Attend a brand new production of Wagner’s Ring at La Scala in the 150th year since the cycle’s first complete performance
Explore the significance and meaning of the text, music and history of its composition in the company of Wagner expert Michael Downes
Enjoy the world’s most famous opera house from its renowned private boxes with Premium-Bronze category tickets
Please note that this is an exclusive small-group tour, limited to a maximum of 16 participants – an ideal number to appreciate the intimate performances and special atmosphere of this tour.
“The cultural content of the tour was excellent. The talks and informal discussions were of a very high calibre and added to our enjoyment of the operas. While intellectually stimulating, the presentations and discussions were also warm, friendly and enjoyable… We were very impressed with ACE from start to finish”
- ACE customer on a previous Ring Cycle tour
2026 will mark 150 years since the first full performance of Wagner’s monumental Ring Cycle, which occupied him for over 26 years and involved the extensive development of the work’s text and music, resulting in one of the most iconic operatic masterpieces in the world. The first complete performance, which took place in 1876, opened the inaugural Bayreuth Festival and set the stage for a myriad of subsequent performances that have influenced everything from classical music to film, cartoons and popular music.
“Experiencing Wagner’s Ring in the 150th anniversary of its creation will be an unmissable opportunity!”
– Tour Director Michael Downes
To mark this event, opera houses around the world will open their doors to all four operatic works, which together tell of an epic struggle between gods, heroes and mythological beings over the eponymous, all-powerful magic ring. We are delighted to be attending a highly-anticipated new production in Milan’s pre-eminent Teatro alla Scala, directed by Scottish opera and theatre director David McVicar and conducted by Simone Young, Chief Conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Among her many accolades, Young was the first female conductor to both record Der Ring des Nibelungen and conduct the cycle at Bayreuth (in 2024).
Supported by richly textured orchestration and performed by a range of excellent soloists – including Michael Volle as Wotan, Camilla Nylund as Brünnhilde and Klaus Florian Vogt as Siegfried (subject to final confirmation) – each opera will lead us deeper into the worlds conjured by the mythology of Germany and Scandinavia, expressed through Wagner’s famous score.
We are thrilled to confirm that all performances at Teatro alla Scala will be enjoyed from a selection of Premium-Bronze category boxes. The theatre’s renowned private boxes offer both superb vantage points and excellent acoustics.
To complement these magnificent performances, we will also visit a trio of important galleries: the Pinacoteca di Brera, the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana and Pirelli HangarBicocca. The latter’s collection includes the extraordinary, monumental Seven Heavenly Palaces by Anselm Kiefer, an artist whose work has often been inspired by the Ring Cycle.
Further highlights will include the historical Duomo complex, Santa Maria delle Grazie – home to da Vinci’s Last Supper – and the wonderful La Scala Theatre Museum, whose collection includes a Steinway piano belonging to Franz Liszt and a room dedicated to Giuseppe Verdi.
We will stay at the Hotel dei Cavalieri, a classic and comfortable four-star property located close to the Duomo and a fifteen minute walk from the Teatro alla Scala.
Michael Downes
Michael collaborated with Nike Wagner, great-granddaughter of Richard, on the English version of her book about her family’s history, and his latest book, Story of the Century: Wagner and the Creation of the Ring was published by Faber & Faber in November 2024.
“Richard Wagner’s Ring of the Nibelung is one of those rare works of art that is simultaneously enmeshed in the circumstances of its original creation, and responsive to the preoccupations of every era in which it is produced. The centenary of the Ring in 1976 generated some ground-breaking reinterpretations, notably Patrice Chéreau and Pierre Boulez’s Jahrhundertring for Bayreuth, and the new productions around the world being prepared for the 150th anniversary in 2026 promise to do the same. We can expect to see performances that reflect on the environmental, economic, technological and gender-political concerns of today, while also exploring afresh the transcendent beauty of Wagner’s music. Experiencing Wagner’s Ring in the 150th anniversary of its creation will be an unmissable opportunity!”
– Tour Director Michael Downes
Small Group Tour
Please note that this is an exclusive small-group tour, limited to a maximum of 16 participants – an ideal number to appreciate the intimate performances and special atmosphere of this tour.
8
£6295
WRCM-26
