The Gran Teatre del Liceu presents a new cycle of productions of Richard Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen, set to premiere starting in the 2026/2027 season. The project, conceived as a four-season cycle with one title per year until 2029/2030, will begin with Das Rheingold and will mark the start of the 26/27 season.
The new tetralogy is a co-production between the Gran Teatre del Liceu and the Bayerische Staatsoper. The musical direction will be led by Jonathan Nott, who takes on this project coinciding with his start as the Liceu’s music director, and the stage direction will be by Tobias Kratzer, making his debut at the Theatre with this cycle.
Tobias Kratzer’s stage concept presents a reading of the tetralogy that confronts the struggle for power and its decline, while Jonathan Nott’s musical direction approaches a score characterized by its expressive richness, with contrasts between passages of great lightness and moments of strong dramatic intensity.
With this new Ring, the Gran Teatre del Liceu leads a new Wagner tetralogy and revisits a work that has been present at various points in its recent history, establishing it as one of the artistic pillars of the upcoming seasons.
Artistic profile
- Stage Director
- Tobias Kratzer
- Set and Costume Design
- Rainer Sellmaier
- Lighting Design
- Michael Bauer
- Video
- Manuel Braun, Jonas Dahl and Janic Bebi
- Dramaturgy
- Bettina Bartz and Olaf Roth
- Co-production
- Bayerische Staatsoper and Gran Teatre del Liceu
- Orchestra of the Gran Teatre del Liceu
- Jonathan Nott
- Chorus of the Gran Teatre del Liceu
- Pablo Assante
'Das Rheingold'
Das Rheingold, an opera in one act and four scenes with music and libretto by Richard Wagner, is the prologue to the tetralogy Der Ring des Nibelungen. Premiered in 1869 at the Royal Theatre in Munich by decision of Ludwig II of Bavaria (despite the composer’s wish to present the complete cycle), it was not until 1876 that the Ring was presented in full at the Bayreuth Festival.
In a mythical world dominated by the ambition for power, the god Wotan seeks to rule everything and establishes his authority by engraving the laws on his spear. At the bottom of the Rhine, the dwarf Alberich steals the gold guarded by the Rhine maidens after learning that whoever forges a ring and renounces love will rule the world. Meanwhile, the giants Fasolt and Fafner demand payment for the Walhalla and take Freia. Wotan, with the help of Loge, seizes the ring from Alberich, who curses it: it will bring death and misfortune to whoever possesses it. The curse is immediately fulfilled when one giant kills the other over the gold, while the gods enter Walhalla under the distant lament of the Rhine maidens.
February 2027
Cast
- Nicholas Brownlee | Wotan
- Kartal Karagedik | Donner
- Roger Padullés | Froh
- Nicky Spence | Loge
- Georg Nigl | Alberich
- Mikeldi Atxaldabasso | Mime
- Ante Jerkunica | Fasolt
- Wilhelm Schwinghammer | Fafner
- Tanja Ariane Baumgartner | Fricka
- Anett Fritsch | Freia
- Okka von der Damerau | Erda
- Ximena Agurto | Woglinde
- Jennifer Feinstein | Wellgunde
- Helena Ressurreição | Flosshilde
'Die Walküre'
Die Walküre is the first day of Richard Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen. It tells the origins of Siegfried and the conflict between Wotan and his daughter Brünnhilde.
Wotan seeks to reclaim the cursed ring through a human hero: from a union with a mortal, the twins Siegmund and Sieglinde are born. Separated by fate, they reunite and fall in love, defying the laws. Siegmund draws the sword Notung, but Wotan, pressured by Fricka, condemns him to death by breaking the weapon.
Brünnhilde disobeys her father and saves Sieglinde, who is pregnant with Siegfried. As punishment, Wotan strips her of divinity and condemns her to sleep surrounded by flames until a hero awakens her.
2027 – 2028 Season
'Siegfried'
Siegfried, in three acts, is the second day of Richard Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen. Premiered in 1876 at the Bayreuth Festival as part of the complete cycle (as the composer intended), it reached the Liceu in 1900.
After Die Walküre, Brünnhilde sleeps surrounded by flames, while Wotan, in the guise of the Wanderer, observes the events he himself set in motion. Sieglinde has died after giving birth to Siegfried, leaving him in the hands of the nibelung Mime, Alberich’s brother. In the forest, the giant Fafner, transformed into a dragon, guards the ring.
The opera tells the formation of Siegfried: the forging of the sword Notung, the death of Fafner, the discovery of fear, and finally, the awakening of Brünnhilde, who introduces the hero to the knowledge of love.
2028 – 2029 Season
'Gotterdamerung'
Götterdämmerung, with a prologue and three acts, is the third and final day of Richard Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen. Premiered in 1876 at the Bayreuth Festival as part of the complete cycle, it reached the Liceu in 1901 and was not presented as part of the Tetralogy until 1910.
After Siegfried, Brünnhilde experiences her love with the hero who awakened her from the circle of flames. Siegfried possesses the ring, still unaware of its curse. But Alberich, through his son Hagen, plots the hero’s destruction with the help of the gibixungs. Siegfried is murdered, and Brünnhilde, in a final act of clarity and sacrifice, returns the ring to the Rhine and brings about the destruction of Walhalla.
The work culminates with the twilight and end of the gods: a consequence of Wotan’s contradictions and of a world doomed by its own ambition for power.
2029 – 2030 Season