Òpera Das Rheingold

The first part of Richard Wagner's El anillo del nibelungo, presented at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in a new production that places the myth of the Rhine's gold in a contemporary light.

Das Rheingold is the prelude to Wagner's El anillo del nibelungo and tells how power is born from the primordial gold of the Rhine, a treasure that the lust for domination profanes. Alberich, played by Bo Skovhus, sets off a chain of deceptions that affects gods and humans. At the centre of the conflict stand Wotan, played by Nicholas Brownlee, Fricka, sung by Tanja Ariane Baumgartner, and Erda, by Okka von der Damerau.

Tobias Kratzer's staging interweaves myth with modernity in a proposal of poetic and unsettling images. The cast is completed by Loge, played by Nicky Spence, Mime by Mikeldi Atxalandabaso, Fasolt by Ante Jerjunica, and Fafner by Wilhelm Schwinghammer. From the pit, Jonathan Nott conducts the orchestra and brings out the leitmotifs of the score, musical motifs associated with water, greed, law and lost love.

The staging places the work at the start of a spiritual crisis: love, nature and commitment become bargaining chips, but the story leaves open the possibility of breaking the cycle of power and recovering what cannot be bought. For those seeking a contemporary view of Wagner, this show offers a narrative-driven orchestral approach, in which the score accompanies the drama continuously.