Volumes have been written about the influential score of Tristan und Isolde. The music is built on the idea of a great yearning, irresistible and self-perpetuating, that cannot be fulfilled in this life. The prelude sweeps the listener into an ecstatic yet tortuous world of longing, and the vocal parts are of unique stature. The opera culminates in Isolde’s famous final aria, “Mild und leise,” with a final octave leap that concludes this unique musical-dramatic journey.

About the Creators and Cast
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.