Saffron Opera Group is presenting a concert performance of Richard Wagner’s Die Walkure on Sunday, October 9 at Saffron Hall. This follows the company’s performance of Das Rheingold last year.

The internationally acclaimed cast for Die Walkure includes Andrew Greenan, Elaine McKrill, Michael Bracegirdle and Elisabeth Meister. They will be accompanied by Saffron Opera Group Orchestra conducted by Michael Thorne.

Die Walküre or The Valkyrie) is Wagnner’s music drama in three acts with a German libretto by the composer. It is the second of the four works that form Wagner’s cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung).

The story of Die Walküre is based on the Norse mythology where a valkyrie is one in a group of female figures who decide which soldiers die in battle and which live. Die Walküre’s best-known piece is the Ride of the Valkyries.

The opera received its premiere at in Munich in June 1870. Wagner originally intended the work to be premiered as part of the entire cycle, but was forced to allow the performance at the insistence of his patron King Ludwig II of Bavaria. It was first presented as part of the complete cycle in August 1876 at Wagner’s Bayreuth Festival. The work was performed at the Academy of Music in New York in April 1877

Show 2.30pm. Tickets £15 to £25, concessions available, from Saffron Walden Tourist Information Centre or www.saffronhall.com or, if available, on the door.