Dresden, 15 January 2024. After the New Year celebrations, the Semperoper Dresden is launching the second half of its current season with another eagerly awaited opera highlight – and not just for fans of Wagner. After more than ten years, Richard Wagner’s »Tristan und Isolde« is returning with a magnificent cast to Dresden’s opera house on Sunday, 21 January 2024.
Under the musical direction of Christian Thielemann, principal conductor of the Staatskapelle Dresden and acclaimed as one of the world’s foremost interpreters of Wagner, the celebrated German heldentenor Klaus Florian Vogt will make his role debut as Tristan alongside the Finnish star soprano Camilla Nylund, who will perform the role of Isolde for the first time in Dresden. Other cast members include Christa Mayer as Brangäne, Georg Zeppenfeld as King Marke, Martin Gantner as Kurwenal and Sebastian Wartig as Melot.
Since its premiere on 10 June 1865 at Munich’s Hoftheater, Richard Wagner’s ecstatic masterpiece about unfulfilled love and the longing for death has been regarded as a unique musical-theatrical phenomenon, both for its content and harmonic daring. Indeed, the sensual plot and impressive score have found their place in our shared intellectual and cultural history with the famous »Tristan chord«, the prelude and the motive of the »Liebestod« (Love-Death).
This Dresden staging by Marco Arturo Marelli celebrated its premiere in Dresden on 17 May 1995 as a co-production with the Opéra de Montpellier featuring Wolfgang Schmidt and Deborah Polaski in the title roles. The opera was last performed at the Semperoper in October 2013 with Frank van Aken and Eva-Maria Westbroek as Tristan and Isolde. In this revival, Klaus Florian Vogt now takes on the challenge of adding the demanding role of Tristan to his extensive Wagnerian repertoire.
»Tristan und Isolde« by Richard Wagner
Staging: Marco Arturo Marelli
Run begins at 4 pm on Sunday, 21 January 2024 in the Semperoper
Additional performances on 25 & 28 January and 3 February 2024
With Camilla Nylund, Christa Mayer, Klaus Florian Vogt, Georg Zeppenfeld, Martin Gantner, Sebastian Wartig, Attilio Glaser and Lawson Anderson
The Staatskapelle Dresden will be conducted by Christian Thielemann. Also on stage: The Saxon State Opera Chorus.
A co-production with the Opéra de Montpellier
Tickets can be purchased online as well as from the Schinkelwache box office on Theaterplatz (+49 (0)351 4911 705). A 3D-seating plan can be viewed on the Semperoper’s online ticket shop to aid your choice of tickets and seats in the auditorium.
Please send any requests for review tickets (along with details of the editorial brief and likely publication dates) to presse@semperoper.de.
High-quality photos and other press materials can be downloaded.
Photo: Scene from »Tristan und Isolde« © Semperoper Dresden/Matthias Creutziger.