There’s nothing in music quite like Richard Wagner’s Ring of the Nibelungs. The length – four hefty operas – is grand. The characters include gods and mortals, giants and dwarves, valkyries and other mythological creatures. The story itself is cosmic; it embraces love, power, incest, murder and the end of the world. Wagner scores The Ring with Freudian ingenuity and a new sound in the orchestra, a new style of singing, and a whole new stage presence.

Why do opera companies consider The Ring of the Nibelungs to be a grand cause for celebration? Because in music there is simply nothing like it.

In September the Canadian Opera Company opens its first season in the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts with Canada’s first Ring cycle. CBC Radio celebrates the occasion from Canada’s first opera house – live – with all four operas as well as features and contests on Wagner and the Ring cycle.