Ryan Speedo Green triumphs in first outing as Wagner’s god in ‘Die Walküre’

By Mike Silverman

The Jemez and Sangre de Cristo mountains had vanished into the night sky by the time Ryan Speedo Green sang his first words as Wotan in Wagner’s “Die Walküre.”

Still, their invisible presence around the Santa Fe Opera House was a fitting backdrop, since Wagner set the scene on a high mountain ridge.

And indeed the part of Wotan, one of the most demanding roles in opera for a dramatic bass-baritone, seems to inspire mountain imagery. To conductor James Gaffigan, its length and difficulty make it “the Mount Everest for this particular voice type.” To Green, “It feels almost as if this is the pinnacle, the height of roles that you could portray.”

Now, at age 39, Green stands proudly at that pinnacle, if sometimes still shaking his head in disbelief at how far he’s come.

Having survived a troubled childhood that included time in juvenile detention, he found a