Home News The Met Opera Announces New ‘Ring’ Cycle Led by Acclaimed Maestro
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The Met Opera Announces New ‘Ring’ Cycle Led by Acclaimed Maestro

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Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the music director of the Metropolitan Opera, will extend his contract and spearhead Wagner’s four-opera epic, which will be staged by Yuval Sharon.

Wagner’s “Ring” cycle is one of the most ambitious undertakings in opera: a quartet of operas, spanning 15 hours, which features a vast array of characters including warriors, gods, giants, and dwarves, and some of the most challenging music in the repertoire.

The Metropolitan Opera announced that it will stage the “Ring” cycle again starting in the 2027-28 season, marking the company’s first new production of this monumental work in nearly twenty years. Yannick Nézet-Séguin, who has been the Met’s music director since 2018, will lead this production. His contract has been extended through 2030.

Yuval Sharon, an imaginative theatre director, will helm the production, which will see soprano Lise Davidsen, a rising opera star, take on the role of Brünnhilde.

Peter Gelb, the Met’s general manager, explained that staging a new “Ring” cycle was partly a decision made for Nézet-Séguin, as “every music director of a major opera company expects and deserves to have a ‘Ring’ cycle. It’s the crowning achievement, the biggest thing you can do in opera.”

Reflecting on the upcoming production, Nézet-Séguin described the “Ring” cycle as both “fantastic and phenomenal and vast” while simultaneously being “an extremely intimate affair.” He stressed the universal themes of the “Ring,” moving away from grounding it in any specific time or place, and aiming to resonate folklore and legends globally.

Sharon is recognized as one of the most forward-thinking directors in the field. His notable achievements include bringing a 36-foot-diameter orb to Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles for Meredith Monk’s “Atlas,” and a production of Janacek’s “The Cunning Little Vixen” in Cleveland utilizing animated sets. Previously, he also staged a production at the Bayreuth Festival, a prominent event founded by Wagner himself.

Ahead of the “Ring,” Sharon will debut at the Met in the 2025-26 season with a new production of another Wagner opera, “Tristan und Isolde,” which will also feature Davidsen and be conducted by Nézet-Séguin. Sharon stated that working on Wagner’s compositions is akin to handling the works of Homer or Shakespeare in literature, each a complex universe with limitless reinterpretation potential.

The last “Ring” cycle at the Met directed by Robert Lepage in 2010, cost over $16 million and was both visually impressive and logistically challenging, the centerpiece 45-ton machine notoriously prone to glitches. Gelb anticipates Sharon’s “Ring” to be considerably less costly.

The Met’s serious fiscal challenges have led to substantial endowment draws for emergency funds in recent seasons. Amid these pressures, Gelb opted to commission a new “Ring” unique to the Met, choosing Sharon after a thorough search.

Nézet-Séguin, with his contract extended, intends to continue advocating for contemporary works such as Carlos Simon’s “The Highlands,” Gabriela Lena Frank’s “El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego,” and Missy Mazzoli’s “Lincoln in the Bardo.” He is also set to conduct a new staging of Mozart’s “Le Nozze di Figaro” directed by Robert Carsen.

Rejecting critiques about his availability, Nézet-Séguin expressed dedication to his roles, asserting, “I give my 200 percent at all times, everywhere.” He remained enthusiastic about the Met and its future, saying, “We’re just getting started. We need to continue the journey.”

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