Last Saturday’s premiere of Das Rheingold provided Chen Shi-Zheng the opportunity to take the audience through his director’s toolkit.

Reassured we were in safe hands, we could now sit back and enjoy the ride as his world-first digital staging of Wagner’s Ring Cycle began.

And what a ride it’s turned out to be – so far – with yesterday’s performance of Die Walküre proving nothing short of miraculous.

Rosario La Spina in Opera Australia’s Die Walküre in Brisbane. Photo © Opera Australia

Here is a director not concerned with superimposing modern-day politics on Wagner’s tetralogy, but rather one who wants to tell a story that will captivate our planet’s myriad cultures.

Wotan’s extended family is a microcosm; gods and demi-gods they may be, but their woes are yours and mine. He understands this, meticulously crafting interpersonal relationships that elevate the audience to ecstasy in one moment, and to tears the next.

At a time when boos perennially greet the excesses of Regietheater in Bayreuth, Chen Shi-Zheng has the Brisbane audience on its feet in rapturous ovation.

He is not alone, of course. His creative team and extraordinary...