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The eagerly awaited new production of Richard Wagner's four-opera "Ring" cycle at this year's Bayreuth Festival is to star two US singers, tenor Stephen Gould and soprano Linda Watson in the roles of Siegfried and Bruennhilde, the festival organisers said Wednesday.
Gould, who sang the title role in "Tannhaeuser" in Bayreuth last year, is to tackle the role of Siegfried -- one of the most demanding tenor roles ever written -- in the two last parts of the tetralogy, "Siegfried" and "Goetterdaemmerung" (Twilight of the Gods).
San Francisco-born dramatic soprano Linda Watson, who sings Bruennhilde, is no stranger to Wagner's fabled "Green Hill" either, last taking the role of Otrud in "Lohengrin".
The 2006 festival, which opens on July 25 with a gala performance of "Der fliegende Hollaender" (The Flying Dutchman), sees the premiere of a brand-new production of the four-part "Ring" by German director and playwright Tankred Dorst.
Controversial Danish film auteur Lars von Trier had originally been scheduled to stage the sprawling 16-hour four-parter.
But he pulled out unexpectedly in 2004, leaving 80-year-old Dorst, who has never directed an opera before, to step in at short notice.
In the pit will be German star conductor Christian Thielemann.
Among the other names on the cast list of the 2006 Ring, German bass-baritone Falk Struckmann is to take the role of Wotan/Der Wanderer (the Wanderer), German tenor Endrik Wottrich will sing Siegmund and Canadian soprano Adrianne Pieczonka will make her Bayreuth debut as Sieglinde.
Indeed, a total 15 singers will similarly be appearing for the first time in the legendary Festpielhaus opera house built according to Wagner's own designs, including British baritone Andrew Shore as Alberich, German tenor Gerhard Siegel as Mime, Bayreuth-born bass-baritone Ralf Lukas as Donner, and Finnish soprano Satu Vihavainen as Freia.
The "Ring" is the only new production to be staged this year.
Claus Guth's production of "Der fliegende Hollaender" is being staged for the fourth time. It will be conducted by Germany's Marc Albrecht and star British bass-baritone and Bayreuth veteran John Tomlinson in the title role.
This year also sees the first revival of Christoph Marthaler's controversial production of "Tristan und Isolde", which was loudly booed by audiences at its premiere last year. Instead of Japanese conductor Eiji Oue, who became the first-ever Asian maestro to swing the baton in Bayreuth in 2005, German kapellmeister Peter Schneider will be in the pit.
Christoph Schlingensief's love-it-or-hate-it reading of Wagner's final opera "Parsifal" enters its third year, this time conducted by Adam Fischer, who replaces French composer and conductor Pierre Boulez.
And German dramatic soprano Evelyn Herlitzius, who appeared as "Bruennhilde" in the previous staging of the Ring, will this year take the role of Kundry in "Parsifal".
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AFPEntertainment-Germany-music-opera-people
AFP 151212 GMT 02 06
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