New Staging of Wagner's TRISTAN UND ISOLDE to Open the Met's 50th Anniversary Season

The Metropolitan Opera will open its 132nd season, the 50th anniversary of its iconic Lincoln Center home, on Monday, September 26 with a new production of Wagner's epic tragedy Tristan und Isolde. Sir Simon Rattle returns to the Met for the first time since his acclaimed 2011 debut to conduct the opera. The production is by acclaimed Polish director Mariusz Treli?ski, who made his Met debut in 2015 with the double bill of Tchaikovsky's Iolanta and Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle.

Swedish dramatic soprano Nina Stemme leads the cast in her first Met performances of her signature role, Isolde, which she has sung to acclaim with major international opera companies around the world. Australian tenor Stuart Skelton sings the role of her doomed lover, Tristan, with Ekaterina Gubanova as Isolde's maid, Brangäne; Evgeny Nikitin as Tristan's servant, Kurwenal; and René Pape as King Marke, the heartbroken ruler who comes between the two lovers. Asher Fisch, last seen at the Met leading Wagner's Parsifal in the 2012-13 season, will conduct the final two performances of the run.

Treli?ski's staging of Tristan und Isolde will feature the work of his design team from Iolanta and Bluebeard's Castle, with scenic design by Boris Kudli?ka, costume design by Marek Adamski, lighting design by Marc Heinz, projection design by Bartek Macias, and choreography by Tomasz Wygoda.

As part of the Met's ongoing commitment to making opera more accessible to all audiences, the opening night performance will once again be broadcast for free to numerous giant screens in Times Square-a tradition begun in 2006. The company's Rush Tickets program will also once again be extended to include opening night, allowing at least 100 lucky opera lovers the chance to purchase $25 orchestra seats for the gala performance.

The October 8 matinee performance of Tristan und Isolde will kick off the 11th season of the Met's Live in HD series, which now reaches more than 2,000 movie theaters in 70 countries around the world. This performance will mark the 100th transmission worldwide in the Met's Live in HD series.

ABOUT THE COMPANY

Sir Simon Rattle made his Met debut in 2010 conducting Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande. He has led numerous performances at major opera companies around the world including the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Vienna State Opera, Royal Opera, Covent Garden, Baden-Baden Festival and Salzburg Festival. For 18 years, he was the Music Director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, and he is currently a Principal Conductor at the Berlin Philharmonic, a position he will hold until 2018. In September 2017, he will become the Music Director of the London Symphony Orchestra. This season, Maestro Rattle will conduct Berlioz's La Damnation de Faust and Janá?ek's Ká?a Kabanová at the Berlin State Opera.

Nina Stemme makes her Met role debut as Isolde, a role she has sung to great acclaim around the world, including at the Glyndebourne Festival, Bayreuth Festival, Vienna State Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, and Zurich Opera. In 2010, she received a Laurence Olivier Award for the best role interpretation singing Isolde at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden. Her October 27 performance as Isolde at the Met will also mark the 100th time she sings the role. The Swedish soprano made her company debut in 2000 as Senta in Wagner's Der Fliegende Holländer followed by singing the title character in Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos. Last season, she sang the title roles of Puccini's Turandot and in the new production of Strauss's Elektra at the Met. Later this season, she can be seen singing as the title characters in Turandot and Elektra at the Bavarian State Opera, the title role of Elektra and Kundry in Wagner's Parsifal at the Vienna State Opera, and Brünnhilde in Wagner's The Ring Cycle at the Royal Swedish Opera.

Stuart Skelton has previously sung the role of Tristan to great success at the Baden-Baden Festival and English National Opera. He made his Met debut in 2011 as the Drum-Major in Berg's Wozzeck followed by singing the role of Siegmund in Wagner's Die Walküre. His other recent credits include starring as Erik in Der Fliegende Holländer and in the title roles of Verdi's Otello and Britten's Peter Grimes at the English National Opera and Siegmund in Die Walküre at the Bavarian State Opera and Paris Opera. He will sing the title character in Wagner's Lohengrin at the Paris Opera later this season.

