Wagner’s
Tristan und Isolde
NEW PRODUCTION
Music by Richard Wagner | Libretto by the composer
Live: Saturday, March 21 at 9:00 a.m.
Encore: Wednesday, March 25 at 1:00 p.m.
There will be a pre-opera talk led by John Steinbrunner one hour before the LIVE performance on Saturday.
Conductor: Yannick Nézet-Séguin
CAST: Lise Davidsen (Isolde), Ekaterina Gubanova (Brangäne), Michael Spyres (Tristan), Tomasz Konieczny (Kurwenal), Ryan Speedo Green (King Marke)
After years of anticipation, a truly unmissable event arrives in cinemas worldwide on March 21 as the electrifying Lise Davidsen tackles one of the ultimate roles for dramatic soprano: the Irish princess Isolde in Wagner’s transcendent meditation on love and death. Heroic tenor Michael Spyres stars opposite Davidsen as the love-drunk Tristan. The momentous occasion also marks the advent of a new, Met-debut staging by Yuval Sharon — hailed by The New York Times as “the most visionary opera director of his generation” and the first American to direct an opera at the famed Wagner festival in Bayreuth — as well as Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin’s first time leading “Tristan und Isolde” at the Met. Mezzo-soprano Ekaterina Gubanova reprises her portrayal of Brangäne, alongside bass-baritone Tomasz Konieczny, who sings Kurwenal after celebrated Met appearances in Wagner’s Der Fliegende Holländer and Ring cycle. Bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green makes an important role debut as King Marke.
ACT I
Isolde is being escorted by Tristan on his ship to Cornwall, whose ruler (and Tristan’s foster father), Marke, she is to marry. She tells her companion, Brangäne, how she once treated Tristan’s wounds after he killed her betrothed, Morold. Now humiliated by her captivity, she asks Brangäne to prepare poison for her and Tristan to drink. Brangäne gives them a love potion instead. As the ship sails into the harbor, Tristan and Isolde confess their love.
ACT II
The lovers meet in secret while Marke is away. Tristan expresses his belief that love can only find fulfillment at night. Faced with the inevitability of their parting at daybreak, Tristan and Isolde resolve to die. Marke discovers them and is devastated by Tristan’s disloyalty. Tristan implores Isolde to set off into the night with him. She agrees. After a struggle with Marke’s men, Tristan is wounded and collapses.
ACT III
Tristan is lying in a coma with Kurwenal, his aide, watching over him. As his life slips away, he recalls traumatic events, including the death of his parents. Kurwenal has summoned Isolde, and when her ship appears, the delirious Tristan tears off his bandages and dies in her arms. Marke and Brangäne try to draw Isolde back to the realm of day and life, but she expires in a rapture of ecstatic love.
The 2025-2026 Met Live Opera season in Sedona is generously sponsored by Chris Fladlien.