RING Tickets On Sale November 12

Wagner’s four-opera epic Der Ring des Nibelungen returns to Seattle Opera for three cycles in August 2013, and online ticket sales to the general public will begin on Monday, November 12, at 9 a.m. Phone and in-person sales will begin on Thursday, November 15. Fans of Seattle Opera on Facebook may secure tickets early, beginning November 8. The 2001, 2005, and 2009 mountings of this Ring production boasted sold-out performances and audiences from 50 states and 33 countries; so far, people from 49 states and 13 countries are coming for the 2013 Ring.

This will be the fourth time Seattle Opera presents this award-winning production of the Ring, inspired by the natural beauty of the Pacific Northwest. The design team of director Stephen Wadsworth, set designer Thomas Lynch, costume designer Martin Pakledinaz, and lighting designer Peter Kaczorowski won a 2001 EDDY Award for the production. Principal Guest Conductor Asher Fisch, named “among the finest Ring conductors of our time” by Opus Magazine, will conduct next summer's performances.

General Director Speight Jenkins, who concludes his thirty years at the helm of Seattle Opera in 2014, casts his final Ring with this production. Making their Seattle Opera debuts in this production are Alwyn Mellor as Brünnhilde and Stefan Vinke as Siegfried. Mellor had critics reaching for superlatives when she sang Isolde at England’s Grange Park Opera in 2011. Vinke has sung Siegfried in London, Cologne, Leipzig, Berlin, Salzburg, Venice, and Lisbon. Greer Grimsley, most recently heard as Don Pizarro in last month’s production of Fidelio, 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, Richard Paul Fink as Alberich, Daniel Sumegi as Fafner and Hagen, Andrea Silvestrelli as Fasolt and Hunding, and Luretta Bybee as Schwertleite and the First Norn. Making their debuts in this production are Markus Brück as Donner and Gunther, Wendy Bryn Harmer as Freia, Gerhilde, and Gutrune, Mark Schowalter as Loge, and Lucille Beer as Erda. The Rhine Daughters and other roles will be sung by Jennifer Zetlan, Cecelia Hall (debut), and Renee Tatum (debut).

Performances of the Ring are scheduled as follows: Cycle #1, August 4, 5, 7, & 9; Cycle #2, August 12, 13, 15, & 17; and Cycle #3, August 20, 21, 23, and 25, 2013.

There's a vast Nibelung-hoard of information about this beloved production online. We invite you to learn more by exploring:

• Photos from Seattle Opera's "Green" Ring production 
• Video trailers of Seattle Opera's 2009 Ring  
• Hear the voices of our principal singers on SoundCloud 
• Follow a synopsis of the Ring with Arthur Rackham's famous illustrations 
• Read about Seattle Opera's Artistic Leadership Team, our "Green" Ring Production, and the Wagner Tradition at Seattle Opera in our online press kits  
• Ring-related content on Seattle Opera's Blog includes articles, interviews with artists, interpretations from audience members, photos, fun, and the 2009 series "Confessions of a First-Time Opera-Goer."