Wagner's Siegfried
The complete Ring Cycle at the Zürich Opera
Cast
Andreas Homoki — Producer
Christian Schmidt — Set and costume design
Florian Schaaf — Assistant artistic stage designer
Franck Evin — Lighting designer
Tieni Burkhalter — Video designer
Werner Hintze — Dramaturgy
Beate Breidenbach — Dramaturgy
Klaus Florian Vogt — Siegfried
Program notes
Lose yourself in the legendary world of Richard Wagner’s epic four-part saga Der Ring des Nibelungen, one of opera’s most towering achievements, first performed as a cycle 150 years ago in 1876 and presented here in a magnificent Zürich Opera House staging described by Bachtrack as “dramatic music-making at its finest.” Conductor Gianandrea Noseda and stage director Andreas Homoki’s polished and imaginative production underscores the profound humanity of a “dysfunctional family of gods” (The Independent) brought to life by an exceptional cast that includes Klaus Florian Vogt, Tomasz Konieczny, Camilla Nylund, and Christopher Purves.
Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen draws inspiration from Norse mythology and Germanic legend. With this original cycle, he crafted a grand operatic universe filled with extraordinary tales about a powerful, cursed ring and its role in the conflict between gods and mortals. The narrative in the third chapter, Siegfried, picks up several years after the events of Die Walküre. The titular Siegfried (son of the couple Brünnhilde assisted earlier in the cycle) is now being manipulated by his Nibelung foster father Mime—brother of Alberich, who set the entire narrative in motion—to retrieve the ring from its current guardian, the dragon Fafner. Siegfried, who wishes to know what fear is, succeeds in his quest and then learns about Brünnhilde’s enchanted sleep. He finds her, and it’s love at first sight: with a kiss, Siegfried awakens his future bride…
