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Tristan und Isolde by Richard Wagner
Saturday, March 22, 2008 (12:30 – 6:05 pm)
Stonybrook and Tinseltown Cinemas
Running time: 5 hours, 35 minute. 2 intermissionsConductor: James Levine; Production: Dieter Dorn; Deborah Voigt, Michelle DeYoung, Ben Heppner, Eike Wilm Schulte, Matti Salminen
Met Music Director and eminent Wagnerian James Levine conducts this much anticipated revival. Deborah Voigt, one of the world’s most celebrated Wagnerian sopranos, undertakes this iconic role for the first time at the Met. The leading Tristan of our time, Ben Heppner, portrays the other half of this archetypal couple on their mystical journey of love, sex, and death.

Tristan und Isolde is widely considered Wagner’s single greatest work. It was based on the tragic love story of “Tristan and Iseult”. Musically, the “Tristan Chord” that starts the prelude of the opera is one of the most famous chords, because no other chord in classical music was like it. The roles of Tristan and Isolde are most demanding and only a handful of singers in history who could tackle the roles properly.