Atlanta Opera’s ‘Twilight of the Gods’ brings Ring cycle to blazing finish

Four years ago, the gods in Atlanta Opera’s Das Rheingold ascended on a stage platform to the glowing heights of Valhalla.

At the end of last week’s Götterdämmerung, as Valhalla burned to ashes, those same gods plummeted to the ground.

Such is the fitting conclusion of Atlanta Opera’s magisterial production of Götterdämmerung, which opened May 30 and continues through June 7 at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre.

This production of Twilight of the Gods (as it is known in English) marks the grand finale of perhaps the most ambitious undertaking in Atlanta Opera’s 47-year history: the completion of Wagner’s four-opera Der Ring des Nibelungen, an epic meditation on greed, domination and the destructive lust for power.

More than 150 years after Wagner completed the cycle, this marks the first fully staged Ring in Atlanta — a historic achievement and the ultimate test for any company.

Running more than five hours with intermissions and ranking among the longest operas in the repertory, Twilight of the Gods demands extraordinary endurance from singers and the orchestra alike.

The sprawling drama follows the hero Siegfried and the Valkyrie Brünnhilde as betrayal, manipulation and a cursed ring of power set into motion the destruction both of gods and mortals. Through deception, Siegfried is turned against Brünnhilde, sacred oaths are broken, revenge takes hold and Wagner’s mythic world hurtles toward catastrophe.

This production by Tomer Zvulun (director) and Erhard Rom (scenic and projection designer) frames the action inside a brutal, violent society suggestive of modern fascism, rendered through looming brutalist architecture and striking digital imagery. Mattie Ullrich’s costumes — some ancient, others militaristic and unsettlingly contemporary — emphasize the timelessness of Wagner’s tale.

At times, the production may lean too heavily on projected imagery, but its visual ambition rarely falters. Without giving too much away, the final moments offer a surprising note of hope as nature reasserts itself amid civilization’s collapse, reaching toward an unmistakably contemporary message: There is no Planet B.

Wagner’s meditation on greed, ambition and the corrupting pursuit of power lands with particular force in a fierce political season, though the opera’s warning ultimately feels broader and more permanent than any single moment.

This Twilight of the Gods boasts a cast of formidable singers whose voices soar over Wagner’s luxuriantly dense orchestrations.

Leading the cast are Lise Lindstrom (Brünnhilde) and Stefan Vinke (Siegfried), among the foremost Wagnerian singers performing today, and both returning from last year’s Siegfried.

The leading roles require immense vocal power, stamina and range, and Lindstrom and Vinke possess these qualities in abundance.

The electrifying Lindstrom sings Brünnhilde with laser-focused intensity, her gleaming soprano cutting thrillingly through the orchestra. Her final immolation scene — among the most demanding and exalted passages in all opera — proves overwhelming in both vocal command and dramatic conviction.

Vinke’s Siegfried brings heroic stamina and youthfulness to a punishing role that rarely grants respite.

Among the supporting cast, Le Bu brings a refined bass-baritone to the conflicted Gunther, king of the Gibichungs, while David Leigh’s Hagen emerges as properly terrifying, his steely, stentorian bass embodying malevolence itself.

Tamara Mumford lends opulence and emotional gravity to the Valkyrie Waltraute, while Sylvia D’Eramo supplies a lustrous mezzo-soprano as Gutrune.

Twilight can occasionally feel brooding, with stretches of extended sung dialogue that test dramatic momentum. Yet Wagner rewards patience with some of the most overwhelming music in the repertory: the radiant Brünnhilde-Siegfried duet in the prologue; the emotionally shattering Waltraute-Brünnhilde confrontation in Act I; the gripping male chorus scene of Act II; Siegfried’s monumental Funeral March in Act III; and, finally, Brünnhilde’s transcendent immolation scene, one of opera’s greatest endings.

Notably, Twilight marks the first appearance of a chorus anywhere in the Ring cycle. Under Chorus Master Walter Huff, the 50-voice male chorus sings with thrilling force and clarity, lending the opera an added sense of ritual and grandeur.

The Atlanta Opera Orchestra, under the commanding direction of Conductor Roberto Kalb, proves fully equal to Wagner’s Herculean demands. Kalb draws silken playing from the strings while summoning elemental force from the brass when needed. His conducting is both polished and dramatically alert, maintaining careful balance between orchestra and singers while preserving the score’s inexorable momentum.

Given the opera’s marathon length, Atlanta Opera wisely follows Bayreuth’s example by allowing generous intermissions, giving audiences time to regroup before plunging back into Wagner’s overwhelming sound world. Patrons should take note of the production’s unusually early curtain time.

It is hard to imagine how Atlanta Opera could surpass this remarkable four-year achievement. Yet, on opening night, Tomer Zvulun, the company’s general and artistic director, announced an encore: In June 2029, Atlanta Opera plans to present all four Ring operas in two complete cycles over two weeks.

It is a wonderfully audacious undertaking. But after the musical and dramatic riches on display in this world-class Twilight of the Gods — from Kalb’s commanding orchestral leadership to a cast capable of meeting Wagner’s punishing demands — Atlanta Opera has earned the right to dream even bigger. After 150 years, Atlanta finally has its Ring. And what a blazing, exhilarating arrival it is.

Where and When

Three more performances remain of Atlanta Opera’s Twilight of the Gods, on June 2 (6 p.m.), June 5 (6 p.m.) and June 7 (3 p.m.). See the Atlanta Opera’s website for more information. Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre, 2800 Cobb Galleria Parkway, Atlanta.

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Paul Hyde is a longtime arts journalist and English instructor in Upstate South Carolina. He writes frequently for the Greenville Journal, the South Carolina Daily Gazette and Classical Voice North America.