Birmingham Opera Company, known for staging opera in empty warehouses and disused factories, here performs RhineGold in the relatively conventional surroundings of Birmingham Symphony Hall. The production is from August 2021 with the pandemic still dictating so much of our lives. This did not stop the company gathering an orchestra of 87 players from the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and a stellar international cast performing alongside local volunteers. Conspicuous in his absence is the company’s founding director, Graham Vick, who passed away just as rehearsals were beginning. True to Vick’s spirit, his long-term collaborator Richard Willacy brings an operatic masterpiece close to the community that the company serves, with no fear of social commentary. This is an urban RhineGold; Rhinemaidens are selfie-taking party girls, Alberich is cycle courier, and Wotan is first seen giving a press conference for FNN: Fake News Network. This RhineGold, complete with the new English translation by Jeremy Sams, can be seen as a step closer to Wagner’s vision of a total work of art acting as a lever of change in society.
Avaible Till March, 2033
CAST The Gods: Wotan Eric Greene Loge Brenden Gunnell Fricka Chrystal E Williams Freia Francesca Chiejina Froh Amar Muchhala Donner Byron Jackson Erda Gweneth-Ann Rand The Nibelungs: Alberich Ross Ramgobin Mime John-Colyn Gyeantey The Giants: Fasolt Keel Watson Fafner Andrew Slater The Rhine Girls: Woglinde Zoe Drummond Wellgunde Felicity Buckland Flosshilde Georgia Mae Bishop Orchestra City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra Music Richard Wagner Text Richard Wagner Conductor Alpesh Chauhan Director Richard Willacy Translation Jeremy Sams Sets Stuart Nunn Lighting Matthew Richardson
