One of Europe’s premier opera houses, the Grand Théâtre of Geneva reopens on 12 February after a three-year restoration with Part I of Richard Wagner’s complete Ring cycle, Das Rheingold, with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande conducted by Georg Fritzsch. The performance is being offered for live broadcast by CHRTS to Euroradio Members under reference SM/2019/01/23/01.

Since the Grand Théâtre closed at the end of the 2015-2016 season with the same Ring production, seasons have continued at the temporary Opéra des Nations. The three-year renovation, at a cost of around 70 mn Swiss francs (over 60 mn euros), includes the restoration of the façade and public foyers as well as 1,000 m² of additional underground rehearsal space.

The Grand Théâtre’s Ring production directed by Dieter Dorn, with sets and costumes by Jürgen Rose, has been widely acclaimed by the international music press. Opera Now called it “not just a musical triumph, but an absorbing and vast parable”. Among the cast, Petra Lang will reprise her role of Brünnhilde, fresh from her triumph as Isolde at last summer’s Bayreuth Festival.

Inaugurated in 1879 as a smaller-scale copy of the Paris Opera, the Grand Théâtre of Geneva boasts the largest stage in Switzerland. The theatre was rebuilt after a catastrophic fire in 1951 that left only the façade and foyers intact.