Wagner’s epic Der Ring des Nibelungen returns to the Met, March 9–May 11, 2019

Wagner’s epic Der Ring des Nibelungen returns to the Met, March 9–May 11, 2019

• Robert Lepage’s pioneering production takes the stage with conductor Philippe Jordan leading the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra for all performances

• Christine Goerke brings her celebrated Brünnhilde to the Met for the first time

• Acclaimed Wagnerians Greer Grimsley and Michael Volle share the role of Wotan; Andreas Schager and Stefan Vinke make their Met debuts as Siegfried

• Internationally renowned cast features Jamie Barton, Dmitry Belosselskiy, Karen Cargill, Günther Groissböck, Tomasz Konieczny, Eric Owens, Gerhard Siegel, Stuart Skelton, and Eva-Maria Westbroek

• Die Walküre will be transmitted live to cinemas around the world on Saturday, March 30, as part of The Met: Live in HD series 

New York, NY (January 29, 2019)—The Metropolitan Opera will present Richard Wagner’s four-part masterwork Der Ring des Nibelungen in performances March 9–May 11, 2019.  This season’s performances are the first time the Met has presented the inventive Robert Lepage staging in six seasons and are the only complete Ring cycles to be presented in North America in 2019. Marshaling the vast forces on stage and in the pit is the incoming music director of the Vienna State Opera, Philippe Jordan, who has conducted acclaimed Ring cycles in Paris and Zurich.

The cast includes many of today’s preeminent Wagnerian singers, several of whom are singing their roles for the first time at the Met. Starring as the warrior maiden Brünnhilde in her much-anticipated Met role debut is Christine Goerke. Sharing the role of Wotan, the king of the gods, are Michael Volle, who is making his Met role debut, and Greer Grimsley, who reprises his performance from the 2013 cycles. Andreas Schager and Stefan Vinke alternate in the role of the fearless hero Siegfried, both in their Met debuts.

The performances also feature Jamie Barton as Fricka, Dmitry Belosselskiy as Fafner, Karen Cargill as Erda, Günther Groissböck as Fasolt and Hunding, Tomasz Konieczny as Alberich in his Met debut, Eric Owens in his role debut as Hagen, Gerhard Siegel as Mime, Stuart Skelton as Siegmund, and Eva-Maria Westbroek as Sieglinde.

Director Robert Lepage has previously directed Met productions of La Damnation de Faust in 2008, The Tempest in 2012, and L’Amour de Loin in 2016. His innovative and technologically advanced Ring production features 24 aluminum planks covered in fiberglass that move and spin to transform into various forms and serve as surfaces for projections and interactive video designs that realize Wagner’s stage directions.

Der Ring des Nibelungen is an epic four-part story that follows the struggles of gods, heroes, and mythical creatures for possession of a magical ring and, with it, dominion over the entire world. The story begins in Das Rheingold, as the gods face a crisis that threatens to imperil the entire social order. Next, in Die Walküre, the battle lines are drawn between gods and mortals—and between a father and his daughter—as the fate of the world rests with a sleeping warrior on a mountaintop ringed by magic fire. In Siegfried, a young hero rises from humble beginnings to stake his claim on his birthright and to find the power of redemptive love. Finally, in Götterdämmerung, the story reaches its fiery climax as the rule of the gods ends and the ring returns to the churning waters of the Rhine.

The Met will produce three complete cycles of the four Ring operas: Cycle I is March 9, March 30, April 13, and April 27, all Saturday matinees; Cycle II is April 29, April 30, May 2, and May 4; and Cycle III is May 6, 7, 9, and 11. A standalone performance of Das Rheingold is set for March 14, and two additional performances of Die Walküre are scheduled for March 25 and April 25. A complete schedule of performances can be found here.

Conductor Philippe Jordan has been music director of the Paris Opera since 2009 and the principal conductor of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra since 2014. He will become music director of the Vienna State Opera in 2020. In the summer of 2017, he conducted a new production of Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg at the Bayreuth Festival, and he has previously led successful Ring cycles at the Paris Opera and Opernhaus Zürich. At the Met, he has conducted performances of Die Fledermaus, Don Giovanni, Carmen, and Le Nozze di Figaro.

