In 1975, Seattle Opera presented the first cyclic presentation of Wagner's Ring in the United States since 1939. Produced with very little money by Seattle Opera’s founding director, Glynn Ross, Seattle Opera’s Ring 1 made a bold statement: that what was then a small outpost for opera in the American Northwest could build a complete Ring cycle and present it in six days. From 1975 to 1984, Ring 1 was presented twice each summer, one week in German, the next in English (in Andrew Porter’s singing translation). The production, which drew specific inspiration from the famous illustrations by Arthur Rackham, was designed by John T. Naccarato, reacting against the neo-Bayreuth style. Ring 1 was directed in 1975 by the great Canadian bass-baritone George London, well-known as the Rheingold Wotan on the Decca/London recording of the cycle conducted by Georg Solti. Henry Holt conducted all performances