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  Richard Wagner

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Mild Und Leise Wir Er Lachelt
Wagner: Tristan und Isolde
EMI Classics

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Wagner's great ode to sexual ecstasy

The return of an iconic coup de theatre. David Hockney's stunning designs make his breathtaking, internationally acclaimed staging of Tristan und Isolde one of the Company's most exciting landmark productions. The bold and fancifully abstract Hockney sets dazzle the eye, creating a "tone of antic freshness, of fairy-tale legend filtered through adult (and adulterous) fantasy" (The New York Times). They provide a stunning visual counterpoint to Wagner's unfolding drama of fatal attraction and forbidden love.

With the intense longing of the opening orchestral prelude all the way through to Isolde's final aria, the artfully orgasmic "Liebestod," Wagner charts new operatic territory that changed the course of music history. Tristan und Isolde features two artists in the title roles, John Treleaven and Linda Watson, who will return in future seasons as Siegfried and Brünnhilde in the Company's first presentation of Wagner's epic Ring cycle.

PRODUCTION DATES
Saturday January 19, 2008 7:00 p.m.
Wednesday January 23, 2008 7:00 p.m.
Sunday January 27, 2008 1:00 p.m.
Thursday January 31, 2008 7:00 p.m.
Sunday February 3, 2008 1:00 p.m.
Wednesday February 6, 2008 7:00 p.m.
Sunday February 10, 2008 1:00 p.m.

CAST LIST
TRISTAN John Treleaven View Profile View Profile
ISOLDE Linda Watson View Profile View Profile
ISOLDE (FEB. 3) Susan Foster
KING MARKE Kristinn Sigmundsson View Profile View Profile
KING MARKE (FEB. 6, 10) Eric Halfvarson View Profile View Profile
KURWENAL Juha Uusitalo View Profile View Profile
BRANGANE Lioba Braun View Profile View Profile
SHEPHERD/SAILOR Gregory Warren View Profile View Profile
STEERSMAN Matthew Moore View Profile View Profile

CREATIVE TEAM
CONDUCTOR James Conlon View Profile View Profile
DIRECTOR Thor Steingraber View Profile View Profile
DESIGNER David Hockney View Profile View Profile
ASSOCIATE CONDUCTOR/CHORUS MASTER Grant Gershon View Profile View Profile

RUNNING TIME
4 hours 30 minutes, including two intermissions.

PRE-PERFORMANCE LECTURE: [ Listen ] [ Watch ]
One hour prior to each performance.
Music Director James Conlon interviewed by Michael Hackett.
Pre-performance lectures are generously sponsored by the Flora L. Thornton Foundation and the Opera League of Los Angeles.

PRODUCTION NOTES:
Sung in German with English supertitles.

Artists and dates subject to change.