Stéphane Braunschweig to Direct Wagner's Ring Cycle at Aix and Salzburg

Stéphane Braunschweig, a theatre director who also ventured into opera early with the 1992 creation of Philippe Fénelon's Le Chevalier imaginaire, has a passion for 20th-century repertoire. His opera work includes Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle, Strauss's Elektra, Berg's Wozzeck, and Janáček's Jenůfa and The Makropoulos Affair, often in collaboration with conductor Simon Rattle. In 2000, Rattle proposed that Braunschweig stage Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen at the Salzburg Festival and the Aix-en-Provence Festival. This ambitious undertaking marks the first Ring cycle at the Aix festival, historically dedicated to Mozart and Italian composers. The project begins in summer 2006 during the 58th edition of the Festival d'art lyrique d'Aix and will conclude in 2010 at the Salzburg Easter Festival.