Great Performances

-Hello.

I'm Lisette Oropesa, and I'm thrilled to be your host for today's performance of Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde."

"Tristan und Isolde" is an exploration of the metaphysical possibilities of love and death, with a transfiguring ending that is well worth the five-hour wait.

It is also one of the hardest operas to sing in all the repertory, which is why today's cast is so thrilling.

Today, we have a hero and heroine for the ages.

Ever since she first appeared on operatic stages almost 10 years ago, the opera world has been clamoring for Lise Davidsen, today's reigning dramatic soprano, to take on the pinnacle role of Isolde.

Tenor Michael Spyres is singing the notoriously daunting role of Tristan for the first time in his wide-ranging career.

Together, they have made this production an unforgettable operatic event.

In his groundbreaking new production, director Yuval Sharon and designer Es Devlin have created an epic set that entirely fills the vast proscenium of the Met.

Sharon's staging plumbs the depths of Wagner's transcendental exploration of love, death, and rebirth.

Met music director Yannick Nzet-Sguin, a master of the Wagnerian canon, is ready to draw us into the opera's endlessly rich orchestral palette.

Here is "Tristan und Isolde."

-House to half, rails 0.5, lights 80, and sound cue 1, go.

-[ Singing in German ] -[ Singing in German ] -[ Singing in German ] -[ Singing in German ] -[ Singing in German ] [ Men singing in German ] Isolde [ Men singing in German ] [ Cheers and applause ] [ Cheers and applause continue ] [ Instruments tuning ] -At the end of the previous act, instead of dying together as Isolde had planned, she and Tristan have fallen in love thanks to having drunk the wrong potion.

When the action resumes, we are in the castle of King Marke, but nothing can stop the inflamed passions of Tristan and Isolde.

Here is Act Two.

[ Cheers and applause ] [ Cheers and applause intensify ] -[ Singing in German ] -[ Singing in German ] -[ Singing in German ] -[ Singing in German ] -[ Singing in German ] -[ Singing in German ] [ Cheers and applause ] [ Instruments tuning ] -At the end of the previous act, Tristan has been mortally wounded, and Isolde tells her lover that she shall follow him into the realm of death.

But death doesn't come easily for Tristan, as we shall witness in the moving final act of "Tristan und Isolde."

[ Cheers and applause ] [ Cheers and applause intensify ] -[ Singing in German ] -[ Singing in German ] -[ Singing in German ] -[ Laughs ] -[ Singing in German ] [ Fanfare plays ] -[ Singing in German ] Tristan Ah - Isolde - Ah Tristan Ah -[ Singing in German ] -[ Singing in German ] -[ Singing in German ] [ Singing in German ] Tristan -[ Singing in German ] -[ Singing in German ] [ Cheers and applause ] [ Cheers and applause continue ] [ Cheers and applause continue ] [ Cheers and applause continue ] [ Cheers and applause continue ] [ Cheers and applause continue ] [ Cheers and applause continue ] [ Cheers and applause continue ] [ Cheers and applause continue ] [ Cheers and applause continue ] [ Cheers and applause continue ] [ Cheers and applause continue ] [ Cheers and applause continue ] [ Cheers and applause continue ] [ Cheers and applause continue ]