Finally! At long last! It took me all these years to see and hear a production of Rchard Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde and produced by none other than the Met.
No, I didn’t fly to New York; I just jumped in my car and headed to Robinson Township’s Cinemax Theatre with its cushy chairs and big screen.The start time was 12 noon. The opera let out at 5:30, and no that’s not one of my all too frequent typos. Five and a half hours of great music and magnificent singing with two intermissions and lengthy interviews with the producer (Yuval Sharon), lead singers and the conductor (Yannick Nezet-Seguin).
In the film, I liked the fact that I could see the singers up close and personal. Their acting abilities were much more visible and evident at close range. The translation was perfectly positioned near the bottom of the screen so that I didn’t have to constantly shift my attention from the text to the stage and back and forth again and again.
It was a real thrill not only to see Lisa Davidseen (Isolde) and Michael Spyres (Tristan) at what felt like an arm’s length away but also give insightful, interesting and FUN interviews.
Is chauvinism still in vogue? Then I’m certainly au currant because when Kurvenal (Tomasz Konieczny) mentioned that he was from Lodz, Poland, my bonding mechanism really kicked in. Then, when he mentioned there was some sort of opera festival somewhere on Poland’s Baltic Coast this summer, I almost made plane reservations (until my more reasonable side took over and reminded me of my lack of funds). If there’s backer or donor interested in funding my visit, get back to me.
Here's a bit more about the Festival: Summer opera on Poland's Baltic Coast centers on the Baltic Opera Festival, a major annual event held primarily in Sopot and Gdańsk. Often referred to as the "Bayreuth of the North," the festival is known for grand outdoor performances at Sopot’s historic Forest Opera and staged productions at the Baltic Opera in Gdańsk.
Baltic Opera Festival 2026 The 4th edition of the festival is scheduled for July 2–7, 2026. The program features a mix of monumental German opera, forgotten Polish masterpieces, and commemorative concerts.
Back to the Met. The two previous nights were hard ones for me sleep wise. Restless legs and all that. So I wasn’t at my attentive best this afternoon, but wasn’t a bit sleepy, except for a couple lapses that didn’t last more than a few seconds.
I loved the orchestral overture to Act Two and was surprised that T & I hadn’t sung together at all in Act One. They more than made up for it in Acct Two and, of course, Act Three was the bombshell that ended with a very dramatic “Liebestod.”
At the end, it was pleasant to watch the Met audience do all the clapping, yelling and rose throwing while I simply sat in my seat soaking it all in. One thing that surprised me at curtain was the way the singers took their bows with the perfect looks on their faces – appreciative of the acclaim but without the hubris, so candid and authentic so humanly artistic. I loved that!
I simply must mention Bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green, who made his role debut as King Marke. His voice is both deep and clear and his acting is very effective.
I had hoped to experience the same reaction with Tristan as the one I experienced at the Lyric in Chicago during performance of Parsifal several years ago. There, I lost all sense of self, especially in the final act where I was so entranced by the ethereal experience I wasn’t even aware of the fact that I was unaware. When the opera finally ended after another 4-hour marathon (with intermissions), I actually wished it wouldn’t end. I was so comfortable in the blissful bubble I was in that I hated to leave the theater and step back into the reality of the street
T &I didn’t induce the same spell. Perhaps it was my mood, my lack of sleep, the fact that the Lyric was live and the Met on film. I must give that more thought.
The Met has two addition operas in theaters this season – Eugene Onegin and El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego, an opera about Diego Rivera and Frieda Kahlo, set on the Day of the Dead. For more information, go to https://www.metopera.org/season/in-cinemas.
More: “SOME OF THE BEST MOMENTS OF OPERA I’VE EVER HEARD ... A PEAK OF THE MET’S PAST DECADE” —New York Magazine
“AN ASTONISHING PERFORMANCE … THE EVENT OF THE SEASON.” —The New York Times
After years of anticipation, a truly unmissable event arrives 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 signature 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.
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