Joining Lepage on the creative team are associate director Neilson Vignola, set designer Carl Fillion, costume designer François St-Aubin, lighting designer Etienne Boucher, and video image artists Boris Firquet (Das Rheingold and Die Walküre), Pedro Pires (Siegfried), and Lionel Arnould (Götterdämmerung). Der Ring des Nibelungen is presented in collaboration with Ex Machina.

Lepage’s production of Das Rheingold opened the Met’s 2010–11 season. Die Walküre premiered in April 2011, followed by Siegfried in October of the same year. Götterdämmerung premiered in January 2012, and complete cycles were performed at the end of the 2011–12 season and again during the 2012–13 season. This is the eighth production of Der Ring des Nibelungen in the Met’s history; the first complete cycle was presented in the 1887–88 season.

Der Ring des Nibelungen Broadcasts in Cinema, Radio, and Online

The performance of Die Walküre on Saturday, March 30, will be transmitted live to more than 2,200 movie theaters in more than 70 countries as part of the Met’s Live in HD series. The transmission will be hosted by legendary Wagnerian soprano Deborah Voigt, who starred as Brünnhilde in this production’s premiere during the 2010–11 and 2011–12 seasons and again during the 2012–13 season.

The March 14 performance of Das Rheingold, the March 25 performance of Die Walküre, the May 9 performance of Siegfried, and the May 11 performance of Götterdämmerung will be audio-streamed live on the Met’s web site, metopera.org. The March 14 performance of Das Rheingold, the March 25 and April 25 performances of Die Walküre, and the May 9 performance of Siegfried will be broadcast live on Metropolitan Opera Radio on SIRIUS XM Channel 75. The March 9 performance of Das Rheingold, the March 30 performance of Die Walküre, the April 13 performance of Siegfried, and the April 27 performance of Götterdämmerung will also be broadcast over the Toll Brothers–Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network.

Der Ring des Nibelungen Casting Summary

(in order of vocal appearance)

^* Metropolitan Opera debut

Der Ring des Nibelungen Artist Biographies

Swiss conductor Philippe Jordan made his Met debut conducting Strauss’s Die Fledermaus in 2002,and since then has conducted Mozart’s Don Giovanni and Le Nozze di Figaro and Bizet’s Carmen with the company. He has been the music director of the Paris Opera since 2009 and the principal conductor of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra since 2014. He will become music director of the Vienna State Opera in September 2020. This season, he leads Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, Michael Jarrell’s Bérénice, Berlioz’s Les Troyens, and Mozart’s Don Giovanni at Paris Opera. He has also conducted at the Vienna State Opera, Munich Opera Festival, the Salzburg Festival, Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin, the Bavarian State Opera, the Glyndebourne Festival, Houston Grand Opera, and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

Canadian director Robert Lepage has directed three previous productions at the Met in addition to Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen: Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust,for his debut in 2008, the Met premiere of Thomas Adès’s The Tempest in 2012, and the Met premiere of Kaija Saariaho’s L’Amour d’Loin in 2016.  His other opera stagings include the double bill of Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle and Schoenberg’s Erwartung,Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress,Maazel’s 1984,and Stravinsky’s The Nightingale and Other Short Fables. The multi-disciplinary artist has directed, written, and acted in several films and written and directed more than a dozen plays.

American soprano Christine Goerke makes her Met role debut as Brünnhilde, a role she has sung to acclaim with Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, and Canadian Opera Company. Since making her Met debut in 1995 in the ensemble of John Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Versailles,she has sung eleven roles with the company, including the title role of Strauss’s Elektra, the title role of Puccini’s Turandot, the Dyer’s Wife in Strauss’s Die Frau ohne Schatten,the Foreign Princess in Dvořák’s Rusalka,Donna Elvira in Mozart’s Don Giovanni,and Madame Lidoine in Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites. Recent performances include Elektra in Houston and Ortrud in Wagner’s Lohengrin and Turandot at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. This season, she also sings Elektra with Canadian Opera Company.

