Ring Cycle II (1986-1995)

"Seattle Opera's three sold-out Ring cycles (this run is the final outing for this production) vindicated general director Speight Jenkins' vision of his company as a leading Wagner house in North America.  The vividness of the performances, disciplined involvement from the international audience and an imaginative range of lectures by leading Wagner authorities combined to give this event a truly festive nature."

—F.B. St. Clair, Opera News,
    "Seattle Opera's three sold-out Ring cycles..."
    December 9, 1995

"Long coddled by safe, representational operatic productions, the American public is getting a chance to see what directorial interpretation, so common in Europe, is all about."

—DMichael Walsh, Time Magazine,
    "Of Carousel Horses and Claws," August 18, 1986

"Seattle Opera's Siegfried Wednesday night at the Opera House was full of commitment and believability, astonishing pleasures and powerful music-making."

—R.M. Campbell, Seattle Post-Intelligencer,
    "Siegfried 's restraged second act astonishes
    Seattle crowd," August 13, 1995

"...there is an infectious sense of excitement and panache about the production by director François Rochaix and designer Bob Israel that does justice to Wagner’s ambitious designs."

—Joshua Kosman, San Francisco Chronicle,
    Seattle's Ring Casts Last Spell," August 1995