New Production of Wagner’s Die Walküre for Monte-Carlo Opera

Monte-Carlo Opera stages a new production of Richard Wagner’s Die Walküre (The Valkyrie), the second opera of his greatest work, Der Ring des Nibelungen, also known as his Ring Cycle.

This production of The Valkyrie stars German baritone Matthias Goerne as Wotan, King of the Gods, German soprano Libby Sokolowski as Sieglinde, Wotan’s daughter, and Swedish tenor Joachim Bäckström as Siegmund, with whom Sieglinde is in love. Hunding – Sieglinde’s violent husband – is sung by German bass Wilhelm Schwinghammer, Belorussian mezzo-soprano Ekaterina Semenchuk is Fricka, Wotan’s wife, and German soprano Nancy Weissbach takes the role of Brünnhilde. Davide Livermore directs, and Gianluca Capuano leads Les Musiciens du Prince – Monaco.

The Ring Cycle consists of four operas – Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, Siegfried and Götterdämmerung,b written, with Wagner’s own libretto, over a 26-year period between 1848 and 1874, and totalling 15 hours in duration. The Ring Cycle is regarded as Wagner’s greatest work, and with it he pioneered a new form of epic music drama known as Bühnenfestspiel – a stage festival play – which featured one story, told across three days of the Bayreuth Festival, with a prelude the night before. The Cycle tells of a cursed ring which Wotan, in a desire to gain power, steals from the dwarf Alberich, leading to a series of curses which affects all the characters in the operas. With each opera having its own tale of love, family and power, they are set against the backdrop of Norse mythology, as giants, dwarfs, nymphs and deities quarrel and clash with each other, leading finally to the end of the gods themselves in Götterdämmerung (the Twilight of the Gods). The Ring Cycle premiered in 1876 at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus,

Richard Wagner By Thomas Goller - own work, private archiv of Weingut Steinmühle www.weingut-steinmuehle.de, CC BY-SA 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1121126

^{Photo by Thomas Goller – own work, private archiv of Weingut Steinmühle, CC BY-SA 2.5, link}

In this part of Wagner’s Tetralogy, we see the consequences of what had happened in The Rheingold – the stealing of the ring – and the beginning of the effect on everyone concerned. Sieglinde manages to break away from her violent husband Hunding with the help of Siegmund, an unknown boy. She falls in love and conceives a child with him – only to find out that he is her lost twin and like her an illegitimate child of Wotan’s. The child is Siegfried – who features in the following opera.

The second act of The Valkyrie deals with the confrontation between Wotan and his wife Fricka, where she argues with him, forcing him into bowing to laws more universal than any god’s power. We also see Brünnhilde, who faces expulsion from Valhalla and the loss of her deity – the harsh punishment for helping Siegmund and Sieglinde when they needed it most.

^{Video via Trondheim Symfoniorkester & Opera on YouTube}

At the end of the opera, Wotan remains a broken man who has lost the respect of his wife, banished his favourite daughter, provoked the death of his beloved children, and forsakes his godly might. The Valkyrie premiered in Munich,at the Royal Theatre, on 26th June, 1870.

Matthias Goerne takes the role of Wotan. Artist in Residence at Shanghai Symphony Orchestra for the 2025/2025 season, he is regarded as one of the most versatile and internationally sought-after vocalists and a frequent guest at renowned festivals and concert halls. He has appeared on the world’s principal opera stages including the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Teatro Real in Madrid, Paris National Opera and the Vienna State Opera. His roles range from Wotan, Wolfram in Wagner’s Tannhäuser, Amfortas in his Parsifal, Orest in Richard Strauss’ Elektra, and Jochanaan in his Salome, to the title roles in Béla Bartók’s Duke Bluebeard’s Castle and Alban Berg’s Wozzeck.

^{Video via Christopher Sokolowski on YouTube}

Libby Sokolowski who has received acclaim from Opera News for her “rich, excellent instrument and considerable artistry”, sings Sieglinde. This is a role and house debut for her, and following this engagement, she returns to the St Galler Festspiele to debut Amneris in Verdi’s Aida. Previously a member of the ensemble at the Theater St Gallen, she has also performed there to great acclaim as Elvira in Verdi’s Ernani, Fata Morgana in Prokofiev’s Die Liebe zu den drei Orangen, Rosalinde in Johan Strauss’ Die Fledermaus, and the soprano soloist in a scenic production of Verdi’s Messa da Requiem, for which she was previously praised by Online Merker for her “full, broad, dramatic soprano”.

The Swedish tenor Joachim Bäckström takes the role of Siegmund. He opened the 2023/2024 season with the world premiere of the opera Mythomania by Paula af Malmborg Ward at the Göteborg Opera, where he sang the role of Francis. He also returned to the title role in Britten’s Peter Grimes at the Janáček Theatre in Brno and made his role debut in the title role in Wagner’s Parsifal at the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm. He was previously a guest at the Finnish National opera where sang Siegmund in a new production of Die Walküre.

Hunding is sung by Wilhelm Schwinghammer whose expansive repertoire ranges from roles of the Baroque repertoire to contemporary music, and covers all important roles of his voice catergory such as Figaro in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, Leporello in his Don Giovanni, Sarastro in his Die Zauberflöte and Osmin in his Die Entführung aus dem Serail. In this current season, he sings the role of Ochs in Richard Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier at the Baden-Baden Festspielhaus, as well as at the Staatstheater Nürnberg. He will also make his debut at the Grand Theatre Shanghai as Hunding in a new production of Die Walküre.

^{Video via fleursnaturelles on YouTube}

Ekaterina Semenchuk has won acclaim as an interpreter of Verdian roles. Her repertoire includes Azucena in Il trovatore, Princess Eboli in Don Carlo, Amneris in Aïda, Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, Federica in Luisa Miller, Preziosilla in La forza del destino and the mezzo-soprano solo and in his Requiem. Her recent engagements include performances at the Teatro alla Scala in Mussorgsky’s Khovanshchina, the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin in Macbeth, the Teatro Real in Madrid in his Don Carlo and Il trovatore, the Opéra national de Paris in Berlioz’ Les Troyens, and at San Francisco Opera and the Metropolitan Opera in Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana.

Nancy Weissbach’s next appareances include Brünnhilde in the Ring at Staatstheater Kassel and Oldenburg Theatre, as well as Bianca in von Zemlinsky’s Eine florentinische Tragödie at NNTT Tokyo. Recently she made her debut as Agathe in von Weber’s Der Freischütz at Opéra Royal de Wallonie in Liège and as Vitellia in Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito at the theatre in Sanssouci in Potsdam, and sang Marschallin in Richard Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier at the Israeli Opera in Tel Aviv and in Bonn.

^{Video via English National Opera on YouTube}

Also in the cast are Sofia Fomina as Helmwige, Natalia Tanasii as Gerhilde, Maire Therese Carmack as Waltraute, Heike Wessels as Siegrune, Anna Lapkovskaja as Grimgerde, Freya Apffelstaedt as Schwertleite, Niamh O’Sullivan as Rosseweisse and Kaarin Cecilia Phelps as Ortlinde.

The Valkyrie runs at the Monte-Carlo Opera for four performances from 23rd to 29th January, 2026. Further information and details of ticketing can be found on the Monte-Carlo Opera website.