The premiere of Richard Wagner’s Götterdämmerung will take place at the Latvian National Opera on November 19. Götterdämmerung concludes the LNO’s ambitious project to present Wagner’s monumental tetralogy Der Ring des Nibelungen for the first time in over one hundred years in Riga. In 2013, the 200th anniversary of the composer’s birthday, the LNO will perform the complete cycle.

Music Director and Conductor of the new production is Cornelius Meister, Stage Director – Viesturs Kairišs, Set and Costume Designer – Ieva Jurjāne.

The cast of Götterdämmerung includes Lars Cleveman, Catherine Foster, Marcus Jupither, Elisabet Strid, Johan Schinkler, Kosma Ranuer, Lyubov Sokolova, Liene Kinča, Aira Rūrāne, Kristīne Zadovska.

In Götterdämmerung, the work’s essential conflict between the longing for love and the greed for power – which Wagner developed and deepened during the course of the Ring’s previous operas Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, and Siegfried – comes to a shattering culmination. The hero Siegfried unknowingly betrays his bride Brünnhilde. She swears vengeance – and sets off a chain of tragic events that brings the world to an end…

Young German conductor Cornelius Meister is one of the rising stars in the classical music world. He regularly works at the leading opera companies of Europe and the States, including Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, Paris, Vienna, Copenhagen, and San Francisco. Director Viesturs Kairišs has received international acclaim for his interpretation of Die Walküre at the Latvian National Opera in 2007, created together with artist Ilmārs Blumbergs. In 2008, the successful creative tandem Viesturs Kairišs and designer Ieva Jurjāne cooperated with Meister in the LNO’s production of Siegfried. It was a national and international triumph. Siegfried was awarded the Theatre Award of Latvia in 2008.

Götterdämmerung is cast with internationally known Wagner singers. The Swedish tenor Lars Cleveman is not only widely acclaimed as an interpreter of Wagner, but also performs a wide range of Italian roles, among them Verdi’s Otello. At London’s RoyalOpera House Covent Garden, he was a celebrated Tristan. In the summer of 2011, he gave his debut at the Bayreuth Festival in the title role of Tannhäuser.

British soprano Catherine Foster, a winner of the prestigious Dame Eva Turner Award, is a celebrated Brünnhilde in Die Walküre,Siegfried and Götterdämmerung. She has been performing this role in several major houses including Hamburg, Helsinki, and Budapest. Last season, she gave her debut as Isolde at the German National Theatre in Weimar.

The charismatic Swedish baritone Marcus Jupither sings a repertoire of roles that reaches from the title role in Der fliegende Holländer, Wotan and Alberich in Das Rheingold, and Klingsor in Parsifal to Scarpia in Tosca. He performs regularly in leading houses such as Oslo, Stockholm, Salzburg, and Paris.

Critics have praised soprano Elisabet Strid for her crystal-clear voice and superb technique in the role of Elisabeth in the production of Tannhäuser in Oslo and most recently for her Giorgetta in Puccini’s Il Tabarro in Helsinki.

The bass Johan Schinkler receives ovations in opera houses in Sweden and Germany for a succession of Wagner roles: Daland inDer fliegende Holländer, Gurnemanz in Parsifal, Fafner in the Ring and Veit Pogner in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.

Follow the broadcast of the premiere on November 19 at 15:00 on LR 3 Klasika.

Further performances - on November 27, April 29, June 10 and 17. 

Duration of the performance from 15:00 until approximately 22:00.

During the intermissions, there will be a buffet at the LNO New Hall. For more information call Cafe Opera (+371) 29228879.