Sat, 18 July 20.00 Kuressaare Castle Opera House
Wagner. DAS RHEINGOLD

Director, set designer, and lighting designer: Michiel Dijkema (Netherlands)

Cast:

Ain Anger, Koit Soasepp (Finnish National Opera), Annely Peebo (Vienna Volksoper), Monika-Evelin Liiv, Liene Kinča (Latvia), Sandra Laagus (Berlin State Opera Studio), Kadri Kõrvek (Estonian National Opera), Annaliisa Otsa, Mati Turi, Rauno Elp (Estonian National Opera), Juhan Tralla, Roland Liiv (Finnish National Opera), Taavi Tampuu, and others.

Vanemuine Theatre Opera Choir and Symphony Orchestra

Music director: Risto Joost

For the first time ever, the complete Richard Wagner tetralogy, Der Ring des Nibelungen, is coming to Estonian audiences, a collaboration between Eesti Kontsert and the Vanemuine Theatre.

Richard Wagner’s tetralogy, completed in 1874, consists of four opuses: Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, Siegfried, and Götterdämmerung.

Das Rheingold, the cycle's opening opus, sets the stage by providing the backstory for the entire series. Alberich, a Nibelung dwarf, steals magical gold from the Rhine riverbed and crafts a powerful ring from it, declaring himself ruler of the Nibelungs. When the ring is taken from him, he curses it and all who will possess it.

Das Rheingold lays the groundwork for the mythological world of Der Ring des Nibelungen. The subsequent operas —Die Walküre, Siegfried, and Götterdämmerung—unfold a tense struggle for the powerful ring among gods, heroes, and mythical beings. The dramatic and intricate plot of these operas spans three generations of characters.

In cooperation with the Vanemuine Theatre