In the world of sports the first weekend in May is marked by the run for the roses. In Los Angeles, the last three weekends in May bring together some of the most exciting events of Ring Festival LA with the much anticipated opening of LA Opera’s first-ever full production of Richard Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen on May 29. The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences got the weekend rolling May 14 when it hosted an evening of animated short subjects with soundtracks influenced by Wagner including The Rabbit of Seville, Musicland and What’s Up Opera Doc?.
On Saturday morning May 15, the Santa Monica Museum of Art opened its Park Studio Ring exhibition at Bergamont Station. The exhibition features bronze sculptures made by students who studied under artist Gordon Bowen at his Arts Re-Foundry Atelier, where they created works in bronze inspired by Wagner’s Ring. Next up at the Mid-Valley Library is LA Library’s presentation of We Tell Stories’ Ring-inspired play for children: Rhine’s Gold.
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Ring Seminars for Life-long Learners Throughout the festival there are a number of educational offerings for life-long learners who are interested in discovering more about the Ring and its influence on life and culture in history and the present day.
LA Opera has partnered with three of Los Angeles' premier art institutions - the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Huntington Library, and the J. Paul Getty Museum - to develop a series of in-depth seminars to enhance your experience and deepen your knowledge of Wagner's Ring cycle. Entertaining and informative for both for the novice and Ring devotees, these seminars offer a unique focus special to each landmark location.
As the first performances of LA Opera's Götterdämmerung are staged this April in anticipation of the first-ever full presentations in Los Angeles of the full Ring cycles in May and June LA Opera has teamed up with libraries and other LA institutions to present musical and educational events for young people, which will introduce them to the Ring, other operas, and history as it relates to 21st-century cultural thinking. The varied presentations will serve to create relevant links between Wagner's music and contemporary culture.
Wagnerian singers Linda Watson (soprano, Brunnhilde) and John Treleaven (tenor, Siegfried) discuss the joys and difficulties of singing the composer's works and the unique technical equipment singers require to make it through an entire opera and still live to sing another day. Discussion moderated by UCLA music professor Mitchell Morris. (Run time: 1 hour, 26 min.)
