Seattle Opera's 'Ring Cycle' Returns Once More, This Time for $39 Million

Seattle Opera’s award-winning production of Richard Wagner’s Ring is coming back for three complete cycles, in this the composer's bicentennial year--August 4 through August 25.

And one local economist says Wagner--who infamously dodged creditors throughout his entire life--is going to pay out this time.

A forecast prepared by the University of Washington's William B. Beyers approximates that Seattle’s Ring '13 will have a total economic impact of $39 million, supporting some 755 jobs with labor income of $17.5 million.

These estimates are based on ticket sales data and estimates of patron expenditures including: travel, food, beverage, accommodations, entertainment and other miscellaneous costs.

Single ticket prices for Seattle's updated Ring begin at $175; tickets are still available for all their Ring events, as well (save for a symposium on Wednesday, August 14).

Wagnerphiles coming to the Pacific Northwest are in for an unforgettable experience of sound, story and spectacle. Principal guest conductor Asher Fisch, named “among the finest Ring conductors of our time” by Opus Magazine, leads his first complete cycle in North America.

Meanwhile, British soprano Alwyn Mellor makes her Seattle Opera debut as Brünnhilde, as does German tenor Stefan Vinke as Siegfried. Bass-baritone Greer Grimsley returns, too, as Wotan--the role for which he won the Seattle Opera Artist of the Year Award in 2005.

Returning: Richard Paul Fink as Alberich, Margaret Jane Wray as Sieglinde and the Third Norn, Stuart Skelton as Siegmund, Dennis Petersen as Mime, Daniel Sumegi as Fafner and Hagen, Andrea Silvestrelli as Fasolt and Hunding, Luretta Bybee as Schwertleite and the First Norn, and Stephanie Blythe as Fricka, the Second Norn and Waltraute (Götterdämmerung).

Debuting: Markus Brück as Donner and Gunther, Wendy Bryn Harmer as Freia, Gerhilde and Gutrune, Mark Schowalter as Loge and Lucille Beer as Erda. The Rhine Daughters and other roles will be sung by Jennifer Zetlan, Cecelia Hall, and Renée Tatum.

Stephen Wadsworth returns to direct this beloved production, which has become known as the “green” Ring because of its explicit focus on nature, herself.

Sets are designed by Thomas Lynch, costumes by the late Martin Pakledinaz and lighting by Peter Kaczorowski.