On and on goes the debate: Art vs. Life. Some artists capture zeitgeist in a way that resonates around the world. Others create works that change how we see ourselves as people. Then, there is The Ring of the Nibelung… A four-opera cultural monolith by the German composer Richard Wagner has been considered transcendent since its premier in 1876. It has found its way into pop culture with references in everything from Tolkien’s The Lord of the Ring to the Star Wars cinematic universe and the iconic aerial attack scene in Apocalypse Now famously set to the “Ride of the Valkyries” passage.
San Francisco Opera is one of the few world-class companies to have staged the production in its intended consecutive series format. It is such a labor (of love) intensive process that Wagner himself delayed the original premier by four years in order to build a brand-new theater dedicated exclusively to this singular work of art! The Ring Festival, as the performance cycle is often referred to, opened on June 12th at the War Memorial Opera House to rave reviews, including praise for a master Wagnerian, revered conductor Donald Runnicles.
How does a hundred and fifty years old story stay relevant in the age of instant gratification and fake news?
We sat down with visionary director Francesca Zambello to talk about her version of the opera(s) inspired in part by the #MeToo movement, responses to environmental crisis, the complex history of American exceptionalism, her faith in the transformative powers of theater, and what’s Russians got to do with it!
Stephan Rabimov: What makes The Ring an appealing time investment for the company and the audience?
Francesca Zambello: The Ring is the Mount Everest of operas. Every major company aspires to do the Ring Cycle, because it is the most important large-scale operatic work you can do. It's 18 hours of music with a monumental story. It’s very contemporary as masterpieces always are. Shakespeare, Verdi, Picasso. They speak to us, today, in some way. There is a common myth of humanity that defies race, sexuality, gender. It is primal. We all connect to that journey.
Is it possible to summarize an 18-hour story into one paragraph?!
[Laughs] Well… it’s about a family of gods with Wotan as its head. He defies nature stealing gold from the Rhine River. His desire to procure the gold at any cost has him selling out family, behaving irrationally, committing major crimes. In this process he destroys everything in his life. That sounds like a lot of people, doesn’t it? The world is only made right when his daughter, Brünnhilde, returns the gold to nature. Another interesting part of the incredible tragedy in this piece is that to achieve greatness Wotan needs a hero for building Valhalla. And he wants it to be a son. He tells this story to his daughter in front of him not realizing that she herself is the perfect hero. You see, it’s very relevant today. From the corporate ladder culture to Exxon Valdez and beyond, it’s a story of broken social contracts and how things destroyed by greed can only be repaired by love. Brünnhilde is transcendent. She allows the world to be reborn. We need her now.
In the age of supervillains and branded revolutions, it’s hard to keep track of real heroes…
Well, the behavior of the gods here is like that of people who consider themselves superheroes. People often believe that through power and wealth they do not have to follow the laws or morals. It’s a big subject in opera. Take Mozart, his Don Giovanni or The Marriage of Figaro. They were all about changing the class society. Verdi was a revolutionary, too. I don’t think you need to avoid politics in the arts. It’s a good way to be able to discuss it once people are united around music and ideas.
Angels in America, another very political play, runs nearly 9 hours and it’s a smash Broadway hit right now. People seem to be open to longer engagements. So, what’s in it for the audience who’d give all these hours of their life to an opera?
Yes, there’s that. Nowadays we have less patience, but this is not just another boring opera! I’ve seen many boring operas. [Laughs] There is real dramatic spectacle, music that is so romantic, it's like an aphrodisiac, and Herculean singing and acting. For example, Rheingold is two-and-a-half hours with no intermission. It's like a movie. And people get on long intercontinental flights, right?! To Dubai or Beijing. Just give yourself over to this experience and you will come out with an amazing spiritual reward. You get to time-travel with the gods!
The culture is very visual now. How does that impact stage production?
The first thing you do when you're hired as a director is choose your design team. We don't write the music, we interpret it. So, the visual world is where you're going to tell the story. We've been doing it for a decade, on and off. It evolves and changes. Every time we revisit this production there is a change in technology which has helped the visual landscape. For example, thanks to special LED lights, now the floor becomes an equally important canvas for the projections in addition to the walls and backdrop. In Rheingold, where it all starts, visually we’re in the 19th century with pure and beautiful landscapes like California and Yosemite in the lavish paintings of Albert Bierstadt. When we meet Wotan, he is an industrial giant, a Rockefeller, one of the people who built San Francisco. In Die Walküre, the second opera, he was modeled on Citizen Kane and the set was very inspired by the Hearst Castle. By the time we’re in Siegfried, we’ve moved forward into the 1960’s and 70’s when America was really coming apart. Then, in Götterdämmerung, it’s the future, but it’s apocalyptic like Mad Max or Terry Gilliam’s Brazil. It’s a visually engrossing journey!
You have staged operas in places as diverse as Cambodia, Jerusalem and Moscow. Do you see opera as a tool of cultural diplomacy?
Absolutely. Having worked in many countries, I believe that the arts are the greatest bridge between people. Art can overcome differences. Opera is the most healing art form; it can be a balm because it’s not bound by words. For example, as Americans, we’ve had our problems with Russia over the years. I worked in Russia several times. To me, art just makes international problems go away. People connect around music and emotions, and a story.
Russian American relations are a hot topic now. What was your experience like?
I was first a student there in 1976. It was the height of the Cold War. Everyone was paranoid. “Oh, they're bad; we're good. We're good; they're bad.” That's never the case, of course. Russia is so complex, because whatever was good about communism is lost. A lot that's good about democracy is being lost, too. Back then, you couldn't even get a good map of Russia. The foreigners weren’t allowed to go outside the 50-kilometer perimeter [about 30 miles - Ed.], but students weren’t really being followed. I used to say, “Let's take a train to the end of the line, get off at some village and look at people...” We ate mystery meat in the university cafeteria with other Soviet students. It was amazing just talking to them. Then, in 1991, we brought an entire cast from Russia for a production in Seattle. I will never forget it. It was the day Leningrad was officially renamed back into St. Petersburg… Everyone was crying and saying, “It’s our city!” It was so moving. Later in the 90’s, I got hired by the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow. Moscow has always been a great theater city. What a full circle!
The Ring series opens with Das Rheingold on June 12, 19 and 26, followed by Die Walküre on June 13, 20 and 27, then the third installment Siegfried on June 15, 22 and 29 with a conclusion of Götterdämmerung on June 17, 24 and July 1. Thus, each cycle is performed over the course of a week. For more information and tickets, please, visit San Francisco Opera online.
