The Ring Cycle 2020 / Chicago

The Ring Cycle 2020
Join Us for an Extraordinary Journey

Wagner’s Ring cycle is one of the greatest achievements in Western culture and an immersive adventure that every opera lover should experience. Lyric is proud to present a brand-new Ring — a rare and monumental undertaking that will attract audiences from all over the world to the city of Chicago.

Das Rheingold
By Richard Wagner

In the first chapter of the Ring, we meet the Rhinemaidens, guardians of magical gold that can be transformed into a ring that grants its owner unlimited power. When Alberich steals the gold, the struggle among the legendary characters begins, as Wotan, king of the gods, vies with him for supreme power. Immerse yourself in thrilling drama and music of vast proportions.

Language - Performed in German with projected English translations
Running Time - 2 hours 30 minutes

Die Walküre
By Richard Wagner

Die Walküre's riveting, devastating drama involves complex relationships between brother and sister, husband and wife, father and daughter. Every character is unforgettable—valiant Siegmund and Sieglinde, headstrong Brünnhilde and mighty, tortured Wotan, determined Fricka and vengeful Hunding. Wagner's music drama burns itself in our memories, exciting us with the emotional intensity of its lyrical outbursts and its incredible power and majesty.

Language - Sung in German with projected English translations
Running Time - 4 hours, 55 minutes with 2 intermissions

Siegfried
By Richard Wagner

Siegfried is fearless. Follow him on his valiant, adventurous path through the opera. Watch as he vanquishes the dragon Fafner and gets the better of his own wickedly devious guardian, Mime. Will our hero heed the warnings of his wise grandfather, Wotan, disguised as the Wanderer? And what happens when he braves the magic fire, awakens the sleeping Brünnhilde, and is enraptured by love for the very first time? In this, the third opera of Wagner’s Ring cycle, the characters are extraordinary, and the music utterly exhilarating.

Language - Sung in German with projected English translations
Running Time - 5 hours with 2 intermissions

Götterdämmerung
By Richard Wagner

When it comes to musical and theatrical grandeur, the fourth of the Ring operas is in a class by itself. At the center of it all is heroic Brünnhilde, who experiences horrific betrayal, desperate revenge, and finally profound understanding and acceptance. As her emotional journey concludes in the overwhelming Immolation Scene, Wagner remarkably brings to life the end of the old world and the beginning of a new one. Nothing less will suffice for the climax of the Ring cycle, opera’s most stupendous and monumental achievement.

Language - Sung in German with projected English translations
Running Time - 5 hours, 15 minutes with 2 intermissions