The respected Zambello is currently directing a new production of Wagner's Ring cycle for the San Francisco Opera.

BBC: Francesca Zambello and Placido Domingo

As Mr. Lepage did with the Ring Cycle, Mr. Counts fatally relies on the wow factor of technology and forgets about the people.

WSJ: Still Searching for the Promised Land | Moses in Egypt | New York City Opera | Opera Review by Heidi Waleson

The Proms will celebrate the 200th year of Wagner's birth with performances of his Ring cycle by Staatskapelle Berlin, conducted by Isreali-Argentine Daniel Barenboim.

BBC: Proms appoints first female director for Last Night

Imagine how much the Metropolitan Opera could have saved on its gigantic Ring Cycle if it had forgone the Robert Lepage "machine" and done it all with video.

WSJ: Still Searching for the Promised Land | Moses in Egypt | New York City Opera | Opera Review by Heidi Waleson

"He's quite unusual in his world, " says Robert Carsen, the director for whom Kinmonth has designed at least a dozen operas (most notably a widely acclaimed and well-traveled production of Wagner's Ring Cycle).

WSJ: The Ecstasy of Influence | Innovator of the Year 2012 Design

Created by A-lister Kasper Holten, the Dane known for his Copenhagen Ring cycle and now director of opera of London's Royal Opera House, this "Lohengrin, " which is set in the Middle Ages, actually has principals dressed in medieval-looking costumes.

WSJ: Review: High Note in Berlin | 'Lohengrin' at Deutsche Oper

Then too, just making it to the end of a "Ring" cycle is its own reward.

WSJ: It Takes Brass to Play the Wagner Tuba | By Barbara Jepson | The Ring of the Nibelung

The identity of the company that supplied Wagner tubas for the first "Ring" cycle at the Bayreuth Festival a year later is uncertain.

WSJ: It Takes Brass to Play the Wagner Tuba | By Barbara Jepson | The Ring of the Nibelung