Seattle Opera's "Ring" tickets go on sale to the general public Nov. 12

Rev up your credit cards, opera fans. Tickets to Seattle Opera's highly anticipated 2009 "Ring" cycle go on sale to the general public on Nov. 12, it was announced Tuesday.

The four-opera series — consisting of Richard Wagner's epic "Das Rheingold," "Die Walküre," "Siegfried" and "Götterdämmerung," collectively called "Der Ring des Nibelungen" — is one of the opera world's rarest and biggest events. When it was last staged here in 2005, it attracted Wagner fans from 49 states and 19 countries, and sold out months in advance.

The complete "Ring" cycle will be performed three times from Aug. 9 through Aug. 30, 2009, at McCaw Hall. Seattle Opera will simultaneously present a number of seminars, related performances and celebrations to mark the occasion.

In Seattle Center's nearby Fisher Pavilion, Wagner scholars and authors will give talks on the "Ring" and Seattle Opera education director Perry Lorenzo will lead in-depth, three-hour seminars. The company's technical director, Robert Schaub, will introduce audiences to the production's many special effects and Seattle Opera's Young Artists Program will present brief, English adaptations of some of the "Ring" operas.

In McCaw Hall, company general director Speight Jenkins will host post-performance Q&A sessions. And each performance of "Das Rheingold" will be followed by a champagne reception and late supper.

ACT Theatre will rejoin the party this year with a revival of the spoofy musical "Das Barbecü," currently slated for July 31-Sept. 6, 2009.

Stephen Wadsworth will direct the 2009 cycle and several noted performers will return to the cast, including bass-baritone Greer Grimsley, baritone Richard Paul Fink, soprano Margaret Jane Wray and mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe. Soprano Janice Baird is new to the production as Brünnhilde, as are tenor Stig Fogh Andersen (Siegfried) and tenor Stuart Skelton (Siegmund).

Jenkins announced in July 2007 that Seattle Opera's longtime Brünnhilde, Jane Eaglen, would not return to the role.

Tickets — priced at $302-$1,508 for the cycle — go on sale to the general public on the opera's Web site (www.seattleopera.org) beginning at 10 a.m. Nov. 12. Phone and in-person sales begin at 10 a.m. Nov. 15 (206-389-7676 or 800-426-1619). Tickets are already on sale to subscribers.

Lynn Jacobson: 206-464-2714 or ljacobson@seattletimes.com