One year into the role, the Royal Opera\u2019s music director is taking on the challenge of Parsifal, and, next season, the Ring Cycle. I\u2019m here, and I am courageous says the conductor<\/p>\n
\u2018You can choose the cautious option \u2013 or you can take the full risk and just go and conduct. Maybe I would like the cautious option, but I never choose it.\u201d Jakub Hr\u016f\u0161a learned to trust his instincts at the Royal Opera House back in 2022 when he conducted his first ever Wagner opera \u2013 Lohengrin<\/a> \u2013 there, describing the experience<\/a> as \u201cone of the absolute highlights of my life\u201d. Now he\u2019s a year into his role as the house\u2019s music director and about to conduct his first Parsifal, staged by Evgeny Titov. And next season there\u2019ll be yet more Wagner firsts when he conducts complete cycles of the Ring as staged by Barrie Kosky<\/a>. For most conductors, this would be a gradual process, adding the four Ring operas to their repertoire one by one, but not for Hr\u016f\u0161a: he\u2019ll be conducting his first Das Rheingold, Die Walk\u00fcre, Siegfried and G\u00f6tterd\u00e4mmerung all in the space of a week.<\/p>\n \u201cIs it too bold? I find it wonderful!\u201d he says. \u201cI could have chosen to do it in my own way, in 10 years\u2019 time, somewhere else \u2013 but I\u2019m here, I\u2019m the music director, the Ring should be done and wants to be done in its entirety, and I am courageous.\u201d<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/0d8fe31407015e648728452b1c4bf417682ef14e\/3249_845_3282_2626\/master\/3282.jpg?width=140&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=4dca113e44b35e2236e5873be2ecae9b\" "\\"\u2018I")
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