Opera North S Enthralling Ring Cycle Begins Its Uk Tour

Press Release

7 June 2016

OPERA NORTH’S ENTHRALLING RING CYCLE BEGINS ITS UK TOUR

Leeds Town Hall (23 April - 21 May & 24 - 29 May 2016)

Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham (6 - 11 June 2016)

The Lowry, Salford (13 - 18 June 2016)

Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre (28 June – 3 July 2016)

Sage Gateshead (5 – 10 July 2016)

An extraordinary journey comes full circle this year, as Opera North presents its highly anticipated performances of Richard Wagner's entire Der Ring des Nibelungen.

The Leeds-based national opera company will perform a series of six full cycles of the operas which make up Wagner’s marathon four-part masterpiece: Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, Siegfried and Götterdämmerung.

Previously staged in annual instalments between 2011 and 2014 and performed to sell-out crowds, the Ring has seen Opera North’s music director Richard Farnes become a leading interpreter of Wagner's epic scores. He will conduct all six cycles of the Ring, performances which will mark the end of his 12-year tenure as the Company’s music director.

Under Richard Farnes’ baton, the dramatic power of the music takes centre stage in a Ring like no other. Staged and designed by Peter Mumford, minimal costumes and lighting enhance the performances, with a triptych of screens providing subtle visuals and text. This compelling and visceral format places the 100-piece orchestra on stage with the singers addressing the audience directly, to thrilling effect.

The Ring is among the greatest artistic and logistical challenges which any opera company can undertake, and touring versions are especially rare. Opera North’s unique dramatic performances created especially for concert halls have been highly commended by critics and audiences alike as one of the most successful operatic ventures of recent years.

The production will return to Leeds Town Hall, The Lowry in Salford Quays, and Sage Gateshead, alongside performances in Nottingham’s Royal Concert Hall, and a new collaboration with Southbank Centre which enables Opera North’s Ring to be presented in London for the first time. The performances will be the first ever full Ring cycle at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall.

Casting includes a range of top British and international Wagnerian performers, many of whom return to Opera North after making their mark in previous instalments. These include Giselle Allen, Mats Almgren, Susan Bickley, Lee Bisset, Michael Druiett, Robert Hayward, Kelly Cae Hogan, Yvonne Howard, Alwyn Mellor, Béla Perencz, Mati Turi and Michael Weinius.

Richard Mantle, General Director, Opera North, comments:

“When Opera North set out on this journey, we had no idea that our concept for performing each element of the Ring, in a way that places the drama of the music at the very heart of the performances, would captivate audiences so completely. This positive response from people, many of whom experienced the Ring for the first time with us, encouraged us to mount these performances of full Ring cycles across the country.

“There is no doubt in my mind that in Richard Farnes, our Music Director, we have discovered one of the great Wagner conducting talents of our time; under his inspiring leadership this Ring promises to be an unforgettable experience for artists and audiences alike.”

Der Ring des Nibelungen

Richard Wagner (1876)

Sung in German with English titles

Orchestra of Opera North

Conductor Richard Farnes

Concert Staging & Design Concept Peter Mumford

Lighting & Projection Designer Peter Mumford

Associate Director Joe Austin

Das Rheingold

The ‘preliminary evening’ of The Ring begins with music that evokes the dawn of time, starting a journey which travels from the watery twilight beneath the river Rhine, to the rainbow bridge that leads to Valhalla, fortress home of the gods. Set in a world populated by dwarfs and giants, gods and river-maidens, Das Rheingold sets the whole epic cycle in motion in thrilling fashion.

Wotan Michael Druiett

Loge Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke

Alberich Jo Pohlheim

Fricka Yvonne Howard

Mime Richard Roberts

Freia Giselle Allen

Donner Andrew Foster-Williams

Froh Mark Le Brocq

Fasolt James Creswell

Fafner Mats Almgren

Erda Ceri Williams

Claudia Huckle (Leeds Cycle 2)

Woglinde Jeni Bern

Wellgunde Madeleine Shaw

Flosshilde Sarah Castle

Die Walküre

In Die Walküre, it is human emotion that takes centre stage. The musical highlights are many: ‘Winterstürme’, Siegmund’s hymn of praise to the coming of Spring and the awakening of love; the Ride of the Valkyries; the Magic Fire music; and, above all, the great confrontation between the god Wotan and his favourite daughter, Brünnhilde – the Valkyrie of the title.

