Los Angeles Opera’s staging of the four-part “Ring” cycle continues with “Die Walküre,” to which German painter and theater artist Achim Freyer brings a distinctive vision. Anja Kampe portrays Sieglinde, a twin born of a god and a mortal, headed toward a heart-rending fate. (Lawrence K. Ho/Los Angeles Times)
The stage is a work of art in Achim Freyer’s highly unconventional staging of Richard Wagner’s “Die Walküre” for L.A. Opera. Plácido Domingo, the opera’s general director, is the production’s costar, heavily made up to portray Siegmund opposite Anja Kampe as Siegmunds twin and lover, Sieglinde. (Lawrence K. Ho/Los Angeles Times)
Plácido Domingo as Siegmund, the offspring of god and mortal. (Lawrence K. Ho/Los Angeles Times)
Vitalij Kowaljow, front, is Wotan, ruler of the gods; Michelle DeYoung is Fricka, his wife. (Lawrence K. Ho/Los Angeles Times)
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The fantasy world of Wagner’s four-part opera finds surreal expression in German painter and theater artist Achim Freyer’s staging. Michelle DeYoung, left, is Fricka; Linda Watson is Brünnhilde, daughter of Fricka’s husband and the goddess Erda. (Lawrence K. Ho/Los Angeles Times)
Vitalij Kowaljow is Wotan and Linda Watson his Valkyrie daughter, Brünnhilde. Freyer applies color and light with a painterly sense. James Conlon conducts the orchestra. (Lawrence K. Ho/Los Angeles Times)
Plácido Domingo as Siegmund, who finds himself in a tangle of love, family and power. (Lawrence K. Ho/Los Angeles Times)
Plácido Domingo is Siegmund; Linda Watson is his half-sister and mother-in-law (oh, it’s a tangled family), Brünnhilde. (Lawrence K. Ho/Los Angeles Times)
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The Valkyries ride their steeds of sculpted wire, with bicycle-wheel tails. (Lawrence K. Ho/Los Angeles Times)
A ghostly glow chills Act III. Performances of “Die Walküre” continue through April 25. (Lawrence K. Ho/Los Angeles Times)
A circle of fire erupts as the god Wotan (Vitalij Kowaljow) imposes a sentence on the daughter, Brünnhilde (Linda Watson), who has bravely defied him. (Lawrence K. Ho/Los Angeles Times)
