How many other blogs discuss the challenges of being a singing Nordic god in 15-inch platform boots? Yes, fine, the internet’s a big place. But how many of these bloggers sporting 15-inch platforms are also opera singers? Much less Nordic gods? Exactly.
Wagner’s greatest work and the biggest opera event of the year Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung) now has its own blog. Called Notes from Valhalla, you can’t help but picture a horde of Vikings pecking away at laptops while wearing giant horned helmets and sipping cappuccinos.
Updated by cast and company members, it’s a feast of behind-the-scenes information about rehearsals, the artistic process, and where inspiration comes from. (Spoiler: unusual places.) It also ponders things like what Johnny Cash has to do with Wagner and the appropriate outfit for reading the rope of destiny. Follow the shenanigans of those crazy blogging Valkyries here.
The Ring Cycle begins June 14 at the War Memorial Opera House.