La Scala presents Wagner's Ring cycle this week

MILAN (AP) — Daniel Barenboim is conducting the first week-long presentation of Wagner's Ring cycle at La Scala since 1938.

"Der Ring des Nibelungen," which begins with "Das Rheingold" on Monday, is part of the opera house's yearlong celebration of the bicentennial of the births of composers Giuseppe Verdi and Richard Wagner.

The operas feature Rene Pape, Michael Volle, Simon O'Neill, Waltraud Meier, Ian Storey, Marina Poplavskaya and Ekaterina Gubanova .

The cycle is a co-production of La Scala and the Berlin Staatsoper production with staging by Guy Cassiers. It was performed in its entirety in Berlin this spring, and will be reprised next week in Milan.

The last time the Ring was performed in a single week at La Scala was 1938 with conductor Clemens Krauss with the Munich State Opera.