Kirill Petrenko conducts Wagner’s “Das Rheingold” Kirill Petrenko conducts Wagner’s “Das Rheingold”

Myth, might and music
7 stories about Wagner’s “Das Rheingold”

Wagner called Das Rheingold the “preliminary evening” of his Ring cycle — but there is nothing tentative about it. In one uninterrupted sweep, it establishes the cycle’s musical language, dramatic architecture and technical scale. Its demands ranged from new orchestral instruments to on-stage swimming machines. Seven stories trace the work’s beginnings.

Biography

Kirill Petrenko

Kirill Petrenko has been chief conductor and artistic director of the Berliner Philharmoniker since the 2019/20 season. Born in Omsk in Siberia, he received his training first in his home town and later in Austria. He established his conducting career in opera with positions at the Staatstheater Meiningen and the Komische Oper Berlin. From 2013 to 2020, Kirill Petrenko was general music director of Bayerische Staatsoper. He has also made guest appearances at the world’s leading opera houses, including Wiener Staatsoper, Covent Garden in London, the Opéra national in Paris, the Metropolitan Opera in New York and at the Bayreuth Festival. Moreover, he has conducted the major international symphony orchestras – in Vienna, Munich, Dresden, Paris, Amsterdam, London, Rome, Chicago, Cleveland and Israel. Since his debut in 2006, a variety of programmatic themes have emerged in his work with the Berliner Philharmoniker. These include work on the orchestra’s core Classical-Romantic repertoire, most notably with Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony when he took up his post. Unjustly forgotten composers such as Josef Suk and Bernd Alois Zimmermann are another of Kirill Petrenko’s interests. In opera performances with the Berliner Philharmoniker, Richard Strauss’ Elektra and Giacomo Puccini’s Madama Butterfly have recently attracted attention.

Christian Gerhaher 

Christian Gerhaher is considered one of the most important baritones of our time. Celebrated internationally as a Lieder singer, he has shaped this genre for decades, particularly through his close artistic partnership with pianist Gerold Huber. He is also in demand worldwide as an opera singer, performing at venues such as the Salzburg Festival, the Bavarian State Opera, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London, and the Metropolitan Opera in New York. He appears regularly with the Berliner Philharmoniker. His interpretations are praised for their combination of musical precision with profound linguistic and psychological insight.

Catriona Morison 

Catriona Morison studied at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and at the Berlin University of the Arts. She gained international recognition in 2017 when she won both the Main Prize and the Song Prize at the prestigious BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition. Since then, the mezzo-soprano has established herself as a versatile artist with a wide-ranging repertoire from the Baroque to the late Romantic period – on the opera stage as well as in concert and in song recitals. Engagements have taken her to the Hamburg State Opera, the Bavarian State Opera, the Bergen National Opera, and the National Theatre in Weimar.

Brenton Ryan 

Brenton Ryan studied in Houston and Chicago and won the Birgit Nilsson Prize at the Operalia competition in 2016. Engagements have taken the tenor to opera houses in London, New York, Chicago, and San Francisco, and he also maintains a long-standing artistic partnership with the Bavarian State Opera. There he has appeared in roles such as Pedrillo (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), Missail (Boris Godunov), and Tanzmeister (Ariadne auf Naxos), as well as  Steuermann in Der fliegende Holländer during the company’s 2025 tour of Asia.

Leigh Melrose

Leigh Melrose studied at St John’s College, Cambridge, and at the Royal Academy of Music in London. His repertoire includes roles such as Escamillo (Carmen), Alberich (Der Ring des Nibelungen), Papageno (Die Zauberflöte), and the title role in Alban Berg’s Wozzeck. The baritone is regarded as one of the world’s most sought-after interpreters of contemporary music and has taken part in numerous world premieres, including Dai Fujikura’s Solaris, Johannes Kalitzke’s Die Besessenen, Elliott Carter’s On Conversing with Paradise, and James MacMillan’s The Sacrifice.

Thomas Cilluffo

Thomas Cilluffo studied with George Shirley at the University of Michigan. The character tenor, who won first prizes at the international competition of the Premiere Opera Foundation and at the Career Bridges Competition in New York, has been a scholarship holder of the New York Opera Foundation and a member of the ensemble of the Deutsche Oper Berlin since 2022. His repertoire includes roles such as Spoletta (Tosca), Count Almaviva (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni), Puck (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), the Witch (Hänsel und Gretel), as well as the title role in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette.