René Pape reprises King Marke, his signature role which he has sung previously at the Met, as well as the Paris Opera and Berlin State Opera. He made his company debut in 1995 as Sprecher in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, and since then, he has sung over 200 performances at the Met. Later this season, he will sing Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte at the Berlin State Opera and at the Paris Opera, Philipp II in Verdi's Don Carlos at the Zurich Opera, Hermann in Wagner's Tannhäuser at the Berlin State Opera, König Heinrich der Vogler in Lohengrin at the Paris Opera, and Gurnemanz in Parsifal and Banquo in Verdi's Macbeth at the Berlin State Opera. In May, he will return to the Met as a soloist to sing at the 50 Years at Lincoln Center Gala.

Ekaterina Gubanova makes her Met role debut as Brangäne, a role she has sung to critical success at Baden-Baden Festival, Paris Opera, Berlin State Opera, and Bavarian State Opera. In 2008, she made her company debut as Hélène Bezukhov in Prokofiev's War and Peace, followed by Giulietta in Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann, Princess Eboli in Don Carlos, and GiovAnna Seymour in Donizetti's Anna Bolena. Following her performances as Brangäne, she will sing Amneris in Verdi's Aida at the Met, and then in the title role of Bizet's Carmen at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and Azucena in Verdi's Il Trovatore at the Gran Teatre del Liceu.

Evgeny Nikitin makes his role debut as Kurwenal. He made his Met debut in 2002 as Lt. Dolokhov in War and Peace, and additional roles he has sung with the company include Creon/Messenger in Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex, Fasolt in Das Rheingold, Colline in Puccini's La Bohème, Pogner in Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Orest in Elektra, Ragoni in Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov, and Klingsor in Parsifal. This season, he will also star as Holländer in Der Fliegende Holländer at Teatro Real in Madrid, Ruprecht in Prokofiev's The Fiery Angel at the Munich Opera Festival, Jochanaan in Strauss's Salome at the Dutch National Opera, and Don Pizarro in Beethoven's Fidelio at the Teatro di San Carlo.

Asher Fisch has conducted five productions at the Met, making his company debut leading Lehár's The Merry Widow in 2000, followed by Verdi's Rigoletto, La Bohème, The Magic Flute, and Parsifal. Maestro Fisch has conducted at the Los Angeles Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, La Scala, Paris Opera, and Royal Opera, Covent Garden. He is currently the Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor for the West Australian Symphony Orchestra, and previously, he was the Principal Guest Conductor at the Seattle Opera and Music Director of the Israel Opera and Vienna Volksoper. This season, he will conduct Falstaff and Verdi's Un Ballo in Maschera at the Bavarian State Opera, Die Zauberflöte at the Teatro Regio di Torino, and La Forza del Destino and Die Zauberflöte at the Munich Opera Festival.

ABOUT THE CREATIVE TEAM

Mariusz Treli?ski, artistic director of Warsaw's Polish National Opera, made his Met debut in 2014 directing the double-bill of Iolanta and Bluebeard's Castle. The Polish film, theater, and opera director made his opera debut in 1999 with an acclaimed production of Puccini's Madama Butterfly at the Polish National Opera and has since directed at the Mariinsky Theatre, Welsh National Opera, the Savonlinna Opera Festival, and Teatro Comunale in Bologna. Among his movie credits, he has written and directed the Polish films Egoisci, Lagodna, and Pozegnanie jesieni.

Marek Adamski is a costume designer, as well as a fashion designer, photographer, and stylist. His previous credits include designing costumes for Treli?ski's stagings of Salome, Thomas Adès's Powder Her Face, and Natalia Korczakowska's production of Moniuszko's Halka all at the Polish National Opera.

