Though they might not get to Toronto this fall, opera fans across Canada will be able to listen to the Canadian Opera Company's upcoming production of the Ring Cycle on CBC Radio, the public broadcaster announced Wednesday.

While tickets to the four-part epic are nearly sold out, CBC Radio Two will broadcast Richard Wagner's famed tetralogy Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung) live from Toronto.

"This ranks as one of the biggest broadcast events CBC Radio Two has ever brought to Canadians," said Mark Steinmetz, director of radio music for CBC Radio.

Hosted by CBC Radio personality Howard Dyck, the broadcast will air the opera performances set for Sept. 12, 13, 15 and 17 ¡ª the first of the three cycles scheduled for September.

Tickets for all three Ring Cycles have nearly sold out.

Historic production

The Ring Cycle comprises four operas ¡ª Das Rheingold, Die Walkure, Siegfried and Gotterdammerung ¡ª and, in the past, both the COC and other Canadian companies have occasionally staged one of the four operas as part of their regular season programming.

However, the COC's full production in September is the first-ever Canadian production of all four operas consecutively, as Wagner intended when he unveiled his masterpiece in 1876 at his Bayreuth Festival in Germany.

The production this September also marks the COC's first major endeavour in its new home, the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto.

In addition to the live broadcasts of the first cycle, CBC Radio's Go and Studio Sparks will air live from the Four Seasons Centre in September. Other Wagner and Ring Cycle-related programming will also be featured on other radio shows, while a CBC Radio contest currently invites listeners to "remix" the famed Ride of the Valkyries from Die Walkure.