The Magical Ring

Cathi Hatch and Susan Neumann

Last night was the final performance in the marathon week with my dear friend Susan Neumann of attending Richard Wagner's The Ring Cycle produced by Seattle Opera at McCaw Hall.  This only comes around in Seattle every four years.  Seventeen incredible hours of opera and four hours of pre-performance lectures . . . what a magical experience!

We saw dragons and giants and dwarfs and gods and mermaids, and at least as important, if not more important, were entertained with some of the most exquisite

music ever written and performed.  Susan and I had prepared in advance by listening to 24 CD's about the life and works of Richard Wagner.  It turns out that he wasn't a very nice person, strongly anti-Semitic and completely self-centered, but the music he wrote is soul-stirring and thrilling to hear.

The final performance in the series of four last evening was Gotterdammerung aka The Twilight of the Gods.  And fortunately for those of us attending, we had the opportunity to hear and see for the second evening in the series the Brunnhilde understudy, Lori Phillips, who was truly magnificent!  Allwyn Mellor, the original artist scheduled to sing contracted a virus so was unable to perform.  Everyone in the audience, the critics, and the rest of the cast were swept up in the excitement of her amazing performances.  As General Director, Speight Jenkins announced her substitution again last night, the audience applauded and cheered loudly with anticipation to hear her again.  During curtain calls on both evenings, she was hugged and kissed by not only the artists playing Wotan and Seigfried, but also by Director Stephen Wadsworth, Orchestra Conductor Asher Fisch, Speight Jenkins, and assorted Norns, Valkyries, and Dwarfs.    

I must also comment on the incredible tenor, Stefan Vinke, who played the role of Seigfried.  His voice was so powerful and his acting skills made him totally believable, charming and funny in the role of boy awakening to manhood.  He nailed the unaccompanied high C note in Gotterdammerung in the scene with the Rhine Maidens, which is often the nemesis of tenors singing the Seigfried role.

There are still two more Ring Cycles in the next couple of weeks so if you can beg, borrow or steal a ticket, I can't recommend it more highly.