It's official: Wagner in 2013 and 2014

by zachcarstensen

Seattle Opera released the details of their next Ring Cycle and Meistersinger, Seattle Opera’s next stand alone Wagner opera. Principal guest conductor Asher Fisch will lead both performances from the pit. Fisch possesses a deep understanding of Wagner’s operas. After guiding a beautifully played Tristan last summer, it is only natural that Fisch be the next conductor to tackle the Ring in Seattle.

Seattle Opera’s critically acclaimed production of the Ring, directed by Stephen Wadsworth and featuring sets by Thomas Lynch, costumes by Martin Pakledinaz, and lighting by Peter Kaczorowski, returns for its fourth incarnation, this time under the baton of Asher Fisch, Principal Guest Conductor of Seattle Opera. Fisch, who has conducted Parsifal, Lohengrin, Der Rosenkavalier, Der Fliegende Holländer, and Tristan und Isolde for Seattle Opera, “ranks among the finest Ring conductors of our time,” according to Opus Magazine. Making their Seattle Opera debuts in this production are Alwyn Mellor as Brünnhilde and Stefan Vinke as Siegfried. Mellor is a Brünnhilde of choice for Den Nye Opera, Oper Leipzig, Longborough Festival Opera, Paris Opera, and Opera North; Vinke has sung Siegfried in Cologne, Leipzig, Berlin, Salzburg, Venice, and Lisbon. Greer Grimsley returns to Seattle Opera for the third time as Wotan, a role for which he won Seattle Opera’s 2005 Artist of the Year award. Other returning artists include Stephanie Blythe as Fricka, Margaret Jane Wray as Sieglinde, Stuart Skelton as Siegmund, Dennis Petersen as Mime, and Richard Paul Fink as Alberich.

When the Meistersinger hits the stage in 2014, it will only be the second time in the company’s history this gargantuan comedic opera has been performed in Seattle.