And so Melbourne Opera’s great Der Ring des Nibelungen adventure begins.

It’s an immensity for any company to stage three full cycles of Wagner’s tetralogy. For a company as small as MO, it’s something of a miracle to get this far, and to break new ground by bringing it to Bendigo.

James Egglestone, Chris Tonkin, Jason Wasley, Warwick Fyfe, Sarah Sweeting and Lee Abrahmsen. Photo © Robin Halls.

The city’s mining history throws a handful of gold dust over the enterprise and Bendigo is a delight to visit. It would be wonderful if MO could establish opera here as a drawcard – it’s certainly worked in the UK, where many places much smaller have regular opera festivals.

One thinks of Longborough in Gloucestershire, presided over by conductor Anthony Negus, who has widely admired Wagner credentials. Negus is also a frequent MO collaborator and directs the 90-strong Melbourne Opera Orchestra for the first and second Bendigo Ring cycles (David Cram conducts the third).

Negus, who endearingly wore a shiny gold waistcoat on the opening night of Das Rheingold, is the ace in the hole, really. This may not have been a performance for the...