Wagner's Siegfried Staged in Munich: Praise for Wotan Interpreter and Fresh Directorial Approach

Richard Wagner's opera Siegfried premiered at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich on 29 October. It is the third part of the four-opera cycle The Ring of the Nibelung, staged by the company's music director Vladimir Jurowski and director Tobias Kratzer. The production runs until 10 November and returns next summer, when the whole cycle is due to be shown.

Artist and posters

Each part of the cycle has a stylistically different poster. For Siegfried, the posters and the curtain use works by the artist Andy Fischer, with seemingly childlike drawings: a young hero, a dragon, a forest bird, the sun and a house.

Nicholas Brownlee as Wotan

The reviewer singles out American bass-baritone Nicholas Brownlee, who is 37 and lives in Germany. He is already being called the "Wotan of the century". Das Rheingold premiered in autumn 2024 and Die Walküre in summer 2026, and in the reviewer's view the singer has progressed with each part. Before Munich he had sung Wotan only in Das Rheingold at Dallas Opera in February 2023.

He told the newspaper Münchner Merkur that he is the "happiest debutant ever in the role of Wotan". He will soon sing the role in Buenos Aires, Barcelona and Frankfurt as well.

The title role and the staging

German tenor Benjamin Bruns debuts in the title role. Mime is sung by tenor Matthias Klink, Fafner by Finnish bass Timo Riihonen and Alberich by Austrian baritone Georg Nigl.

Kratzer focuses on the hero's personal development. In the first act the child Siegfried is played by actor Felix Frebel, while the adult Siegfried initially stands at the side of the stage and sings from the score. Once the sword Notung is finished, the hero "grows up" and Bruns takes over. The action is set in a modern flat and a city street.

The reviewer describes the production as a dark comedy with elements of a thriller and a horror film.