Richard Wagner's Die Walküre
Performed by Orchestra of the Music Makers (OMM)
Die Walküre (The Valkyrie)
Presented by Orchestra of Music Makers
In Partnership with Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay
Recorded live on 5 January 2020 at Esplanade Concert Hall
Credited with reinventing opera as a form, German Wilhelm Richard Wagner (1813 – 1883) was one of the most influential musicians of his era and one of the earliest composers associated with the use of the leitmotif in his operatic works.
Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung), a cycle of four epic operas, is based on the legend of the mythical figure, Siegmund. It took the composer almost 26 years conceptualising the Ring—writing the story, text and music. With his detailed all-encompassing creative process, Wagner effectively invented the craft of the modern-day stage director.
The second opera in the epic Wagner Ring cycle, Die Walküre (The Valkyrie) premiered in Munich in March 1870 at the National Theatre Munich and has remained a timeless work of art.
Die Walküre depicts the tale of two young lovers, a magic sword, a cursed ring of power, Wotan the King of Gods and a band of Valkyries in a dramatic clash between good and evil. Searing passion and radiant ecstasy are met with moments of exquisite beauty in Wagner’s masterful score, as the cosmic drama speeds towards its inevitable conclusion.
Together with conductor Chan Tze Law, director Edith Podesta, and a cast of major international singers, the Orchestra of the Music Makers (OMM) presented the long overdue Singapore premiere of Richard Wagner’s Die Walküre at Esplanade Concert Hall on 5 January 2020.
Chan Tze Law is a Singaporean conductor and a founding faculty member of the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music at the National University of Singapore. Currently Music Director of OMM and the Metropolitan Festival Orchestra, he has appeared with major orchestras in the Asia-Pacific region and with soloists such as Lang Lang, Ng Pei-Sian, Melvyn Tan, Joshua Bloom, Fiona Campbell, Warwick Fyfe, and Igor Yuzefovich. In 2018, he received the Composers and Authors Society of Singapore’s Artistic Excellence Award for his contributions to Singapore music.
Orchestra of the Music Makers (OMM) is a Singapore-based symphony orchestra. Established in 2008, it comprises over 140 highly trained volunteer musicians dedicated to upholding the high standards of music-making the orchestra stands for. OMM has played at notable events such as the Cheltenham Music Festival and Lichfield Festival in the UK as well as the Taipei International Choral Festival. Following the successful performances of Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel in 2017 and Bernstein’s Mass in 2018, OMM most recently staged the Singapore premiere of Wagner’s Die Walküre in 2020.
