Birmingham Hippodrome will present Wagner’s epic Ring Cycle in November 2014 to mark the UK-Russia Year of Culture.
Conductor Valery Gergiev and his Mariinsky Opera will make their Hippodrome debut in four performances over five nights.
This will be the largest event in the Midlands when Russia and the UK team up to showcase the best of each country's cultural heritage.
It will be the first fully-staged Ring Cycle in Birmingham in decades. More than 250 artists will travel from St Petersburg to Birmingham.
Stuart Griffiths, the Hippodrome’s chief executive, said, “This is a great coup for Birmingham Hippodrome and for the city, underlining our reputation for presenting world-class opera.
“This production has only ever been performed in the UK twice before so we are very excited to welcome the Mariinsky Opera.
“The Mariinsky Opera’s Ring Cycle was the first full production of Wagner’s work by a Russian company since 1914, and Russia’s first to be sung in the original German.”
Rather than exploring the abstract psychological drama, Gergiev and set designer George Tsypin chose to focus on the mythological elements of the tale to create a production set in a timeless and non-specific place, making it a drama that aims to speak to all cultures.