Tag: The Ring

The Ring starts tomorrow and the The Gathering Note will be there. For the rest of the month, we will be covering this once-ever-four-year operatic event. Come by The Gathering Note regularly for:

• RM Campbell’s reviews of the first cycle
• My own thoughts on the event and performances as a first time Ring goer
• Special audio and video interviews with key people and performers
• Feature stories by Philippa Kiraly on the technical aspects of this Ring
• James Bash will report from the second cycle.
• You can also follow The Gathering Note on Twitter where I will be providing updates from McCaw Hall

If you are going to the Ring, and don’t mind being interviewed for a few minutes after each performance or during intermission, send me an e-mail at zach@gatheringnote.org. I hope to include audience reactions on this site for each cycle.

Happy Ringing!

I attended the premiere of Scott Warrender and Jim Luigs’ original take on Wagner’s “Ring” cycle, “Das Barbecu,” in 1991. I don’t remember a single detail except that it was rollicking and a hit with audiences. The piece was reworked from a succinct one-act version to its current two acts over several years at places like Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, Conn., and Center Stage in Baltimore, making its way to New York and Off-Broadway in 1994. Now, this remarkable coupling of “grand opera and Grand Ole Opry,” to use stage director Stephen Terrell’s telling phrase, has returned to Seattle. It opened a 30-day run Thursday night at ACT.

Continue reading Das Barbecu opens at Thursday night at ACT

The Ring starts this weekend, and what better way to prepare for this epic event then by two more installments of “The Road to Valhalla.”

The first Ring Cycle is less than a week away.  In honor of this once-every-four-year event, take a moment to vote for your favorite opera in the cycle.  The poll closes on August 14th at the end of the first cycle.

In conjunction with the upcoming performance of Wagner’s ‘Ring,” the Seattle Opera is releasing a series of videos depicting aspects of the production — rehearsals, props, costumes, etc.  Here is the first video in the series.