Clip of the Day – Wagner’s Ring

So, some of you may know of my love of Wagner‘s music. Well, most of it. As Mark Twain once said, “…he [Wagner] has great moments and dreadful half hours…” Anywho. This is a preview of what is to come in The MET‘s new Ring Cycle, starting this fall, but to be spaced out over 2 years (2 shows each year, with full cycles beginning in 2012). *happy dance* Robert Lepage has wonderful productions that are visual spectacles, but not just so, as the spectacle enhances the art, and transcends it to a new level. His production (and here) of Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust for The MET, Opéra National de Paris & the  Saito Kinen Festival in Japan. This new production should be AMAZING! I can’t wait.

NOTE: I know that not all of you are opera folks, but check out the clips in both articles. It is amazing what he has done, and if nothing else, it’s something pretty to look at for a few minutes. That, and Susan Graham is totes hot and sounds even better. (So does John Relyea)

[Props to The Omniscient Mussel for posting this]

Opera at the Met

It would appear that someone has made a BIG sacrifice to the opera gods regarding the the Met’s 2010-11 new production of Wagner’s Ring Cycle.

From the New York Times:

In January 2007, during a public discussion at The New York Times, Mr. Gelb first revealed the names of the lead singers for the Met’s new production of Wagner’s “Ring,” directed by Robert Lepage, to be introduced starting in 2010: Deborah Voigt, singing her first staged Brünnhilde in a complete “Ring”; Bryn Terfel as Wotan; Ben Heppner as Siegfried.

Praise. Jesus.
I. can’t. wait.