Atlanta Opera staged the first two operas, “Das Rhinegold” and “Die Walkure,” in 2023 and 2024, respectively. The final chapter, “Götterdämmerung,” will be produced in 2026. Pulling from Norse legends and Germanic sagas, the German-language operas revolve around clashes between gods, mortals, valkyries, Rhinemaidens, giants, Nibelung dwarfs and a dragon.

The story of ‘Siegfried’

“Siegfried” is told in three, 80-minute acts. For the evening performances in Atlanta, a dinner intermission of 50 minutes follows the first act, with a regular intermission between the final two acts. The matinee performance includes two regular intermissions. Atlanta Opera will offer dinner service for the evening performances, and a preperformance lunch for the matinee.

Like a craveable streamer, “Siegfried” has some family melodrama, a touch of whimsy and a lot of fantasy. The opening action centers on the hero Siegfried (Stefan Vinke), his sinister stepfather Mime (Rodell Rosel) and the dragon Fafner (Alexander Kopeczi), who guards the treasure of the Nibelungs – including the ring of power and a magical helmet, the Tarnhelm.

Mime’s brother, Alberich (Zachary Nelson, reprising his “Das Rheingold” role), forged the ring and now wants it back. Along the way, Mime tells Siegfried about his biological parents and his father’s ruined sword.

Demands are made about repairing the sword, but Mime refuses the work after a fear-inducing chat with the god Wotan (Greer Grimsley). Siegfried, devoid of fear, fixes the sword himself. Meanwhile, Mime creates a sleeping potion to be delivered to Siegfried after he slays Fafner and collects the riches. And that’s just the first act.

Credit: Ken Howard2021

Credit: Ken Howard2021

Betrayal, intrigue and dragon slaying run throughout the story, and love blossoms between Siegfried and Brunnhilde (Lise Lindstom), a former valkyrie who is now mortal.

“There’s laugh out loud moments,” Kalb said. “There are moments where you want to cry.”

Catching up on the drama

Needless to say, there are a lot of moving narrative parts and there’s even more backstory. But audience members who missed the first two installments of the Ring cycle need not worry.

“Wagner knew that there would be people who didn’t watch the first two, so he built into the opera recaps,” Kalb said. “He uses these melodic devices that sort of signify events in the past operas. Within the first 20 minutes, you’re already caught up with all of the drama.”

Grimsley performed Wotan in the first two installments, but this is Atlanta’s first look at Vinke and Lindstrom as Siegfried and Brunnhilde. The cast arrived in Atlanta during the last weekend in March and started rehearsing, giving everyone involved a bit more prep time than usual. Logistics, including the use of puppets and the multimedia flourishes that have become an Atlanta Opera hallmark, also needed to be allowed for.

Lindstrom first performed Brunnhilde with Vinke in a 2016 Ring cycle for Opera Australia, and the two recorded “Siegfried’s” third act with the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie in 2019. Recently, Lindstrom sang Brunnhilde in the Dallas Symphony Orchestra’s lightly staged Ring cycle in October.

“For an opera singer, Wagner holds a very holy place because the music is so of its own,” Lindstrom said. “It’s so spectacularly unique.”

Even though the story is fantastical, the characters are extremely human, and that makes them accessible to the audience, said Lindstrom.

“(Brunnhilde) really is just trying to do her best as much as possible, and she makes a lot of mistakes along the way,” she said.

That accessibility, that humanity, applies to Siegfried as well.

“He’s completely naive to the world and its machinations,” she said. “Through that naivete, he makes judgments, and sometimes those are great, sometimes they are not.”

Lindstrom admits she has an easier job in “Siegfried” than some of her counterparts. While Vinke is on stage throughout the opera, Brunnhilde doesn’t emerge as a character until the last act.

“I feel a little bit like a cheater,” Lindstrom said. “I really just show up for the last 50 minutes and get to sing some of the most glorious music.”

‘A once-in-a-lifetime thing’

Calling Vinke “literally the Siegfried of our time,” Lindstrom said the cast shares a Wagner bond.

“It’s just a family, really, that does these specialized pieces,” she said. “And if you’re lucky enough, you keep bumping into each other throughout the years.”

Opening night will mark Vinke’s 130th performance of Siegfried, said Kalb, who grows animated talking about uniting an expanded orchestra of more than 80 musicians with singers he calls “the most famous Wagner singers alive.”

Full operatic stagings of “Der Ring des Nibelungen” are uncommon because of the sheer investment and dedication needed to pull them off, but it’s also not common to hear a cast like the one assembled for the Atlanta Opera productions. Atlanta listeners, he said, are in for a treat.

“I don’t think you can get a better cast for Wagner these days,” he said. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing to catch.”

OPERA PREVIEW

“Siegfried.” April 26-May 4. $55-$196. Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre, 2800 Cobb Galleria Parkway, Atlanta. 404-881-8885. atlantaopera.org