Wagner’s Opera Götterdämmerung — Fun to Say, Spectacular to Watch

Deborah Voigt, the warrior-maiden in Götterdämmerung

Sunday, Feb. 12 at 1 p.m. at Orcas Center

The Met: Live in HD’s Götterdämmerung is the final chapter in the Met’s exciting new production of opera’s definitive epic, Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen, On Screen at at Orcas Center on Sunday, February 12 at 1 p.m.

Robert Lepage’s technologically advanced new staging of Wagner’s Ring cycle comes to an epic climax with Götterdämmerung (“The Twilight of the Gods.”) The final opera in Robert Lepage’s innovative; high-tech staging of the Ring uses high-tech video projections and the remarkable set of 24 planks known as “the machine” to realize Wagner’s ambitious vision for the final chapter in his saga.

The Metropolitan Opera’s Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi leads the orchestra, chorus, and cast in the sweeping, varied score, which weaves together leitmotifs from all the operas in the saga and leads to an unforgettable conclusion.

The great Deborah Voigt stars in one of the most demanding roles in all of opera, as Brünnhilde, the warrior-maiden-turned-mortal whose actions lead to global apocalypse. Jay Hunter Morris, who stepped into the title role of Wagner’s Siegfried earlier this season to great acclaim, returns as opera’s ultimate doomed hero. The distinguished cast of Wagnerians also includes the American soprano Wendy Bryn Harmer as the princess Gutrune; the German mezzo-soprano Waltraud Meier as Waltraute, a Valkyrie messenger of doom; German bass Hans-Peter König as the greedy villain Hagen; American bass-baritone Eric Owens as Hagen’s father, the evil dwarf Alberich; and Scottish bass-baritone Iain Paterson as the cowardly human king Gunther. Patricia Racette hosts the transmission.

“Götterdämmerung is the most theatrically effective staging of the four works in this epic series, and the clearest representation of the director Robert Lepage’s vision…Fabio Luisi drew an uncommonly articulate and nuanced account of this daunting opera.”— The New York Times

Running time: Approximately six hours, including two intermissions

Tickets for Götterdämmerung are $15 for adults and $11 for students. $2 off for Orcas Center Members and may be purchased at www.orcascenter.org or by calling  376-2281 ext. 1 or visiting the Orcas Center Box Office open Thursday, Friday and Saturday from noon- 4 pm. For more information about Orcas Center 2011 season events, please visit www.orcascenter.org.