Tune into WRTI on Saturday, Oct. 3 at 1 p.m. to hear the China National Center for the Performing Arts’ 2024 production of Richard Wagner’s Das Rheingold. Das Rheingold is the first, and shortest, of four operas which comprise Wagner’s epic Ring cycle. In this recording, Lü Jia conducts the NCPA Orchestra and Chorus. WRTI will carry this recording as a part of the WFMT Opera Series.
Das Rheingold is set in a mythical world inspired by Germanic and Norse mythology. This world is populated by gods, giants, river maidens (the Rhinemaidens) and the Nibelung (subterranean dwarves). The Rhinemaidens guard the Rhinegold, and they explain to the Nibelung Alberich that it can be forged into a ring of unimaginable power, but only if the forger renounces love itself. Alberich renounces love and takes the gold.
Meanwhile, Wotan, the lord of the gods, has promised to give Freia, the goddess of youth, to two giants as payment for their construction of a new fortress for the gods. Demanding their compensation, Loge, the god of fire, suggests securing Alberich’s ring as an alternate payment. With the ring, Alberich has enslaved the rest of the Nibelung. When Wotan strips him of the ring, Alberich puts a curse on it: all will envy the bearer, and the bearer will be marked with worry and death.
This production features bass-baritone Egils Silins as the lord of the gods, Wotan; tenor Christian Franz as the persuasive fire-god, Loge; and soprano Tanja Kuhn as Freia, the goddess of youth. Sopranos Qin Kanru, Xu Xiaoying, and mezzo-soprano Zhang Yajie are the Rhinemaidens; and baritone Tomas Tomasson is Alberich, the power-hungry dwarf. Stefano Poda took on the roles of Director and Choreographer, as well as set, costume, lighting, and projection designer, giving this staging of Die Rheingold a singular aesthetic vision, clearly inspired by Dune-adjacent science-fiction imagery.
Cast:
Egils Silins as Wotan
Robert Bork as Donner
Wang Chuan as Froh
Christian Franz as Loge
Bettina Ranch as Fricka
Tanja Kuhn as Freia
Niu Shasha as Erda
Tomas Tomasson as Alberich
Arnold Bezuyen as Mime
Andrea Silvestrelli as Fasolt
Guan Zhijing as Fafner
Qin Kanru as Woglinde
Xu Xiaoying as Wellgunde
Zhang Yajie as Flosshilde
Lü Jia conducts the NCPA Orchestra and Chorus.