“Götterdämmerung”
For four weeks beginning May 29, 2010, Los Angeles will be transfixed by all things German as Richard Wagner’s “The Ring Cycle” sends the city into a spin.
The four mega-operas, composed by Wagner between 1848 and 1874, are staged in stunning interpretations by Los Angeles Opera in a once-in-a-lifetime extravaganza at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. So significant is this event that 75 other LA institutions are contributing with seminars, exhibitions and other calendar-worthy activities relating to “The Ring.”
Several events will engage academics and others in conversations about the controversies surrounding Wagner. In this way, Los Angeles, which was home to dissident German writers such as Thomas Mann, Alfred Doblin and BertoltBrecht during the Nazi era, will help infuse the festival with an explosion of culture and comment that will carry these classic works right into the 21st century.
Archetypal to the core, the operas — collectively known as "Der Ring des Nibelungen" in German — speak to the very heart of human nature, with all the grand expressions of cunning deceit, worldly desire, love, loss and lessons learned that a masterpiece can produce, while staged in dazzling sets of ghostly, grotesque and avant-garde symbology.
The $32 million production owes its vision to ringmaster Achim Freyer, a celebrated post-modernist German painter and theater artist deemed an icon in European theater, opera and the visual arts.
The festival gets a warm-up April 3–25 with the presentation of Wagner’s “Götterdämmerung” (“Twilight of the Gods”), the fourth and final segment of the cycle, complementing a series of “Ring” performances that took place in 2009. “Das Rhiengold” marks the official opening of Ring Festival LA, running May 29–June 18, followed by “Die Walkure,” May 30– June 20; “Siegfried,” June 3–18; and culminating with “Götterdämmerung,” June 6–26.
The city’s museums, universities, libraries, dining venues and hotels will be resonating with this operatic celebration. Even city tours and cinema houses will fill with illuminating symposia, exhibitions, films, food and more.
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) will host “Myth, Legends, Fables, and Cultural Renewal: Wagner's Sources,” April 15–Aug. 16. The Los Angeles Conservancy is offering a new look at LA through the eyes of notorious German artists and writers who emigrated to LA in the 1930s and '40s. The Museum of Contemporary Art, the Museum of Tolerance, the Hammer Museum, the Goethe-Institut and the University of Southern California will all hold talks and discussions with scholars and artists about the staging of the Los Angeles production and the importance of the thought and philosophy these works represent. Many of these “Ring"-centered events are free of charge and guarantee a lively and stimulating few hours.
Food, too, fixes the spotlight as Patina, part of the Michelin-starred restaurant group by chef Joachim Splichal, creates a German beer garden on the plaza of the Music Center and German-inspired menus in honor of the occasion at Splichal's other nearby restaurants.
Lufthansa Airlines is an official sponsor of Ring Festival LA, and hotels such as the Millennium Biltmore Hotel, Omni Los Angeles Hotel, The Westin Bonaventure Hotel & Suites, Kyoto Grand Hotel & Gardens, and Wilshire Grand Los Angeles are partnering with the city and the Los Angeles Opera to offer packages and promotions for visitors.
Tickets start at $150 per performance, or $350 for the four-opera cycle. For more information, visit www.laopera.com or www laoperaring.com.
Lark Ellen Gould is a longtime resident of Los Angeles who writes regularly and often about the city for a number of magazines and websites, including www.wheredaily.com. She has authored two books on LA for Globe Pequot Insiders' Guides.
