Now in its 11
th year, The Met: Live in HD series is screened in cinemas around the world including exclusive releases at Cinema Nouveau and Ster-Kinekor, here in South Africa. The Met’s new season presents ten full-length operas including five new productions, three of which are new to the series.
All three acts of
Tristan und Isolde are originally set, respectively, aboard a ship on the Irish Sea, in Cornwall (south-western Britain), and in Brittany (north-western France). The many versions of this story all pay homage to the Celtic ambience and probable origin of the tale. Wagner’s preservation of this context emphasises several key themes associated with ancient Celtic culture: mysticism, knowledge of the magic arts, an evolved warrior code, and the possibilities of the afterlife.
The opera is conducted by Simon Rattle in his first Live in HD performance and is directed by Mariusz Trelinski. Nina Stemme stars as the world’s pre-eminent Isolde, who has sung with major opera companies around the world. Tristan is Australian heldentenor, Stuart Skelton who sang Siegmund in the Met’s Ring cycle in 2013.
In addition to the production, cinema audiences are invited behind the scenes with the Met's stars. Singers serve as hosts for the HD series, conducting live interviews with cast and crew members as well as the production teams. They introduce the behind-the-scenes features during the intermissions, giving cinema audiences an unprecedented look at what goes into staging an opera at one of the world’s greatest houses. The series has become a global phenomenon with more than 19-million tickets sold since its inception ten years ago.
You can watch a preview of
Tristan und Isolde here.
For more information, visit
www.metopera.org. Alternatively, connect with them on
Facebook or on
Twitter.