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Soloists:

Frieder Aurich, Kirsten Blanck, Erin Caves

Orchestra, choir:

Staatskapelle Weimar, Opernchor des Nationaltheaters Weimar

Conductor:

Carl St. Clair

Director:

Michael Schulz

Outside Germany, the name Weimar usually evokes mixed feelings and images of Germany's history over the last hundred years. In Germany, Weimar refers to a city in the state of Thuringia, steeped in German culture known as “Weimarer Klassik,” the legendary Bauhaus, and ultimately the lives and works of Franz Liszt and his son-in-law Richard Wagner. It was in Weimar that Richard Wagner began composing the first part of his Ring tetralogy, Das Rheingold. In 2008, the Weimar Nationaltheater launched a new production of this unique tetralogy. The conductor is Carl St. Clair, a former student of Leonard Bernstein. Thanks to Michael Schulz's fine and intelligent direction, this new Ring production is an excellent example of contemporary opera theater.