This summer, Brian Mulligan makes two highly anticipated role debuts as Donner and Gunther in Wagner’s triumphant Ring Cycle at the San Francisco Opera. Francesca Zambello directs these groundbreaking productions with Donald Runnicles leading from the pit for all dates. Maestro Runnicles, who served as music director and principal conductor of the San Francisco Opera from 1992 to 2009, is regarded as a leading Wagnerian conductor and he led the company in two Ring cycles in 1990.
Mulligan begins singing Donner in Das Rheingold, the first of four operas that constitute Wagner’s Ring Cycle. With performances on June 12, 19, 26, Mulligan shares the stage with an esteemed group of colleagues, including Greer Grimsley as Wotan, Štefan Margita as Loge, Falk Struckmann as Alberich, Jamie Barton as Fricka, Ronnita Miller as Erda, David Cangelosi as Mime, Andrea Silvestrelli as Fasolt, Raymond Aceto as Fafner, and Brandon Jovanovich as Froh.
He then sings the role of Gunther in the final installment of the Ring, Wagner’s Götterdämmerung. Running June 17, 24 & July 1, Mulligan joins Iréne Theorin as Brünnhilde, Daniel Brenna as Siegfried, Andrea Silvestrelli as Hagen, Jamie Barton as Waltraute, Melissa Citro as Gutrune, Stacey Tappan as Woglinde, Lauren McNeese as Wellgunde, and Renée Tatum as Flosshilde onstage.
For more information and tickets to Wagner’s monumental Ring Cycle visit the San Francisco Opera website.