Steven Rosen Conductor

I must say that I came to know Richard Wagner’s music 13 years into my musical education. Before then, of course Wagner and his name associated with the great composers in history was known to me, but, I didn’t yet know the true significance of his genius. It wasn’t until Graduate School that by chance I was assigned to assist in a production of “Das Rheingold,” which led to my first encounter of studying a musical score composed by Wagner – this was an incredible milestone in my life, as I immediately was taken aback by the absolute brilliance of the orchestration. It was at that time, I realized that Wagner wasn’t just one of the known legendary composers, but, in many regards, in my mind he stood out above most of the rest.

“Das Rheingold” started me on my journey to wanting to know more about the man called Richard Wagner, and his legendary and greatest artistic achievement: “Der Ring des Nibelungen.” Learning that he devoted 26 years of his life to creating this epic, in it of itself was absolutely overwhelming to me – this alone further motivated me to want to know more and more about his history, which of course greatly assisted me in understanding his music. The more I studied about Wagner & his music, the more I began to realize and understand why he so greatly impacted and influenced western art and music.

No composer before him truly managed to synthesize all of the art forms (known as “Gesamtkunstwerk”) as he did so in his great Musical Dramas. It is this genius blending of all the art forms, that led Wagner to creating stories with music that embodies human spirit and complexities, which we all can identify with. But, it is his “Der Ring des Nibelungen,” an epic encompassing a brilliantly conceived story, and underscored by music (still revered to this day), that truly impacted me in such a profound way, that a fire was lit within me to find a vehicle to finally bring this genius creation to the masses – stay tuned, as this journey is about to unfold!