Since Caroline H. Hume Music Director Eun Sun Kim began her San Francisco Opera (SFO) tenure in 2021, she has followed through with a promise to conduct one opera by Giuseppe Verdi and one by Richard Wagner every season. This season the first half of that promise was fulfilled with the opening-night opera, Giuseppe Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera (a masked ball). Next month Kim will shift her attention to Wagner with the first SFO performance of Tristan und Isolde since October of 2006.
By way of a disclaimer, I should confess that, when I made my shift from Silicon Valley researcher to focusing on my current writing practices, my interest in Tristan could probably be called obsessive. To be fair, however, it would not surprise me to learn that more words have been written about this opera (not just through reviews but across the full scope of scholarly publications) than any other Wagner composition, if not any other opera at all. (For all I know, death will beckon me while I am busy reading yet another of those discourses.) All this should account for my eagerness to see yet another staging of the opera, probably more than once!
This production will mark the SFO debut of Director Paul Curran, who first conceived the staging for the Teatro La Fenice in Venice. The title roles will be sung by tenor Simon O’Neill (who happens to be a graduate of the Merola Opera Program) and soprano Anja Kampe, who has already established a “Wagner presence” with SFO. Indeed, she made her debut here in June of 2011, when she sang the role of Sieglinde in Die Walküre as part of a complete Ring cycle directed by Francesca Zambello.
For those unfamiliar with the plot, Tristan is a knight having been tasked with bringing Isolde to King Marke (bass Kwangchul Youn) to establish a bond of peace through marriage. As might be guessed, Isolde is not particularly happy with this treatment and is determined to poison herself before encountering Marke. However, her “traveling companion,” Brangäne (soprano Annika Schlicht) mistakenly gives her the vial of a love potion; and the first person she encounters is (of course) Tristan!
Kurwenal looking after the dying Tristan (photograph by Michael Crosera from the Teatro La Fenice production of Tristan und Isolde, courtesy of SFO)
Much of the second act involves the resulting passion between the two of them. However, Tristan’s loyal friend Melot (baritone Thomas Kinch) exposes the relationship between Tristan and Isolde. Tristan honors Isolde’s honor in a sword fight with Melot, during which he is stabbed. This leads to the third act during which Tristan’s fellow knight Kurwenal (bass-baritone Wolfgang Koch) has brought Tristan home to his castle in Brittany. However, before dying of his wound, Tristan has one last encounter with Isolde, after which she takes poison (getting the right potion this time) to join him in death.
This new production will be given five performances, four beginning at 6 p.m. on Saturday, October 19, Wednesday, October 23, Friday, November 1, and Tuesday, November 5, with a matinee performance beginning at 1 p.m. on Sunday, October 27. Ticket prices range from $28 to $426; and, depending on seating location, there is a facility fee of either $2 or $3 per ticket. All tickets may be purchased in the outer lobby of the War Memorial Opera House at 301 Van Ness Avenue or by calling the Box Office at 415-864-3330. Box Office hours are 10 a.m.–5 p.m. on Monday and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Tuesday through Saturday. In addition, there will be a livestream of the Sunday afternoon performance; the charge will be $27.50. Web pages are available both for tickets to the Opera House and for the livestream. Finally, those going to the Opera House will have the option of purchasing dinner packages (which will be sold separately from the tickets for the performance). A single Web page has been created with hyperlinks for the different dinner options.
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