Dutch soprano Eva-Maria Westbroek reprises Sieglinde, a role in which she made her Met debut in 2011. Other roles at the Met include the title role of Zandonai’s Francesca da Rimini, Katerina Ismailova in Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk,Santuzza in Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana, and Elisabeth in Wagner’s Tannhäuser.Recent performances include Giorgetta in Puccini’s Il Tabarro at Bavarian State Opera, Santuzza at La Monnaie in Brussels, the title role of Janáček’s Káťa Kabanová, andKaterina at Vienna State Opera. This season, she sings Lisa in Tchaikovsky’s
The Queen of Spades at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; Kundry in Wagner’s Parsifal at Deutsche Oper Berlin; and Maddalena in Giordano’s Andrea Chénier at Opera Australia. Earlier this season at the Met, she was seen as Minnie in Puccini’s La Fanciulla del West which was seen around the world as a part of The Met: Live in HD.

American mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton adds a new role to her Met repertory as Fricka, a role she has previously sung at San Francisco Opera and Houston Grand Opera. She first came to prominence as a winner of the Met’s National Council Auditions in 2007, a process that was documented in the award-winning film The Audition. She made her Met debut in 2009 as the Second Lady in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, followed by Giovanna Seymour in Donizetti’s Anna Bolena, Fenena in Verdi’s Nabucco,Ježibaba in the company’s new production of Dvořák’s Rusalka, and Adalgisa in Bellini’s Norma.She is also a recipient of the Met’s 2017 Beverly Sills Artist Award. Other performances this season include Ježibaba and Sara in Donizetti’s Roberto Devereux at San Francisco Opera, Sister Helen Prejean in Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking at Atlanta Opera, and Azucena in Verdi’s Il Trovatore at Lyric Opera of Chicago and Bavarian State Opera.  

Scottish mezzo-soprano Karen Cargill makes her Met role debut as Erda. She made her Met debut as Waltraute in Wagner’s Götterdämmerung in 2012 and performed the role in complete cycles of Der Ring des Nibelungen in the Met’s 2011–12 and 2012–13 seasons. Also at the Met, she has sung Anna in Berlioz’s Les Troyens andMagdalene in Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. Her other recent performances include Geneviève in Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande at the Glyndebourne Festival and Waltraute at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.  This season at the Met, she also sings Mère Marie in Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites,which will be seen in cinemas around the world as a part of The Met: Live in HD.

Austrian tenor Andreas Schager makes his Met debut as Siegfried. He has previously performed the role at Canadian Opera Company and Oper Leipzig. Recent performances include his debut with Vienna State Opera as Apollo in Strauss’s Daphne and Max in Weber’s Der Freischütz; as well as the title role in Wagner’s Parsifal at Paris Opera, Hamburg State Opera, Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin, and the Bayreuth Festival. This season, he sings Tristan in Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde at Paris Opera under the baton of Philippe Jordan as well as at Staatsoper Unter den Linden and the title role of Wagner’s Lohengrin at Vienna State Opera.

German tenor Gerhard Siegel reprises Mime, which he previously sung in the 2003–04, 2010–11, 2011–12 and 2012–13 seasons. Last season, he added a new role to his Met repertory as the Witch in Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel, and has also been seen as the Captain in Berg’s Wozzeck and Herod in Strauss’s Salome.  Other recent performances include Herod at Oper Graz and Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin, Hauptmann in Berg’s Wozzeck at the Salzburg Festival, and the Witch and Mime at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

German tenor Stefan Vinke makes his Met stage debut as Siegfried. He has previously sung this role at Bavarian State Opera, Vienna State Opera, the Bayreuth Festival, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Canadian Opera Company, Opera Australia, Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. He performed selections from the Ring cycle opposite Christine Goerke with the Met Orchestra at Carnegie Hall in 2016. Recent performances include the title role of Wagner’s Tannhäuser at Oper Leipzig, the title role of Wagner’s Parsifal at Opernhaus Zürich, and the title role of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona. This season, he sings Walther von Stolzing in Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg at Opera Australia and reprises Siegfried at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden

German baritone Michael Volle makes his Met role debut as Wotan/Wanderer, a role he has sung at Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin. He made his Met debut in 2014 as Mandryka in Strauss’s Arabella,followed by Hans Sachs in Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg,Holländer in Wagner’s Der Fliegende Holländer, andScarpia in Puccini’s Tosca. Recent performances include the title role of Verdi’s Falstaff and Golaud in Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande at Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Hans Sachs at La Scala, and Jochanaan in Strauss’s Salome and Guy de Montfort in Verdi’s Les Vêpres Siciliennes at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. This season he sings Jochanaan at Deutsche Oper Berlin, Mandryka at Bavarian State Opera and Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, Orest in Strauss’s Elektra at La Scala, and the title role of Verdi’s Nabucco at Opernhaus Zürich.

