JOURNEY TO VALHALLA
Michael Christie conducted the premiere performances of Journey to Valhalla after a year of editing and arranging piano/vocal and orchestral materials. Favorable material rental pricing terms and conducting services are available.
An immersive 2 hour and 15 minute musical journey through Wagner’s four “Ring Cycle” operas
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Judiciously reduced instrumentation by creator Michael Christie retains power while making these typically out of reach scores accessible for a triple wind orchestra.
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Focused vocal casting maintains the narrative with fewer vocalists, ensuring audiences experience the Ring’s rarely excerpted significant vocal scenes in context.
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Beautiful video animations of Arthur Rackham’s iconic artwork by Projection Designer David Murakami highlight Wagner's world.
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Well-suited for opera companies interested in presenting the core of the Ring to its audiences, and for symphony orchestras seeking a musically and visually enhanced concert experience.
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Available for both concert and semi-staged presentations. The production can be customized to fit your needs.
“Michael Christie‘s study guide version of all of this just gets to the heart of the matter … The panels are a welcome informational element and give some needed visual dimension to the proceedings.”
~S. Fairbank, blog - review of Lyric Opera of Kansas City performance, May 2024
“Conductor and Music Director Michael Christie‘s arrangement conception was to create a ‘Ring’s Greatest Hits’ with music that flows seamlessly between sections and integrates enough plot elements to let an audience follow along. Focusing on the parts of The Ring that have endured in the imagination of music lovers was to do it in the only way that really makes sense, and Christie’s condensed score does a fine job of presenting the larger work in a version that you can get through easily in one evening.”
Das Rheingold (The Rhinegold)
Die Walküre (The Valkyrie)
Siegfried
Götterdämmerung (Twilight of the Gods)
For more information Journey to Valhalla's music rental and conductor services, email valhallajourneyadm@gmail.com.
Promotional videos and stills of the original LOKC semi-staged production provided with thanks to
Lyric Opera of Kansas City, David Murakami and Andy Schwartz for Lyric Opera of Kansas City.