Scene from Barrie Kosky’s 2025 production of Die Walküre – the 2nd opera of Wagner’s Ring Cycle – in the same world as Siegfried, which opens on March 17 [Monika Rittershaus]

IN opera, nothing is so big a deal as staging the four blockbusters that are Wagner’s Ring Cycle, a dungeons & dragons epic that charts the history of the world from start to finish as a tale of greed, power, messy compromises and the search for a redeeming figure who will put things right (spoiler: he fails. Things go from bad to worse).

When opera houses do the Ring they usually spread the premieres of the operas across several years before they run them all together. And the current Cycle playing Covent Garden, staged by eminent director Barrie Kosky, reaches the third instalment, Siegfried, on Mar 17.

For the record, Siegfried is the fearless (which is to say, dumb) hero set up to salvage the mess, killing dragons on the way while braving flames to rescue maidens from eternal sleep. And for a while it’s looking promising. You have to wait until the next instalment to discover this won’t last.

Andreas Schager sings the vocally punishing title role, a killer in its own right. Conductor Antonio Pappano returns to the pit where he was formerly in charge. And Kosky’s production continues the ecological theme it’s been developing over the past two operas, with the world propelled toward destruction by indifference to the good of the planet. Runs to April 6. The show is also screened to cinemas on March 31. rbo.org.uk

• Other opera in London this week includes two student shows: Mozart’s La Finta Giardiniera at the Royal College of Music, Mar 16-21 (rcm.ac.uk); and a Royal Academy of Music production of Handel’s Rinaldo that’s promising because it’s conducted by David Bates, who was at Wigmore Hall recently leading one of the most dynamic Handel performances I’ve ever encountered. Runs Mar 17-20. (ram.ac.uk).

• Meanwhile, there’s more Handel at Smith Square, Mar 14, when Paul McCreesh takes his Gabrieli Consort through the composer’s pastoral Acis and Galatea – a piece of captivating charm despite the fact that these days it needs trigger warnings about male aggression, murder and distress. sinfoniasmithsq.org.uk

• Two off-the-wall events next, starting with an evening called Exoplanets at Hackney Empire, Mar 13, in which the City of London Sinfonia play music by new composers that imagines the sound-worlds of planets beyond the solar system. It’s not total fantasy, in that the compositions have been done with reference to scientific data. And there’s an astrophysicist on hand to explain all. hackneyempire.co.uk

Rather more down-to-earth is the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment playing one of its Nightshift sessions at the George Tavern, Shadwell, Mar 16. Music by Mozart, Brahms and others without genteel concert manners (you don’t have to sit still and be quiet) and, I fear, a certain amount of drinking. See the great composers turning in their graves. Or maybe not. oae.co.uk

• Back on the straight and narrow, the Philharmonia Orchestra play Mahler’s mighty ‘Resurrection’ Symphony at the Royal Festival Hall, Mar 19, conducted by Kent Nagano. southbankcentre.co.uk

• And at Cadogan Hall, Mar 17, the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine play Beethoven. How they manage to stay on the road in current circ­um­stances is unimaginable; and I’ve no idea how well they play. But they have courage and resolve, and totally deserve support. Go cheer. cadoganhall.com