Michael Downes

Conductor and writer Michael Downes tells the fascinating story behind Richard Wagner’s masterpiece, Ring of the Nibelung, and explains why the work matters.

Downes says Wagner was one of the 19th century’s great storytellers. The story of how he created his masterpiece is full of intrigue, triumph and controversy due to his anti-semitic views and popularity with the Nazis. Downes combines biography and cultural history to show how the work came about, why it takes the form it does and why it fascinates some but horrifies others.

Downes is a conductor, writer and lecturer and director of music at the University of St Andrews. His previous books include ones with and about British composer Jonathan Harvey and a collaboration with Nike Wagner, great-granddaughter of Richard, on the English version of her book, The Wagners: The Dramas of a Musical Dynasty.