Organization

Stage director

Stage director (+4)

Dmitri Tcherniakov

Set designer

Costume designer

Costume designer (+3)

Elena Zaitseva

Lighting designer

Lighting designer (+2)

Gleb Filshtinsky

Video

Alexey Poluboyarinov

Conductor

Conductor (+2)

Philippe Jordan

Bass-baritone (+7)

Tomasz Konieczny

Wotan

Tenor (+14)

Rolando Villazón

Loge

Mezzo-soprano (+3)

Claudia Mahnke

Fricka

Anna Kissjudit

Erda

Baritone (+8)

Johannes Martin Kränzle

Alberich

Tenor (+3)

Stephan Rügamer

Mime

Staatsoper Unter den Linden ( State Opera Berlin )

Orchestra

Staatskapelle Berlin

Baritone (+3)

Roman Trekel

Donner

Tenor

Siyabonga Maqungo

Froh

Bass (+6)

Matthew Rose

Fasolt

Bass (+2)

Peter Rose

Fafner

Soprano (+2)

Anett Fritsch

Freia

Evelin Novak

Woglinde

Natalia Skrycka

Wellgunde

Mezzo-soprano (+2)

Ekaterina Chayka-Rubinstein

Flosshilde

Staatsoper Unter den Linden

The Nibelung dwarf Alberich robs the Rhinemaidens of the Rhinegold to forge a ring that confers »endless power«. Meanwhile, Wotan, the father of the gods, is forced into action. To reward the giants Fasolt and Fafner for building the castle Valhalla, he steals the Nibelungs’ treasure with the help of Loge, the cunning fire god. Alberich curses the ring and all its future owners – the tragedy takes its course.

»The Rheingold« is the foundation of Wagner’s epochal »Ring« tetralogy, which took him around a quarter of a century to write. During this fast-paced and breathless »eve« of the stage festival, major themes are introduced through the action and the music. With the deep E notes of the double basses, Wagner reveals his mythological world, the rise and fall of which are presented to the audience on stage and in the music with great urgency. It is a world of gods, giants, dwarfs and natural beings, placed on strictly hierarchical levels and with various potential for conflict. And although the »Rheingold« bears the features of a fantasy story, much more develops from the events: a true world drama of immense proportions and universal significance that remains highly relevant in the present day. Wagner’s major family saga becomes an all-encompassing epic about power and love, war and peace, and the beneficial and disastrous effects of passions.

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