MD Fabio Luisi & Dallas Symphony Orchestra release landmark live recording of Wagner’s complete Ring cycle on Delos May 22

Fabio Luisi and the Dallas Symphony (photo: Sylvia Elzafon)

(March 2026) — Grammy-winning Louise W. & Edmund J. Kahn Music Director Fabio Luisi and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra (DSO) are proud to announce the release of their landmark live recording of Richard Wagner’s epic Der Ring des Nibelungen on Delos, the American label of Outhere Music (May 22). The project represents a rare undertaking for an American orchestra and is being released during the DSO’s 125th anniversary season, 150 years after the first performance of the complete Ring cycle at the Bayreuth Festival in 1876. Luisi and the DSO recorded their live performances of the four operas – Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, Siegfried, and Götterdämmerung – at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas across the year in 2024, culminating in full-cycle opera-in-concert performances that October. The cast includes Mark Delavan (Wotan), Lise Lindstrom (Brünnhilde), Sara Jakubiak (Sieglinde), Daniel Johansson (Siegfried), Christopher Ventris (Siegmund), Deniz Uzun (Fricka), Tómas Tómasson (Alberich), and Michael Laurenz (Mime), among many others. Luisi explains:

“This is music that demands everything from you – technically, emotionally, spiritually – and I am very thrilled and proud of the orchestra for embracing it with me. Wagner’s Ring cycle has been one of the most important and meaningful projects of my time with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Being the first American symphony orchestra in recent history to perform the entire cycle was a moment of great pride, made possible by the courage and commitment of the musicians and the entire DSO organization. The Ring holds a special and profound place in the history of music, and for me it has always been a deeply personal, transformational experience. I am thrilled that we have captured this in a recording and look forward to sharing the results with the world when it is released later this year.”

DSO Ross Perot President & CEO Michelle Miller Burns adds:

“The Dallas Symphony Orchestra’s traversal of Wagner’s Ring cycle represents one of the most significant achievements in the ensemble’s 125-year history. This epic journey would not have been possible without the talented musicians of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, our superb cast of singers, and our Music Director Fabio Luisi, whose breadth of experience in both orchestral and operatic repertoire proved invaluable. We are very grateful to the generous patrons who supported this ambitious project and to Delos and Outhere for helping us share these performances with music lovers around the world.”

Luisi’s work in opera is extensive and celebrated, with nine years at the helm of the Zurich Opera and six years as Principal Guest Conductor of the Metropolitan Opera, during which he won a Grammy Award for his leadership of the last two operas of the Ring cycle. With this release, the DSO joins a small and distinguished group of American orchestras to have recorded the complete cycle. Recorded by Grammy Award-winning producer Dirk Sobotka, part of the award-winning team at the Soundmirror recording and production company, the release also launches a new partnership between Outhere Music, of which Delos is the American label, and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Pre-order information and a preview track are available here.

DSO spring 2026 performances

Coinciding with the release of the Ring cycle, Luisi and the DSO undertake performances of another monumental work, Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 (“Symphony of a Thousand”), one of the largest-scale choral works in the symphonic repertoire. Featured singers are soprano Rachel Willis-Sørensen, soprano Meghan Kasanders, soprano Deanna Breiwick, mezzo-soprano Olesya Petrova, mezzo-soprano Renée Tatum, tenor Limmie Pulliam, baritone Luke Sutliff, and bass-baritone Insung Sim; the Dallas Symphony Chorus and Baltimore Choral Arts Society led by Dallas Symphony Chorus director Anthony Blake Clark; and the Dallas Symphony Children’s Chorus led by Artistic Director Ellie Lin (May 15–17). Mahler’s Fourth Symphony with soprano soloist Sofia Fomina will also be heard this spring, when Luisi and the orchestra tour California, stopping in Palm Desert, Santa Barbara, and Costa Mesa. The program also includes Schumann’s Piano Concerto with soloist Hélène Grimaud (March 31–April 2).

Other upcoming highlights for Luisi and the DSO include performances of Miklós Rózsa’s Violin Concerto by Sphinx Competition winner Amaryn Olmeda, who makes her DSO debut on a program that also includes folk-dance inspired music by both Brahms and Bartók (March 26–28); an all-Russian program comprising Glinka’s Overture to Ruslan and Ludmila, Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 2, “Little Russian,” and the 1945 version of Stravinsky’s The Firebird Suite (April 30–May 3); and a pairing of Mozart’s “Haffner” Symphony with three showcases for three different soloists: Bach’s Violin Concerto in E featuring DSO Co-Concertmaster Nathan Olson (Fanchon & Howard Hallam Chair); Haydn’s Trumpet Concerto in E-flat featuring DSO Principal Trumpet Stuart Stephenson (Diane & Hal Brierley Chair), and the Beethoven concert aria “Ah! Perfido,” sung by soprano Kathryn Henry (May 7–10).

Dallas Symphony Orchestra and Fabio Luisi: Wagner‘s Der Ring des Nibelungen (Delos)

Release date: May 22

Mark Delavan (Wotan)
Lise Lindstrom (Brünnhilde)
Sara Jakubiak (Sieglinde)
Daniel Johansson (Siegfried)
Christopher Ventris (Siegmund)
Deniz Uzun (Fricka)
Tómas Tómasson (Alberich)
Michael Laurenz (Mime)

Dallas Symphony Orchestra and Fabio Luisi, remaining 2025–26 season dates

(All concerts take place at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center unless otherwise noted)

March 26–28
Dallas, TX
Amaryn Olmeda, violin
RÓZSA: Violin Concerto, Op. 24
BARTÓK: Romanian Folk Dances
BRAHMS: Selection of Hungarian Dances

March 31–April 2
California Tour
Hélène Grimaud, piano
Sofia Fomina, soprano
SCHUMANN: Piano Concerto
MAHLER: Symphony No. 4
March 31: Palm Desert, CA
April 1: Santa Barbara, CA
April 2: Costa Mesa, CA

April 30–May 3
Dallas, TX
GLINKA: Overture to Ruslan and Ludmila
TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphony No. 2, “Little Russian”
STRAVINSKY: The Firebird Suite (1945 version)

May 7, 9, & 10
Dallas, TX
Kathryn Henry, soprano
Nathan Olson, violin
Stuart Stephenson, trumpet
BEETHOVEN: “Ah! Perfido,” Scene and Aria for soprano and orchestra
BACH: Violin Concerto in E, BWV 1042
HAYDN: Trumpet Concerto in E-flat
MOZART: Symphony No. 35, “Haffner”

May 15–17
Dallas, TX
Rachel Willis-Sørensen, soprano
Meghan Kasanders, soprano
Deanna Breiwick, soprano
Olesya Petrova, mezzo-soprano
Renée Tatum, mezzo-soprano
Limmie Pulliam, tenor
Luke Sutliff, baritone
Insung Sim, bass
Dallas Symphony Chorus & Baltimore Choral Arts
Anthony Blake Clark, chorus director
Dallas Symphony Children’s Chorus
Ellie Lin, artistic director
MAHLER: Symphony No. 8, “Symphony of a Thousand”