Tristan und Isolde

Overview

Inspired by Wagner’s own tortured affair with the wife of his patron, this searing masterwork is based on Arthurian legend and tells of an illicit romance between a Breton nobleman and the Irish princess betrothed to his uncle and king. The composer’s larger-than-life sensibilities are on full display throughout the score: Along with intoxicating orchestral music that surges in tandem with the couple’s burgeoning passion and a chord left symbolically unresolved until the last moments of the opera, the opera also features one of the repertory’s most soaring and ecstatic final climaxes, as Isolde surrenders to a love so powerful that she transcends life itself.

Keywords

Cast

Ben Heppner

Tristan

Jane Eaglen

Isolde

Katarina Dalayman

Brangäne

Hans-Joachim Ketelsen

Kurwenal

René Pape

King Marke

James Levine

Self - Conductor

Brian Davis

Melot

Anthony Dean Griffey

A Sailor's Voice

Mark Schowalter

A Sheperd

James Courtney

Steersman