Gihoon Kim

Gihoon Kim, who became known through a series of international competition successes, studied in Seoul and Hannover. As a member of the Young Ensemble at the Staatsoper Hannover, he prepared and performed numerous roles. Today, the baritone — winner of the “BBC Cardiff Singer of the World 2021” title — appears at major opera houses such as the Royal Opera House, the Metropolitan Opera, Washington National Opera, and the Bavarian State Opera. He has celebrated successes as Marcello (La Bohème), Scarpia (Tosca), and Germont (La Traviata). He is also in high demand internationally as a Lieder singer.

Thomas Atkins

Thomas Atkins is a graduate of the New Zealand School of Music and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. A prizewinner at numerous competitions, he also completed the Jette Parker Young Artist Programme of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden Foundation. Today, the tenor appears internationally in roles such as Alfredo (La Traviata), Pinkerton (Madama Butterfly), Narraboth (Salome), and Lensky (Eugene Onegin), leading to successful debuts at the Bavarian State Opera, the Norwegian National Opera, the Opéra national de Paris, Glyndebourne, and the Salzburg Festival.

Sarah Brady

Sarah Brady studied at the Royal Irish Academy of Music. In 2017 she joined the OperAvenir studio at Theater Basel, where she later became a member of the ensemble and appeared as Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro), Musetta (La bohème), and the Virgin Mary (Jeanne d’Arc au bûcher), among other roles. She then moved to the Staatsoper Hannover, singing parts such as Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte) and the Governess (The Turn of the Screw). This was followed by major debuts at the Komische Oper Berlin, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the Bavarian State Opera, and the Glyndebourne Festival.

Jasmin White

Jasmin White studied at the University of Southern California, the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and the Juilliard School in New York. As a member of the opera studio at the Volksoper Vienna, they won second prize at the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels before taking first prize at the Queen Sonja Singing Competition in Oslo in 2023. Since the 2024/25 season, the contralto has been a member of the ensemble of the Vienna Volksoper, where they have appeared as Orlofsky in Johann Strauss’s Die Fledermaus and as Martha in John Adams’s The Gospel According to the Other Mary.

Le Bu

Le Bu studied at the Manhattan School of Music and won first prizes at the Metropolitan Opera’s Laffont Competition in New York (2022) and at the Operalia Competition (2024). He is a regular guest at the Metropolitan Opera. This season he makes his debuts as Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro) at Washington National Opera and as Gunther (Götterdämmerung) at Atlanta Opera; further first guest engagements at the Royal Opera House in London and at the Paris Opera are also planned.

Patrick Guetti

Patrick Guetti studied at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia, completed the apprentice program at the Santa Fe Opera, and was also a member of the Opera Center at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. The bass, who among other distinctions won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, is a member of the ensemble of the Deutsche Oper Berlin. Guest engagements have taken him to the Metropolitan Opera as Sarastro (Die Zauberflöte), to the Bavarian State Opera as Osmin (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), and to the Stuttgart Opera as Basilio (Il barbiere di Siviglia).

Louise Foor

Louise Foor studied in Namur and at the Hanns Eisler School of Music in Berlin, and was an Artist in Residence at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Brussels. As a member of the opera studio at the Bavarian State Opera, the soprano sang roles including Berta (Il barbiere di Siviglia) and the title role in Respighi’s one‑act opera Lucrezia. She has also appeared as Lisette (La Rondine) in Metz, performed as Frasquita (Carmen) at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels, sung Leïla (Les Pêcheurs de perles) at the Opéra national de Bordeaux, and made her debut as Gerhilde (Die Walküre) at the Opéra national de Paris.

Yajie Zhang

Yajie Zhang studied in Shanghai and Hannover and took masterclasses with Brigitte Fassbaender, Thomas Hampson, Wolfram Rieger, and Hartmut Höll. In 2017, as the youngest participant in the International Vocal Competition in ’s‑Hertogenbosch, the mezzo‑soprano was awarded the Grand Prix, the Opera Prize, and the Junior Jury Prize. She was a member of the opera studio at the Bavarian State Opera before joining the ensemble of Oper Leipzig. Further engagements have taken her to the Staatsoper Hannover, Zurich Opera House, and the Opéra national de Paris.

Jess Dandy

Jess Dandy studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. The contralto won the London Bach Society Singers Prize in 2017. Engagements have included performing Thomas Adès’s Totentanz with the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Bach’s St Matthew Passion with the Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. She has also sung the contralto role in George Benjamin’s chamber opera Into the Little Hill at London’s Courtyard Theatre and portrayed Lady Toodle in Hans Werner Henze’s Die englische Katze at the Bavarian State Opera.