For any opera house, Richard Wagner’s tetralogy – The Ring of the Nibelung – is one of the high points of lyric art. To celebrate its 250th anniversary and The Ring’s coming 150th anniversary, the Royal Opera asked the Saarland National Theatre of Saarbrucken, which is going to stage The Ring’s four operas in the four coming years, to present them in Versailles in their concert version. 

Wagner’s Ring in Versailles, King Ludwig II of Bavaria's dream

For any opera house, Richard Wagner's Ring - the Ring of the Nibelung - is one of the high points of opera. Composed between 1853 and 1874, this cycle is a myth, constructed as a "stage festival" with a Prologue: Rheingold, and three days: Valkyrie, Siegfried, Götterdämmerung. The Tetralogy was created for the opening of the Bayreuth Festspielhaus in 1876.

King Ludwig II of Bavaria's absolute passion for Versailles and for Wagner creates a unique link between this Ring and the most beautiful Palace in the world...

To celebrate its two hundred and fiftieth anniversary, and the forthcoming hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the Ring, the Royal Opera of Versailles has asked the Saarland National Theatre of Saarbrücken, which will be staging each of the four Ring operas over the next four years, to come to Versailles to present them in a concert version: the singers will perform their roles without a score, and the orchestra and chorus will also be on stage.

Since its creation in 1786, the Saarland National Theatre has become one of the most renowned theatres, ballet and opera houses in Germany, with seven hundred performances and 200,000 spectators each season. Its National Orchestra, founded in 1912, has been led by great permanent conductors, especially in recent decades, such as Jiří Kout, Christof Perick and Jun Märkl, and Frenchman Sébastien Rouland has been the incumbent since 2018. He will be conduct the entire Ring.

It is a tradition for every German opera house to regularly stage a production of the Ring. The singers of the permanent troupe, for whom it is a core part of the repertoire, are supplemented by guest soloists who perform the major roles in all German-language operas. It is therefore a project rooted in one hundred and fifty years of practice that the Saarbrücken Opera will present in Versailles over four years.