The Melbourne Ring Cycle 2016 – A Preview
Photo credit Jeff Busby.
We’re just back from Melbourne where, over the last week SoundsLikeSydney has been sitting in on the final rehearsals for Opera Australia’s 2016 production of Wagner’s Ring Cycle which opens tomorrow night at Melbourne’s State Theatre.
The verdict? We can’t give away too much, but we can say that this is a superlative production of an epic musical work, and a rare opportunity to experience this cycle of four operas. See it if you can! And if you can’t make all four operas, then you can cherry-pick the ones you want.
The cast is outstanding, the orchestra excels, the creative team, ingenious. Pietari Inkinen conducts Neil Armfield’s vision which has matured in this revival. It is almost churlish to single out cast members as they were all outstanding – however, special mention must be made of Lise Lindstrom who makes a phenomenal debut as Brunnhilde, Stefan Vinke and Bradley Cooper give powerhouse performances as Siegfried and Sigmund respectively, as do James Johnson as Wotan, Jacqueline Dark as Fricka, Daniel Sumegi as Hagen and Jud Arthur as Fafner. Warwick Fyfe has surely made the role of Alberich his own as has Graeme Macfarlane as Mime. This is history in the making!
The Ring Cycle is on at the State Theatre, Melbourne from November 21 – December 16, 2016.
Read our interview with Jacqueline Dark on the role of Fricka, and with Associate Director Roger Press.
