Pan Cogito Contemplates A Great Washington National Opera Company That Does Not Have Its Own Wagnerian "Ring" Cycle

Change and the American Arts and Humanities?

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"A "Ring" is also a statement of a company's artistic stature. In 2007, [Francesca] Zambello told The Post that "it's a great benchmark." She added, "This demonstrates that Washington National Opera is an international company on the level of many of the great companies of the world, and you wouldn't be if you didn't have your own 'Ring' cycle.""

Anne Midgette and David Montgomery "Economy Puts Pinch On WNO's 'Ring' Cycle: Postponement Saves Opera Company Up to $6 Million" Washington Post November 10, 2008

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Given quickly rising American unemployment, bankruptcy, and homelessness, and the commencement of America's Second New Deal next year, how many U.S. citizens are gravely bothered that the so-called Washington National Opera will follow up this spring's local staging of Wagner's "Siegfried" with two concert performances of Wagner's "Götterdämmerung" and staged performances of Ambroise Thomas's "Hamlet", Mozart's "Le Nozze di Figaro" and a revival of "Porgy and Bess" in 2009/2010?

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Stephen DeStaebler "Two Women Walking", bronze, 75 1/2 x 31 1/2 x 31", 1992.

Photo credit: (c) Stephen DeStaebler and Andy Brumer. Copyright controlled. With thanks.