Brünnhilde Kelly Cae Hogan

Sieglinde Lee Bisset

Siegmund Michael Weinius (Leeds, Lowry, Southbank Centre, Sage Gateshead)

Mark Le Brocq (Nottingham)

Wotan Robert Hayward

Fricka Susan Bickley (Leeds, Nottingham)

Yvonne Howard (Lowry, Southbank Centre, Sage Gateshead)

Hunding James Creswell

Gerhilde Giselle Allen

Helmwige Katherine Broderick

Waltraute Heather Shipp

Schwertleite Claudia Huckle

Ortlinde Kate Valentine

Siegrune Sarah Castle

Grimgerde Fiona Kimm

Rossweisse Madeleine Shaw

Siegfried

Wagner’s unparalleled orchestral scene-painting reaches new heights as the youthful hero Siegfried, mortal grandson of Wotan, the king of the gods, forges an unbreakable sword. He slays the dragon Fafner, seizes the ring from the dragon’s hoard, and braves the magic fire that encircles the sleeping Brünnhilde.

Siegfried Lars Cleveman

Brünnhilde Katherine Broderick (Leeds)

Kelly Cae Hogan (Nottingham, Lowry, Southbank Centre, Sage Gateshead)

Mime Richard Roberts

Wanderer Béla Perencz

Alberich Jo Pohlheim

Fafner Mats Almgren

Woodbird Jeni Bern

Erda Ceri Williams

Claudia Huckle (Leeds Cycle 2)

Götterdämmerung

In the overwhelming conclusion of the cycle, the all-consuming love of Siegfried and Brünnhilde is broken in bitter betrayal; the scheming Hagen, son of Alberich, seals Siegfried’s doom; and Brünnhilde’s self-sacrifice precipitates the end of the old world order and the beginning of a new era. The musical and dramatic power of Götterdämmerung is awe-inspiring – sweeping from Siegfried’s Rhine Journey to his Funeral March, and, finally, to Brünnhilde’s immolation and the work’s titanic orchestral climax.

Brünnhilde Kelly Cae Hogan

Siegfried Mati Turi

Hagen Mats Almgren

Gutrune Giselle Allen

Gunther Andrew Foster-Williams

Waltraute Susan Bickley (Leeds, Sage Gateshead)

Heather Shipp (Nottingham, Lowry, Southbank Centre)

Alberich Jo Pohlheim

First Norn Fiona Kimm

Second Norn Heather Shipp (Leeds, Sage Gateshead)

Yvonne Howard (Nottingham, Lowry, Southbank Centre)

Third Norn Lee Bisset

Woglinde Jeni Bern

Wellgunde Madeleine Shaw

Flosshilde Sarah Castle

Chorus of Opera North

List of performances:

Leeds Town Hall LIMITED TICKETS

Cycle 1

Sat 23 April 2016 7.30pm Das Rheingold

Sat 30 April 2016 5.00pm Die Walküre

Sat 14 May 2016 5.00pm Siegfried

Sat 21 May 2016 3.30pm Götterdämmerung

Cycle 2 SOLD OUT

Tue 24 May 2016 7.30pm Das Rheingold

Wed 25 May 2016 5.00pm Die Walküre

Fri 27 May 2016 5.00pm Siegfried

Sun 29 May 2016 3.30pm Götterdämmerung

Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham BEST AVAILABILITY

Mon 6 June 2016 7.00pm Das Rheingold

Tue 7 June 2016 3.00pm Die Walküre

Thu 9 June 2016 3.00pm Siegfried

Sat 11 June 2016 3.00pm Götterdämmerung

The Lowry, Salford Quays LIMITED TICKETS

Mon 13 June 2016 7.30pm Das Rheingold

Tue 14 June 2016 4.30pm Die Walküre

Thu 16 June 2016 4.30pm Siegfried

Sat 18 June 2016 3.30pm Götterdämmerung

Southbank Centre, London SOLD OUT

(All performances also relayed live to Clore Ballroom)

Tue 28 June 2016 7.00pm Das Rheingold

Wed 29 June 2016 5.00pm Die Walküre

Fri 1 July 2016 5.00pm Siegfried

Sun 3 July 2016 3.00pm Götterdämmerung

Sage Gateshead SOLD OUT

Tue 5 July 2016 7.30pm Das Rheingold

Wed 6 July 2016 4.30pm Die Walküre

Fri 8 July 2016 4.30pm Siegfried

Sun 10 July 2016 3.30pm Götterdämmerung

The Ring Cycle is financially supported by the Opera North Future Fund, The Ring Fellowship 2016, Ring Circle and The Emerald Foundation.

The original instalments of Das Rheingold (2011), Die Walküre (2012), Siegfried (2013) and Götterdämmerung (2014) were presented in collaboration with Sage Gateshead and Symphony Hall, Birmingham.

For further information and photographs, please contact:

Julia O’Sullivan, Head of Communications

0113 223 3526 | 07956 647573 | julia.o’

Elizabeth Simmonds, Press Officer

0113 213 5641|

Rowland Thomas, Press Officer

0113 223 3528|