The Valkyries, led by Brunnhilde (soprano Debra Voigt, lower left), are the warrior maidens of Richard Wagner's epic Ring cycle.
Credit Ken Howard / Metropolitan Opera
Eric Owens plays the greedy dwarf Alberich, displaying his golden ring, in Wagner's Das Rheingold.
Credit Ken Howard / Metropolitan Opera
Mark Delevan as Wotan and Deborah Voigt as his daughter Brunnhilde in Wagner's Die Walküre.
Credit APF/Getty Images
Peter Seiffert and Katarina Dalayman as the title characters in Tristan und Isolde, Wagner's cosmic tale of love.
Credit Getty Images
Klaus Florian Vogt sings the role of Walter the brash, young game-changer in Wagner's Die Meistersinger.
Credit Ken Howard / Metropolitan Opera
Parsifal (Jonas Kaufmann) lifts the Holy Grail as Gurnemanz (Rene Pape) looks on, in a recent Metropolitan Opera production of Wagner's final opera, Parsifal.
How much do you know about Richard Wagner? Probably two unfavorable facts: He wrote very long, grandiose operas and was Hitler's favorite composer. As true as they are, those simple examples barely hint at the complexity of this endlessly creative and confounding artist.
As this year's Metropolitan Opera broadcast season comes to a close, join us to hear Götterdämmerung, the last opera in Richard Wagner's four-opera cycle, "Der Ring des Nibelungen." The Ring's cataclysmic finale stars Deborah Voigt as Brünnhilde opposite Lars Cleveman as Siegfried - the star-crossed lovers doomed by fate. Hans-Peter König is Hagen and Fabio Luisi conducts. Sunday, May 11, *11 am to 5 pm (*note early start time)
Wagner’s final masterpiece explores the many facets of this mystical score. Jonas Kaufmann stars in the title role of the innocent who finds wisdom. His fellow Wagnerian luminaries include Katarina Dalayman as the mysterious Kundry, Peter Mattei as the ailing Amfortas, Evgeny Nikitin as the wicked Klingsor, and René Pape as the noble knight Gurnemanz. Daniele Gatti conducts. Saturday, March 2, * 12 noon to 6 pm (*note early start time).
This year is the bicentennial of Richard Wagner's birth. The man widely called the greatest living Wagnerian tenor is marking the occasion in style — and asking listeners who may have turned away from the German composer to give his music another chance.
