Richard Scheinin and I both love music and prior to this page had collaborated on some epic summer jazz record roundups.

When he brought up the idea of doing a guide to Richard Wagner’s Ring cycle in advance of a run at the S.F. Opera, I jumped at the opportunity. 

I love Wagner’s music and own two versions of the full Ring cycle: one by Wilhelm Furtwangler and the other by James Levine. (I studied Wagner as a music student, and the mesmerizing Tristan Und Isolde theme still amazes me with how logical the voice leading is between some very chromatic chords.)

Richard and I kicked around a bunch of different ways of organizing the page before I hit on graphically depicting the cycle of the ring itself — how it passed from ring-bearer to ring-bearer until returning to the Rhine River.  

With the concept in place, I made the illustration and began assembling the other images — some specifically shot for this project by S.F. Opera during early rehearsals that were closed to the press.