Lighting designer Marc Heinz works frequently with Treli?ski, having previously designed for his productions of Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice, Boris Godunov, La Traviata, and Turandot, among many others at the Polish National Opera. His lighting designs have been seen at other opera houses, including the Vienna State Opera, Zurich Opera, Hamburg State Opera, Paris Opera, and Baden-Baden Festival.

Video projection designer Bartek Macias is the co-founder of Lunapark, a collective of audiovisual artists. He has designed videos for numerous operas as well as stage productions of Nosferatu, Macbeth, The Lion in Winter, and Medea.

Choreographer Tomasz Wygoda's credits include working on numerous dance and opera productions as a choreographer, dancer, and dramatic actor. Previously, he has choreographed for Treli?ski's stagings of Puccini's Manon Lescaut and Henze's Boulevard Solitude for the Welsh National Opera.

Live Opening Night Screening in Times Square

On September 26, the Tristan und Isolde premiere will be transmitted live to Times Square. The opera will begin at 5:00 p.m. Attendance is free and no tickets are required. Seats will be available on a first-come first-served basis at Duffy Square (between 46th and 47th Streets), with additional standing room available.

The Times Square relay of the Opening Night Gala is presented in cooperation with the City of New York and the Times Square Alliance. The participating screens in Times Square include ABC SuperSign, American Eagle Times Square, Bank of America Times Square, Clear Channel Spectacolor HD 127, Morgan Stanley Lights on Broadway, and Toshiba Vision Times Square.

The live transmission to Times Square is made possible with the cooperation of the City of New York, with leadership support provided by Bloomberg Philanthropies. Additional funding is provided by the Metropolitan Opera Guild and Opera News. This program is also supported, in part, by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, Art Works, and by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

The simulcast is presented in partnership with Times Square Arts, the public art program for the Times Square Alliance.

Tristan und Isolde Fun Facts

Wagner's opera premiered in 1865 at the National Theatre in Munich after many delays. Hans von Bülow, whose wife Cosima was Wagner's mistress, conducted the husband and wife duo, Malvina and Ludwig Schorr von Carolsfeld, as Isolde and Tristan. After singing the role of Tristan four times following the premiere, Ludwig Schnorr von Carolsfeld died suddenly, leading many to believe that the cause of death came from the exertion involved in singing the role. Later on, the stress of Tristan und Isolde also supposedly took the lives of the conductors Felix Motti and Joseph Keilberth in 1911 and 1968, since both men collapsed while conducting the second act of the opera and died shortly thereafter.

Tristan und Isolde had its Met premiere in 1886 and has been performed by the company 355 times to date. Notable singers who have starred in the opera with the company include Klara Barlow, Birgit Nilsson, Helen Traubel, and Deborah Voigt as Isolde; and Lauritz Melchior , Johannes Sembach, and Jon Vickers as Tristan, with Melchior singing the role a record 128 times at the Met.

Nina Stemme is the first singer at the Met to perform the roles of Elektra and Isolde in back-to-back company engagements since Birgit Nilsson, who sang both parts to acclaim in 1966.

Tristan und Isolde Live in HD and Radio Broadcasts

The October 8 matinee performance of Tristan und Isolde will be transmitted live around the world at 12:00 p.m. ET hosted by Deborah Voigt. The transmission will be seen in more than 2,000 movie theaters in 70 countries around the world. The September 26 performance of Tristan und Isolde will be broadcast live on Metropolitan Opera Radio on SIRIUS XM Channel 74, as will the performances on October 3 and October 13. The October 8 performance will also be streamed live on the Met's web site, www.metopera.org.

The Met: Live in HD series is made possible by a generous grant from its founding sponsor, The Neubauer Family Foundation. Global sponsorship of The Met: Live in HD is also provided by Bloomberg Philanthropies. Transmission of The Met: Live in HD in Canada is made possible thanks to the generosity of Jacqueline Desmarais, in memory of Paul G. Desmarais Sr.

The October 8 performance will be broadcast over the Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network on April 8.

For more information on Tristan und Isolde, including casting by date, click here.

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