Richard Wagner’s opera Tristan und Isolde combined an emotional and philosophical libretto with a harmonically revolutionary composition, cementing its status as a landmark composition in the operatic canon. Tristan’s grandeur finds a bold new register in the current production by The Metropolitan Opera, directed by Yuval Sharon.
On Saturday, March 21 at 1 p.m., WRTI will broadcast this cutting-edge production, which the New York Times recently declared “the event of the season at the Met.”
Joshua Barone, reviewing the production after its March 9 debut, noted that Sharon had kicked off a new era at the Met Opera, showering praise on soprano Lise Davidsen, in one of the opera’s title roles. “Davidsen, a generational artist bound for the pantheon of dramatic sopranos, is entering a new, mature phase of her career,” he wrote. “And Sharon, a great hope among directors in the United States, is making his house debut with an audience-friendly staging that holds innovation and clarity in equal measure.”
Tristan und Isolde features a German libretto written by Wagner himself, and based on a medieval legend, Tristan and Iseult. In Tristan und Isolde, Isolde, an Irish princess, is being delivered by sea to Cornwall, set to be betrothed to an English king. Delivering her is Tristan, the king’s nephew, and the man who killed Isolde’s fiancé. Isolde’s maid, Brangäne, tricks the pair into sharing a love potion just before they arrive in Cornwall.
Cast:
- Lise Davidsen as Isolde
- Michael Spyres as Tristan
- Ryan Speedo Green as King Marke
- Ekaterina Gubanova as Brangäne
- Tomasz Konieczny as Kurwenal
Conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin