Peter Bassett has been speaking and writing about Wagner’s works for more than four decades, and is well known to audiences of the Ring cycles performed in Adelaide in 1998 and 2004 when, on each occasion, he gave extended pre-performance talks attracting some 6,000 people. Peter still receives requests to record those talks. His frequent speaking engagements in Australia and New Zealand as well as in Europe and the United States have brought him to the attention of wider audiences. Since 2001 he has led 25 opera tours on five continents. He has published five books on Wagner’s works, the most recent being a large format, full-colour volume to commemorate the bicentenary in 2013 of the births of both Wagner and Verdi.

The celebrated Solti recording of the Ring is key to this project, one especially chosen by Peter to reflect his talks on the Ring: 'I can truthfully say that in forty years of “Ring”-going, no performance has made a greater impression on me than Solti’s famous studio recording for Decca. I count it amongst the most powerful artistic influences of my life.'