A stellar cast is to perform Wagner’s Ring Cycle in Birmingham—the first fully-staged production in the city for several decades.
Birmingham Hippodrome is marking the UK-Russia Year of Culture by staging the Mariinsky Opera’s Ring Cycle, one of the biggest productions to visit the venue.
Stuart Griffiths, the Hippodrome’s chief executive, said, “this is a great coup for Birmingham Hippodrome and for the city, underlining our reputation for presenting world-class opera.
“Wagner’s Ring Cycle is probably the greatest operatic work ever written and, in the UK, is rarely performed in its entirety. This production has only ever been performed in the UK twice before, so we’re very excited to welcome the Mariinsky Opera with its distinguished artistic and general director Valery Gergiev.”
Gergiev has got together Willard White, Ekaterina Gubanova, Andreas Schager, Vitaly Kovalyov, Mikahil Petrenko and Mlada Khudoley for Wagner’s tour de force. More than 250 artists are travelling from St Petersburg to Birmingham, along with ten trucks of scenery.
The Mariinsky Opera’s Ring Cycle was first seen in the UK at Wales Millennium Centre in 2006. It then played London’s Royal Opera House in 2009.
Rather than exploring the abstract psychological drama, Gergiev and set designer George Tsypin chose to focus on the mythological elements of the tale to create a production set in a timeless and non-specific place, making this a drama that tries to speak to all cultures.
Tsypin’s designs are inspired by Russian, Caucasian, Scythian and Ossetian folk imagery drawn from myths which are similar to the ones that inspired Wagner.
Valery Gergiev became music director of the Mariinsky in 1988 at the age of 35. His tenure has led to the talents of the Mariinsky opera, orchestra, ballet and chorus being showcased in more than 45 countries.
Four performances will be staged at the Hippodrome over five nights, with Das Rheingold on Wednesday (5 November), Die Walküre on Thursday, Siegfried on Saturday and Götterdämmerung on Sunday.