How do you prepare for the biggest event of the year in the performing arts world?

Richard Wagner’s epic 15-hour opera, Der Ring des Nibelungen, known as The Ring Cycle, comes to the stage of the Lyric Theatre at QPAC next month and people are flying in from all over the world for this massive Opera Australia production. (As a sweetener Opera Australia is also presenting Aida in Brisbane and it is being staged on nights between The Ring Cycle operas).

Those of us who have never attended a performance of The Ring Cycle before are a little nervous and not just because of the length of the production. It’s presented in four separate operas that make up the whole. If you’re not an opera tragic it may seem daunting.

But it’s not an exam and you don’t need to study for it according to one of the stars, Australian bass baritone Daniel Sumegi, who is playing the key role of Wotan, boss of the gods, in the event that is often referred to as “the Everest of opera”.

When I mention to Sumegi that I am reading up to prepare for my first full run of The Ring Cycle, (I have seen some pared down concert versions) he suggests that I may be overdoing it.

“Don’t overthink it,” Sumegi advises. “Just enjoy it. It’s a pretty simple story to follow really.”

There will be surtitles to assist but Sumegi says the drama and singing is self-explanatory and he suggests people concentrate on the opera rather than reading the surtitles slavishly and missing things. That makes me feel better.

This internationally acclaimed singer is experienced in the field having sung in numerous Ring Cycles around the world. But this is his debut in the role of Wotan and he’s not taking it for granted.

“This is the career apex role of my repertoire,” Sumegi says. “My role is one of the major roles alongside those of Siegfried and Brunnhilde This is now my tenth Ring Cycle. It’s an amazing work and I’m told by people who see it for the first time that they find it life changing.”

Sumegi is now in Brisbane rehearsing after already spending six weeks of preparation in Sydney, his hometown.

It’s a huge production and one that was postponed twice due to the pandemic. It could have just been cancelled but Opera Australia was determined it would happen. Culturally speaking it will be huge for Brisbane and the company has partnered with the Queensland Government, Brisbane City Council, QPAC and others to make sure it does.

Daniel Sumegi is certainly glad it is finally happening and for him returning to Brisbane is somewhat nostalgic because he got his start here and feels that starring in The Ring Cycle, he has come full circle, pardon the pun.

“In 1987 I had won a contract to perform with the Lyric Opera of Queensland as it was called then,” Sumegi recalls. “I performed the role of Joe in Showboat during World Expo 88. That’s the role made famous by Paul Robeson.

“It was an outdoor concert on the River Stage. I followed that with a few more performances with the Lyric Opera of Queensland.”

And he returned just over a decade ago to perform here again but hasn’t been back since. He says the city is now “unrecognisable”, in a good way, and he is happy to be back, although he says he will be a bit too busy to enjoy a lot of leisure time. He did have a sojourn with friends at Mount Tamborine before Brisbane where he expects to be very busy. However, if he has time, he says he may take a dip in the water at Streets Beach at South Bank.

But mostly he will be on stage as The Ring Cycle plays a three-week season featuring three full cycles of the epic opera event.

Many people have signed up for full cycles but recently Opera Australia announced single tickets are now available for those who just want a taste. Even a taste will take hours.

Daniel Sumegi suggests that first timers should probably try Die Walkure, as an introduction.

“That’s part two,” he says. “It’s the one that works best as a standalone opera.”

And it features perhaps the most famous piece of music from The Ring Cycle, the Ride of the Valkyries, those of female figures who guide souls of the dead to the god Odin’s hall, Valhalla.  That music was famously used by Francis Ford Coppola in his film Apocalypse Now.

In the story several mythic figures struggle for possession of the Ring, including Wotan (Odin), the chief of the gods. Wotan’s scheme, spanning generations, to overcome his limitations, drives much of the action in the story.

His grandson, the hero Siegfried wins the Ring, as Wotan intended, but is eventually betrayed and slain. As heroic as Siegfried is some suggest Brunnhilde may be the real hero.

Now if you want a really quick run through go to YouTube and watch Sydney Symphony Orchestra’s video Wagner’s 15-hour Ring Cycle …in two and a half minutes. It’s a hoot.

The cast for this Brisbane production is impressive and as well as Sumegi it features world famous exponent of the role of Siegfried, the German tenor Stefan Vinke, sopranos Lise Lindstrom (from the US) and Australian Anna-Louise Cole sharing the role of Brunnhilde across the season. Brisbane’s favourite tenor, Rosario La Spina, stars as Siegmund.

It’s a huge cast of singers, musicians and others with music supplied by the Queensland Symphony Orchestra conducted by internationally renowned Wagner expert Philippe Auguin. Add the Opera Australia Chorus, Opera Queensland Chorus and dancers from Townsville-based company Dancenorth Australia and you can see it’s going to get crowded on stage at times.

It will make history using state of the art technology and it’s the first production of this epic to use fully digital sets with towering LED screens to create a visually stunning landscape.

Chinese-American director Chen Shi-Zheng has mined Chinese mythology and other influences in his unique take on this massive work. It’s going to be big. Really big. So, if you have 15 hours to spare you know what to do.

Opera Australia – The Ring Cycle, December 1-21, Lyric Theatre, QPAC 

opera.org.au

This article is republished from InReview under a Creative Commons licence. Read the original article.

InReview is an open access, non-profit arts and culture journalism project. Readers can support our work with a donation. Subscribe to InReview’s free weekly newsletter here.