It it going to be an historic day in Seattle's cultural life as tonight the long awaited beginning of Wagner's Ring Cycle finally takes place. There will be a packed house at McCaw Hall for the opening night of Cycle 1 at 7pm. They will see Das Rheingold.

I will be there and cannot begin to say how much I am looking forward to Seattle's glowing night in the international cultural spotlight. Earlier this week, we saw the World Premier of Catch Me If You Can, and the day before that all sporting eyes were focused on Seattle as our local Sounders FC entertained the best side in the world FC Barcelona.

Tonight, music takes its turn after theatre and sport, and once more the world will be watching or in this case listening to Seattle.

Das Rheingold – August 9 

The Story

The prelude to the Ring cycle begins with the swimming Rhine daughters losing their precious gold to the Nibelung dwarf Alberich. The gods, led by Wotan, in need of treasure to pay off the giants who have built Valhalla, descend into the Nibelung caverns, capture Alberich, and force him to give up the ring. The resulting curse takes effect immediately as blood is shed in an argument over the ring. The opera ends with the gods crossing the rainbow bridge to Valhalla, accompanied by the forlorn calls of the Rhine daughters and dire predictions about the gods’ future. 

The Cast  († Seattle Opera debut)  

You can see more detailed cast bios at the Seattle Opera website.

Greer Grimsley
Bass-baritone

Greer Grimsley made his Seattle Opera debut in 1994 as Telramund in Wagner’s Lohengrin, a role he reprised with the company in 2003. His Wagner roles here have included Wotan/The Wanderer 2005/06 Artist of the Year), Gunther, and Donner in Wagner’s Ring des Nibelungen, Amfortas in Parsifal, Kurwenal in Tristan und Isolde, and the title role in Der Fliegende Höllander, and he has also sung Méphistophélès in Gounod’s Faust, Escamillo in Bizet’s Carmen, Scarpia in Puccini’s Tosca, and Jack Rance in Puccini’s Fanciulla del West. At the Metropolitan Opera he has sung Telramund, Scarpia, Kurwenal, Jochanaan in Richard Strauss’s Salome, and Balstrode in Britten’s Peter Grimes. His U.S. appearances include San Francisco Opera, Santa Fe Opera, and Houston Grand Opera, among others. Overseas, Grimsley has sung leading roles with Deutsche Oper Berlin, Royal Danish Opera, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Teatro La Fenice, Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Scottish Opera, Stadttheater Basel, Opera de Bellas Artes in Mexico, and the New Israeli Opera, to name a few. He has performed Wotan/The Wanderer in Venice and Berlin, and will perform these roles in Berlin, Cologne, and Shanghai later this season. This fall, he sings Jochanaan in San Francisco.

Stephanie Blythe
Mezzo-Soprano

Stephanie Blythe has sung Fricka and the Second Norn in all Seattle Ring performances since 2000. Other roles at Seattle Opera include Carmen, Isabella in Rossini’s Italiana in Algeri, and Amneris in Verdi’s Aida, for which she was named a Seattle Opera Artist of the Year last season. Blythe debuted at the Met as the Voice in Wagner’s Parsifal during her first season in the company’s Lindemann Young Artists Development Program. Her many roles there have included Cornelia in Handel’s Giulio Cesare, Jocasta in Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex, Baba the Turk in Stravinsky’s Rake’s Progress, Mère Marie in Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites, Eduige in Handel’s Rodelinda, and three roles in Puccini’s Trittico : Frugola, La Zia Principessa, and Zita. Her roles abroad include Cornelia and Auntie in Britten’s Peter Grimes in Paris and Ino/Juno in Handel’s Semele and Azucena in Verdi’s Trovatore at Covent Garden. She recently sang Ježibaba in Dvorák’s Rusalka and Orfeo in Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice at the Met and returns to the company in November to reprise her roles in Il Trittico. In 2010 she returns to Seattle Opera as Dame Quickly in Verdi’s Falstaff, a role she has performed at Paris Opéra, Royal Opera Covent Garden, and the Metropolitan Opera.

The part of Froh will be played by Jason Collins. Many of you locals will remember him from the 2008 International Wagner Competition in Seattle, where he reached the finals. I met him after the show and he was indeed a very very pleasant and affable young man. He was very grateful that I had voted for him, (whereas I am still waiting for my thank you letter from the President.) Jason made his Seattle Opera debut as the Steersman in Wagner’s Fliegende Höllander. Recent credits include Froh in Wagner’s Rheingold in San Francisco, the Tambour Major in Berg’s Wozzeck in Philadelphia, and Casey in Richard Danielpour’s Margaret Garner in Detroit. Other appearances include Peter Quint in Britten’s Turn of the Screw in Pittsburgh, Erik in Der fliegende Höllander in Phoenix, Lensky in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin in Louisville, Zinovy in Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk in Austin, Narraboth in Richard Strauss’s Salome at the Kennedy Center, and the title role in Kurka’s Good Soldier Schweik with Chicago Opera Theater, and on the world premiere recording. Upcoming debuts are with Lyric Opera of Chicago as Tichon in Janácek’s Kátya Kabanová and Boston Lyric Opera as Mozart’s Idomeneo. He will sing Tippett’s A Child of Our Time with Radio Filharmonisch Orkest, Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with the Seattle Symphony, and Handel’s Messiah at the Kennedy Center.

Stay tuned to Seattle Fine Arts Examiner  for a week long's coverage of this momentous event. We will bring you reviews of the shows themselves and maybe even some of the social events (if they let us in). We'll try and catch up with Jason too.