Wagner’s Monumental Ring Cycle Is Under Construction at SF Opera

San Francisco Opera is preparing a full revival of Wagner's four-opera Der Ring des Nibelungen for the 2027 to 2028 season, SF Classical Voice reports. Music director Eun Sun Kim will conduct the cycle for the first time, and Francesca Zambello returns to direct her "American Ring", which retells the tetralogy through American history: Das Rheingold is framed by the California Gold Rush, Die Walküre by the industrial revolution, and Siegfried by the destruction of nature. The production was first seen in 2011, at a cost of about 23 million dollars, and was revised in 2018. The cast is led by Tamara Wilson as Brünnhilde, Brian Mulligan as Wotan, Falk Struckmann as Alberich, Simon O'Neill as Siegfried and Julie Adams as Sieglinde. Das Rheingold comes first, with seven performances in the summer of 2027, followed by single performances of the other three operas. The three complete cycles run from June 13 to July 2, 2028 at the War Memorial Opera House. It will be only the seventh Ring the company has produced since 1935. General director Matthew Shilvock calls the Ring "the Mount Everest of human creativity". Ticket income will not cover the cost, so the company relies on donors. Photo: Sanfranman59, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.