October 3, 2005: Lincoln Center Festival 2007 and The Metropolitan Opera will co-present the Kirov Opera from the Mariinsky Theatre’s new production of Richard Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen in July 2007 as the centerpiece of the Lincoln Center Festival. This Ring Cycle made history at its premiere in 2003 in St. Petersburg as it was the first to be produced by a Russian opera company since before World War I. Valery Gergiev, Artistic and General Director of the Mariinsky Theatre, conducts two cycles of Wagner’s four-opera masterpiece – Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, Siegfried, and Götterdämmerung – at the Metropolitan Opera House July 13th through the 21st. The cast is drawn entirely from the Kirov ensemble, and the designers and directors are Russian, as well. The production concept, based on Russian, Caucasian and especially Scythian folk mythology, is by Mr. Gergiev and his long-time collaborator, set designer George Tsypin.
Tickets: Information about about Ring Cycle tickets and membership in the “Ring Committee” (which will assure priority VIP seating) will be available in November 2005. For more information email Ring2007@lincolncenter.org, visit www.lincolncenter.org or www.metopera.org or call 212/875-5043.
Said Maestro Gergiev, “It has been a long process that led to this Ring. When I assumed musical responsibility for the Mariinsky Theater in 1988, one of my priorities was to reintroduce the complete opera repertory. Before the Second World War, there were performances of Italian, German and Russian opera at the Mariinsky. Wagner’s Liebestod had its premiere at the theater. We therefore had a historical obligation to revive a tradition which was long interrupted by a culture of misinformation behind the Iron Curtain. Today there are many versatile singers at the Mariinsky Theater. I waited such a long time with the Ring because I wanted to be able to cast all of the roles with our own ensemble. The production was completely developed in St. Petersburg using our knowledge, our emotions and our ideas. In Ossetia, where I come from, our own folktales parallel the myths that inspired Wagner, so I knew we would be able to find a new visual approach to the Ring that is internationally understandable.”
Said Nigel Redden, director of the Lincoln Center Festival, “Ever since the Kirov Orchestra and Maestro Gergiev triumphed at the Lincoln Center Festival in 1996, he and his company have been key contributors to the Lincoln Center Festival. This Ring Cycle is a significant milestone in the Kirov’s history and indeed, the history of opera. We are thrilled to announce these performances as the centerpiece for Lincoln Center Festival 2007.”
Joseph Volpe, general manager of The Metropolitan Opera, said, “Valery Gergiev has been The Met’s principal guest conductor for the past eight years, in which time we have formed a strong, productive bond, both with this great artist, and with his home company, the Kirov Opera of the Mariinsky Theater. The Met has sponsored, or co-sponsored, two Kirov Opera tours to our opera house, as well as four tours of the Kirov Ballet. The artistic level of this magnificent opera company and the many Russian works they have revived or introduced to audiences abroad are a tribute to the energy and talent of Maestro Gergiev. It is our pleasure to once again invite the Kirov Opera to the Met stage, in cooperation with the Lincoln Center Festival. We look forward to sharing with the New York public this entirely new side of the Kirov company, in Wagner’s sublime Der Ring des Nibelungen.”
To the delight of Wagnerians around the world, the Kirov Opera from the Mariinsky Theatre premiered its Ring Cycle at the 10th International White Nights Festival in St. Petersburg June 13-18, 2003, on the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the founding of the city. The Kirov Opera from the Mariinsky Theatre was the first foreign company to perform the Ring Cycle on German soil when they took the production to Baden-Baden, December 2003–January 2004. In June 2005, the company performed its Ring Cycle at the International White Nights Festival for the second time. The North American premiere performances will take place in October 2006 as part of the opening of the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall and Samueli Theater at the Orange Country Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa, California.
The appearance of the Kirov Opera from the Mariinsky Theatre at Lincoln Center Festival 2007 is supported by the White Nights Foundation.
The Kirov Opera, Orchestra, and Ballet from the Mariinsky Theater have been important contributors to the Lincoln Center Festival since its inception in 1996. Maestro Gergiev and the Kirov Orchestra and Chorus and soloists were invited to perform four concerts in Avery Fisher Hall at the inaugural Lincoln Center Festival 96. For Lincoln Center Festival 2002, in a co-presentation with The Metropolitan Opera, the Kirov Ballet danced 16 performances of four ballets. The next year, in another co-presentation with The Metropolitan Opera, Maestro Gergiev led the Kirov Opera in 20 Lincoln Center Festival performances of five Russian operas highlighted by the North America premiere of Semyon Kotko and Rimsky-Korsakov’s rarely performed The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh.
On March 12 and 13, 2006 Maestro Gergiev and the Kirov Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theatre come to Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall to perform the opening concerts in a survey of the complete symphonies of Dmitry Shostakovich which will occur over two years, a first for New York City. The Shostakovich cycle, which will be presented under the auspices of Lincoln Center’s Great Performers series, is programmed in honor of the centennial of the composer’s birth.
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Inc. launched the Lincoln Center Festival in 1996 to celebrate Western and non-Western classical traditions while showcasing contemporary artistic forms and viewpoints from around the world. The world-class events offer a range of events from grand-scale opera to chamber music, theater to multimedia presentations, ballet to modern dance and to boundary-breaking multidisciplinary works, many presented in significant world, U.S. or New York premieres.
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (LCPA) serves three primary roles: presenter of superb artistic programming, national leader in arts and education and community relations, and manager of the Lincoln Center campus. As a presenter of over 400 events annually, LCPA complements the extraordinary offerings of the 11 other Lincoln Center resident organizations, bringing internationally acclaimed artists to hundreds of thousands of people each year through a variety of popular series. These programs include American Songbook, Great Performers, Lincoln Center Festival, Lincoln Center Out of Doors, Midsummer Night Swing, the Mostly Mozart Festival and Live From Lincoln Center.
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Lincoln Center Festival 2007 and The Metropolitan Opera co-present
DER RING DES NIBELUNGEN BY RICHARD WAGNER
THE KIROV OPERA FROM THE MARIINSKY THEATRE
Musical direction, Valery Gergiev
Concept, Valery Gergiev and George Tsypin
Direction, Vladimir Mirzoev, Julia Pevzner
Set Design, George Tsypin
Costume Design, Tatiana Noginowa
Lighting Design, Gleb Filschtinsky
The Metropolitan Opera House
Cycle 1:
Friday, July 13 Das Rheingold
Saturday, July 14 Die Walküre
Friday, July 20 Siegfried
Saturday, July 21 Götterdämmerung
Cycle 2:
Monday, July 16 Das Rheingold
Tuesday, July 17 Die Walküre
Wednesday, July 18 Siegfried
Thursday, July 19 Götterdämmerung