'Tristan und Isolde' in Shanghai

Lise Lindstrom takes on the towering role of Isolde, opposite tenor Erin Caves, in Richard Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde when the Bayreuth Festival’s acclaimed 2022 production travels to the Shanghai Grand Theatre on July 4 and 6.

Directed by Roland Schwab and conducted by Xu Zhong, this Chinese premiere launches the three-year ‘Bayreuth in Shanghai’ collaboration between the Bayreuth Festival, Shanghai Grand Theatre, and Shanghai Opera House.

The opera follows the forbidden and all-consuming love between the knight Tristan and the Irish princess Isolde, whose tragic fate is sealed by a powerful love potion and the forces that seek to keep them apart. Schwab’s production centers around a massive oval structure that shifts and tilts throughout the performance, mirroring the emotional turbulence and sense of inescapable destiny for the star-crossed lovers.

Hailed by critics as “one of the preeminent Wagnerian sopranos of our time,” Lindstrom first sang the role of Isolde in concert with the Helsinki Philharmonic in the 2022–23 season. These performances will mark her debut in a fully staged production of Wagner’s epic tragedy, culminating in Isolde’s unforgettable “Liebestod.”

Photo: Chris Gonz