Description

There has hardly been more written about a composer than about him, there is hardly a composer who is able to polarize like he can, there is hardly an operatic cycle as renowned as this one – Richard Wagner and »The Ring of the Nibelung« are fixed components in cultural heritage and are thus a special focus in musicology, musical practice and among arts critics.

Wagner and his works have caught the attention of the early music movement which has attempted to grapple with his acoustic and living environment in various historically-informed performances. A comprehensive, performance-practical preoccupation with the »Ring« however, has yet to be attempted. Spanning three years, the project WAGNER-READINGS plans to change that: For the first time, Richard Wagner’s »The Ring of the Nibelung« will be developed and performed from the perspective and with methods of ›historical performance practice‹. In addition to reflecting on the project theoretically, particular focus will lie on the reconstruction of the instrumental and vocal or linguistic practice at the time of Wagner. Kent Nagano, Concerto Köln and a team of scientists from various areas of expertise will rise to this challenge.

They will be supported in this endeavor by the Kunststiftung NRW, the Ministry of Culture and Science of the German State of North Rhine-Westphalia, Strecker-Stiftung and MBL.