WAGNER’S SIEGFRIED
Orchestra of the Music Makers
Esplanade Concert Hall
Saturday (5 September 2026)
This review was published in The Straits Times on 6 September 2026 with the title "OMM's ambitious semi-staged Siegfried proves Singapore is ready for Wagner".
After artistic triumphs of the first two operas from Richard Wagner’s The Ring of the Nibelung, Das Rheingold (2023) and Die Walkure (in 2020), it was a matter of time and principle that the Orchestra of the Music Makers (OMM) brought out its third instalment Siegfried. Conducted by Taiwanese maestro Lu Shao-Chia and stage-directed by Tan Shou Chen, this semi-staged production was an unqualified progression.
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| Photo: Yong Junyi |
Players and management of OMM have matured over the years, and undimmed is its vision to bring in top class musical acts, opera and otherwise, which would otherwise not be witnessed here. These Singapore premieres of each Ring cycle opera had boldly advanced into terra incognita, where even national arts organisations feared to tread.
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| Photo: Yong Junyi |
For OMM, music came first. Semi-staged meant the full orchestra of over 110 players performed on stage, not in a pit, thus fully visible to the audience. The sound was of concert hall quality and with no compromises. All the action took place on a lower stage placed in front and raised paths behind the orchestra. There were no sets and props were limited to tendrils of side glow fibreoptic cable lights, an anvil resembling a glowing lectern, Siegfried’s Nothung sword and a chair for the slumbering Brunnhilde.
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| Siegfried (Vincent Wolfsteiner) with Mime (Dan Karlstrom) Photo: Yong Junyi |
The international cast of singers was very well-balanced. German tenor Vincent Wolfsteiner as Siegfried, a man-child who knew neither fear nor his birth origins, was close to perfect except he looked older than Finnish tenor Dan Karlstrom who played his evil guardian Mime. Their Oedipal relationship, with hate bristling in every exchange, was portrayed to the hilt.
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| The Wanderer (Michael Volle) with Anna Harvey (Erda) photo: Yong Junyi |
Veteran German baritone Michael Volle sang The Wanderer, once-mighty chief god Wotan but now stripped of his agency. Three singers from OMM’s 2023 Rheingold reprised their roles. German baritone Joachim Goltz returned as the avaricious Alberich, albeit a far smaller part than in Rheingold. So did Polish bass Lukasz Konieczny, as fratricidal giant Fafner, now transformed into a dragon and deliriously dressed in drag.
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| Siegfried slays the dragon aka Fafner (Lukasz Konieczny) Photo: Yong Junyi |
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| The Wood Bird (Victoria Songwei Li) helps Siegfried find his dream woman. Photo: Yong Junyi |
Male voices dominated for most part, until late in Act 2 for the Forest Murmurs episode with Singaporean soprano Victoria Songwei Li as the Woodbird, who came like a breath of fresh air. British mezzo-soprano Anna Harvey returning as earth goddess Erda and Swiss soprano Stephanie Muther as former Valkyrie and Siegfried’s ultimate prize Brunnhilde, both appearing in the final act to complete the memorable ensemble cast.
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| Siegfried is united with Brunnhilde (Stephanie Muther) Photo: Yong Junyi |
Despite the serious subject matter, there was lightness and ironic humour about, not least in the fractious Siegfried-Mime angle. After tasting dragon blood, Siegfried could read Mime’s every ill intent in a typical tragicomic episode, putting him to the sword to complete the kills.
The full glory of Wagner’s orchestral music was fuel for drama, and OMM delivered with dividends, whether accompanying singers or in gripping interludes. Singapore Symphony principal Austin Larson guesting in the French horn solo that woke up the dragon provided the best solo instrumental highlight.
The long and vociferous reception accorded all on stage meant that Singapore is more than ready for more Wagner, and the concluding opera Gotterdammerung (Twilight of the Gods) from OMM cannot come soon enough.
Let's see who attended
Wagner's Siegfried by OMM:
