Bangkok Opera’s Ring Cycle was inaugurated in 2006 with an acclaimed production of Das Rheingold. The first Wagner opera ever produced in the ASEAN region and the first production of the Ring to be conceived from an purely Asian perspective, this Ring is built on the idea that Alberich’s actions are what have set the entire cycle of karma in motion. Wagner was very interested in Buddhism and at one point planned to compose an opera about the Buddha. The imagery and philosophy of this interpretation of the Ring, conceived by the Bangkok Opera’s dynamic artistic director Somtow Sucharitkul, is grounded in Hinduism and Buddhism, but leaps often into biting reflections on contemporary Asian politics, and the contemporary realities of corruption and power.

With a cost of seasoned Wagnerians from a dozen countries, and an orchestra gathered from three continents, Bangkok Opera’s five year plan to produce the full cycle by 2010 is one of the most daring artistic visions in the region.

“Wagner meets Buddism on Thai director’s stage” International Herald Tribune

“Thailand’s decision to be the first Southeast Asian nation to present the work has surprised even the most ardent Wagnerians. The production has the official blessing of the composer’s great-grandson Wolfgang, who inaugurated Bangkok’s Wagner society last year…
a mammoth undertaking!” New York Times