DIE WALK RE Opens Tonight at Lyric Opera of Chicago

Lyric Opera of Chicago's new production of Wagner's Die Walküre opens Wednesday, November 1. The famous "Ride of the Valkyries" music will exhilarate first-time and experienced audiences alike, as will the many powerful and poignant dramatic developments and musical motifs interwoven throughout this epic opera.

Die Walküre opens tonight -- Wednesday, November 1, with seven performances through November 30 at the Lyric Opera House, 20 N. Wacker Drive, Chicago. Tickets start at $69 and are available at lyricopera.org/Walküre or at 312-827-5600. Performances are in German with projected English translations.

Die Walküre (1870) focuses on the conflict between Wotan (Eric Owens ), king of the gods, and his mortal son, Siegmund (Brandon Jovanovich), who has unwittingly fallen in love with his own twin, Sieglinde (Elisabet Strid/Lyric debut), the wife of the brutish Hunding (Ain Anger/Lyric debut). This arouses the wrath of Wotan's wife, Fricka (Tanja Ariane Baumgartner), the goddess of marriage, and the compassion of Wotan's daughter, the warrior-maiden Brünnhilde (Christine Goerke), the favorite of Wotan's Valkyrie daughters. The turning point of the opera arrives when Brünnhilde disobeys her father by siding with Siegmund in the latter's fight against Hunding. This production continues Lyric's new Ring cycle, which began last season with a rousingly successful Das Rheingold. The most popular of the four Ring operas, Die Walküre is often presented as a stand-alone work.

Sir Andrew Davis conducts the new production, directed by David Pountney. The late Johan Engels was the original set designer. Robert Innes Hopkins is set designer, Marie-Jeanne Lecca is costume designer, Fabrice Kebour is lighting designer, and Denni Sayers is choreographer.

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Bag suppers/lunches by Rivers Restaurant are available for purchase prior to each performance, with pickup during the first intermission near the concierge desk. $16 for choice of beef, smoked turkey, and vegetarian sandwiches with gourmet condiments on ciabatta bread, plus kettle chips, chocolate-chip cookies, and bottled water.

Lyric's Sushi Bar (between aisles 5 and 6, main floor) will be open for pre-performance and first intermission service for all evening performances of Die Walküre.

Cheers! Champagne bar (between aisles 3 and 4) will be open pre-performance and during both intermissions, serving fine French Champagne and international sparkling wines and sparkling cocktails.

The street-level Pedersen Room Restaurant (prix fixe) and third-floor Florian Opera Bistro (à la carte) will open 90 minutes before curtain for Die Walküre performances. There will be only one reserved seating in the Pedersen Room for these performances. (There are two seatings for other operas in Lyric's season.)

For information about all dining and refreshment options at Lyric, click here.

Performance dates for Die Walküre are Nov. 1, 10, 14, 18 and 30 at 5:30pm; and Nov. 5 and 26 at 1pm. For tickets and information call (312) 827-5600 or go to lyricopera.org/DieWalkure.

Estimated running time is approximately five hours, including two 30-minute intermissions. Die Walküre will be performed in its entirety, without cuts.

The opening-night performance of Die Walküre can be heard live locally on 98.7WFMT and globally on wfmt.com, on Weds., Nov. 1, beginning at 5:15pm, Central time.

For score information, click here.

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