in advance, to allow all involved adequate time to prepare for this ‘Mount Everest’ of artistic enterprises. It will feature a tailor-made orchestra to be known as The Opera Australia Ring Orchestra, which will consist of players from Orchestra Victoria, the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra, as well as musicians from other major orchestras from around Australia. The Ring Cycle requires an orchestra of epic proportions with more than 100 players, including 6 harps, 14 horns, Steerhorns and a thunder machine!

 

The production will require 600 hours of rehearsal – 240 hours of this for the orchestra alone. No less than 350 singers, dancers, designers, costume-makers and backstage staff will be part of bringing The Melbourne Ring Cycle to fruition, along with up to 100 technicians behind the scene. The spectacular set is expected to take 14 months to build.

 

German composer Richard Wagner composed The Ring Cycle as a series of four operas based loosely on stories from Norse mythology. Although renowned for his many other operatic works such as Tristan und Isolde, The Flying Dutchman and Tannhäuser, The Ring Cycle became his most famous work and one which he developed over the course of almost thirty years, culminating in 1874. The cycle is intended to be performed consecutively, however as this represents an enormous challenge for singers and musicians, it is not often performed in its entirety. The second of the individual operas - The Valkyrie – is the most recognized of these.

 

The Melbourne Ring Cycle features 34 principal roles. Major roles that are confirmed are: Susan Bullock as Brunnhilde, Juha Uusitalo as Wotan, Gary Lehman as Siegfried and John Wegner as Alberich. Further cast details will be announced over the coming months.

 

Tickets for Melbourne’s Ring Cycle will go on sale in late 2011.