Opera Australia’s fastest selling show ever, first staged in 2013, will be the company’s flagship event next year.

The most titanic leviathan of the operatic canon, Wagner’s epic Ring Cycle, is considered to be one of the most apollonian feats any opera company can undertake, and while the gamble of delivering a convincing account of the four operas in Der Ring des Nibelungen can be make-or-break for a company, when done well the rewards are considerable.

This was certainly the case for Opera Australia’s Melbourne Ring, directed by Neil Armfield, which premiered in 2013 to unanimous acclaim. The Melbourne Ring was also the fastest selling show in Opera Australia’s history, and now the company are hoping to replicate the outstanding commercial and critical successes of 2013 with a revival of Armfield’s stunning account in summer 2016.

Spread over three performances, as per Wagner’s original Bühnenfestspiel vision for the Norse inspired saga, the 2016 Melbourne Ring will offer three performances of the four operas of the cycle, and will take place at the Arts Centre Melbourne between November 21 and December 16 2016.

Some of the key contributors to the premiere performances will reprise their roles in 2016. Finnish Maestro Pietari Inkinen will conduct conduct German heldentenor Stefan Vinke as Siegfried, Baritone Warwick Fyfe as Alberich and Bass-Baritone Daniel Sumegi as Fasolt. Among the notable new engagements for the 2016 production is American Bass-Baritone Greer Grimsley, who wowed critics with his performance as Wotan with Seattle Opera in 2014 and will reprise the role in Melbourne, and fellow American Lise Lindstrom in her debut as Brünnhilde, who Australian audiences can see next week in her Sydney Opera House debut in Turandot. One of the nations most cherished performers Cheryl Barker will also appear in the role of Sieglinde.

Opera Australia’s Artistic Director Lyndon Terracini hinted at some updates from Director Neil Armfield for the 2016 iteration of the cycle. “Neil is already working on various aspects of the staging, and I’m sure he has some intriguing discoveries in store,” he said.

However regardless of the promise of significant commercial success, the Melbourne Ring remains an extremely costly production. Fortunately thanks to the generosity of philanthropist and Lonely Planet founder Maureen Wheeler, Opera Australia has been able to go ahead with the 2016 presentation. “The Melbourne Ring was one of my life’s highlights, in all my travelling and experience the best that opera has to offer around the world,” Wheeler said of the 2013 staging. Bookings for the 2016 production open to the general public on October 29, and given the speed with which the 2013 production sold out, Wagner fans hoping to catch the Melbourne Ring will need to act fast as soon as tickets go on sale.