McNeese in Zambello’s San Francisco ‘Ring’

Coming full circle: San Francisco Opera’s “The Ring of the Nibelung” features, from left, Lauren McNeese, Renee Tatum and Stacey Tappan as the Rhinemaidens, who reclaim the magic ring at the end of the four-opera cycle. (Courtesy photo)

Mezzo-soprano Lauren McNeese spends her summer in San Francisco as Wellgunde/Rossweisse in the acclaimed production of Francesca Zambello’s new complete cycle of Richard Wagner’s Der Ring des Niebelungen. The production is winning over audiences and critics. McNeese and her fellow Rhinemaidens have been called “golden-voiced”, “a gilded yet lusty halo of a trio”, “shimmery-voiced”, “quite the sexy vixens”, and “the seductive and vocally well matched trio of Rhinemaidens.”