First independent Australian Ring Cycle in 108 years will begin in 2021

Melbourne Opera’s staging of The Ring Cycle, starting with Das Rhinegold next year, will be the first independent staging of the four-part work in Melbourne since 1913.

Despite having staged over 50 operas since 2003, independent company Melbourne Opera has not received a cent of state or federal funding to date.

‘Never – and we’re coming up on our 19th year,’ company director Greg Hocking told ArtsHub.

While the lack of government support is clearly a sore point for the company – ‘Frankly, we’ve been excluded by the Australia Council for donkey’s years, as have many other people,’ said Hocking – it certainly hasn’t impacted on the company’s ambitions.

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Richard Watts is ArtsHub's National Performing Arts Editor; he also presents the weekly program SmartArts on Three Triple R FM, and serves as the Chair of La Mama Theatre's volunteer Committee of Management. Richard is a life member of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, and was awarded the status of Melbourne Fringe Living Legend in 2017. In 2020 he was awarded the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards' Facilitator's Prize. Most recently, Richard was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Green Room Awards Association in June 2021. Follow him on Twitter: @richardthewatts