YS: As the director, I really want to take advantage of that and open up the whole world of this music into all of these other potential inspirations. No one's heard this orchestration, and no one has experienced what's going to be happening here so, lucky Detroit! So, we were intent to use every inch of space for the sonority and the grandeur of the loudness of it all. We have 75 as our full capacity in our pit. We also have a brand-new reduction for the orchestra. And it's his debut here with us at Detroit Opera. I'm really excited that Sir Andrew Davis is going to be joining us to open our season. I'm excited that it's going to be gracing this stage, giving him what he wanted. So, when this came up, it feels a bit full circle. DiChiera was still with us, and I was here singing Elektra, he told me that one of the things he really wanted to do was Die Walküre. But it is also something that is still attached to the past.ĬG: When Dr. Some of that music still sounds to me like science fiction.ĬG: But I mean, it is that kind of thing: you can be forward-thinking while still staying in touch to the fact that it would be amazing if Wagner had this technology. And yet the music was what Wagner called the music of the future, the artwork of the future, right, something that's, that still feels futuristic. But then there's all these mythic backgrounds. YS: It exists on the plane of that unbelievable humanity between, in this case, primarily the daughter and her father. While perhaps Wotan isn't human, he's certainly fallible. Every child sees their parent that they have put on a pedestal at some point.

It is an intimate look at a relationship that is falling apart or coming of age.

But it's not just this fantastical thing. But there's also something to say about the way that Wagner put this together. That's something that's incredible for a performer. I'm also looking forward to the fact that your live performance is going to be so front and center.ĬG: There is an intimacy here where people can see people's faces onstage and we can see people's faces in the audience. YS: It’ll be great to hear it in this opera house with the acoustic world of this theater.

Detroit opera house seating capacity