American bass-baritone Greer Grimsley has previously sung Wotan/Wanderer in the Met’s 2012–13 season, a role he has also sung at San Francisco Opera, Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, and Deutsche Oper Berlin. He has performed eight roles at the Met, including Kurwenal in Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, Telramund in Wagner’s Lohengrin,Jochanaan in Strauss’s Salome,Scarpia in Puccini’s Tosca,and Escamillo in Bizet’s Carmen. Recent performances include Orest in Strauss’s Elektra at Houston Grand Opera and Kurwenal at Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona. Other performances this season include Wotan at Teatro Real in Madrid and the title role of Wagner’s Der Fliegende Holländer at the Bayreuth Festival.

Polish bass-baritone Tomasz Konieczny makes his Met debut as Alberich. He has previously sung the role at Vienna State Opera, Bavarian State Opera, the Munich Opera Festival, Deutsche Oper Berlin, and Tokyo Opera. Other recent performances include Telramund in Wagner’s Lohengrin at the Bayreuth Festival, Karl in Schubert’s Fierrabras at La Scala, and Don Pizarro in Beethoven’s Fidelio at Vienna State Opera. This season at the Met, he also sings Abimélech in Saint-Saëns’s Samson et Dalila.

Russian bass Evgeny Nikitin sings the role of Gunther. He made his Met debut in 2002 as Dolokhov in Prokofiev’s War and Peace,and additional roles with the company include Klingsor in Wagner’s Parsifal, Creon/Messenger in Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex,Fasolt in Das Rheingold,Colline in Puccini’s La Bohème,Pogner in Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg,Orest in Strauss’s Elektra,Rangoni in Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov,and Kurwenal in Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde.He has appeared as Klingsor at Paris Opera, Kurwenal and Jochanaan in Strauss’s Salome at the Mariinsky Theatre, and Don Pizarro in Beethoven’s Fidelio at the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples. This season, he sings Telramund in Wagner’s Lohengrin at Vienna State Opera, Scarpia in Puccini’s Tosca at the Mariinsky Theatre, and Don Pizarro at Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg.

American bass Eric Owens adds a new role to his Met repertory as Hagen. He previously sang Alberich in the Ring cycle in the 2010–11 and 2011–12 seasons. As a winner of the Met’s National Council Auditions in 1996, he made his company debut in 2008 as General Leslie Groves in John Adams’s Doctor Atomic,followed by roles as Sarastro in Mozart’s The Magic Flute, Orest in Strauss’s Elektra, Jaufré Rudel in the Met premiere of Kaija Saariaho’s L’Amour de Loin,Gnome in Dvořák’s Rusalka, and Voice of Neptune in Mozart’s Idomeneo. He was recently named to the artistic leadership team of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. This season, he sings the title role of Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess at Dutch National Opera and the Wanderer in Wagner’s Siegfried at Lyric Opera of Chicago. 

For More Information

For further details on Der Ring des Nibelungen, including casting by date and more artist biographies, please click here.

Der Ring des Nibelungen

Music and libretto by Richard Wagner

Additional performances:

Das Rheingold: Thurs., Mar. 14 at 8 p.m.

Die Walküre: Mon., Mar. 25 at 6:30 p.m. and Thurs., Apr. 25 at 6:30 p.m.

In collaboration with Ex Machina

Production a gift of Ann Ziff and the Ziff Family, in memory of William Ziff

Revival a gift of Ann Ziff

For prices and ticket information, please call (212) 362-6000 or visit metopera.org.

Special rates for groups of 10 or more are available by calling (212) 341-5410 or visiting metopera.org/groups