✕ ✕
Turning tips into memories
Login
Signup

You have reached the limit of free articles.


To enjoy unlimited access to Culture Whisper sign up for FREE.
Find out more about Culture Whisper

Please fix the following input errors:

  • dummy

Each week, we send newsletters and communication featuring articles, our latest tickets invitations, and exclusive offers.

Occasional information about discounts, special offers and promotions.


OR
LOG IN

OR
  • LOG IN WITH FACEBOOK

Thanks for signing up to Culture Whisper.
Please check your inbox for a confirmation email and click the link to verify your account.



EXPLORE CULTURE WHISPER
✕ ✕
Turning tips into memories
Login
Signup

Please fix the following input errors:

  • dummy
Forgot your username or password?
Don't have an account? Sign Up

OR
  • LOG IN WITH FACEBOOK

If you click «Log in with Facebook» and are not a Culture Whisper user, you agree to our Terms & Conditions and to our Privacy Policy, which includes our Cookie Use

Support Us Login
  • Home
  • Going Out
    • Things to do
    • Food & Drink
    • Theatre
    • Visual Arts
    • Cinema
    • Kids
    • Festival
    • Gigs
    • Dance
    • Classical Music
    • Opera
    • Immersive
    • Talks
  • Staying In
    • TV
    • Books
    • Cook
    • Podcast
    • Design
    • Netflix
  • Life & Style
    • Beauty
    • Fashion
    • Gifting
    • Wellbeing
    • Lifestyle
    • Shopping
    • Jewellery
  • Explore
  • Shopping
  • CW SHOPS
  • Support Us
  • Get Started
  • Tickets
  • CW SHOPS
Get the Best of London Life, Culture and Style
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).
Opera

Tristan und Isolde, Royal Opera House

05 Dec 14 – 21 Dec 14, 5:00 PM – 9:55 PM

Wagner's landmark opera comes to Covent Garden, in what looks set to be one of the best opera productions London 2014.

By CW Contributor on 3/9/2014

4 CW readers are interested
Tristan und Isolde, Royal Opera House
Tristan und Isolde, Royal Opera House
Tristan und Isolde, Royal Opera House Tristan und Isolde, Royal Opera House Ella Cory-Wright
Wagner's landmark opera comes to Covent Garden, in what looks set to be one of the best opera productions London 2014.
It’s not often that you get ecstatic cheers and furious boos in the same evening. But that’s what happened when this production of Richard Wagner ’s epic paean to love and death premiered at the Royal Opera House in 2009. The cheers were for Nina Stemme’ s thrilling and heart- breaking performance as Isolde, as well as for Antonio Pappano ’s insightful conducting. Both return for this run, together with American Heldentenor and Wagner specialist Stephen Gould as Tristan. Stemme in particular, whose singing had reviewers reaching for superlatives, is a huge draw.
The boos were for the director Christof Loy and designer Johannes Leiacker. Not for them, Wagnerian ships or castles, flowing robes and lavish scenery; instead, the singers, clad in monochrome, modern-day dress, perform for the most part on a bare stage. There’s just a curtain and a cut-out door to convey the divide between the public and private, the real and metaphysical. Loy, it seems, prefers to let the music speak. “I don’t like superficial distractions”, he has said. Critics, for the most part understood his approach and were far more complimentary, saying the stripped-back production brought to the fore the troubled psyches and the true relationships of the characters.
Tristan und Isolde has been described as a landmark opera in Western classical music, primarily because of its innovative use of harmonic dissonance, which creates heightened drama and tension throughout the three acts. At five hours long, it is undoubtedly a test of stamina for audiences and musicians, but that’s what we expect from Wagner operas. As well as, of course, the sublime, achingly beautiful music.
CLICK HERE TO BOOK TICKETS


What Tristan und Isolde, Royal Opera House
Where Royal Opera House, Bow Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2E 9DD | MAP
Nearest tube Covent Garden (underground)
When 05 Dec 14 – 21 Dec 14, 5:00 PM – 9:55 PM
Price £TBA
Website Click here to book via Culture Whisper and See Tickets



Most popular

Things to do in London this weekend: 13 - 15 May. Photo: Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliche, showing as part of Village Screen Film Fest
Things to do in London this weekend: 13 - 15 May
London Theatre Guide: best plays on now in London (Photograph: Peter Lewicki)
London Theatre Guide: best plays on now in London, 2022
Sasha Lane and Alison Oliver in Conversations With Friends, BBC Three (Photo: BBC)
Conversations With Friends, BBC Three review

A little more

  • What the critics say

    THE INDEPENDENT

    “Nina Stemme gave what could perhaps be the performance of her life as Isolde... as formidable in her scorn as she was rapturous in her devotion. This was as special a performance as I have seen in the role. It really doesn’t get any better.”

    Edward Seckerson

    OBSERVER

    "Loy has gone for the radical and the contemporary, always risky for conservative opera audiences. He has done so with such intelligence, such minute understanding of the libretto and such bold humanity, the work comes to fresh life and sharp focus.”

    Fiona Maddocks

    Practical

    ABOUT THE ROYAL OPERA HOUSE

    Since its refurbishment in the 1990s the historic Royal Opera House has become the most sumptuous venue in London. Make sure to enjoy pre-show drinks in the great Floral Hall and, if you can, book the balcony boxes: they're the best value for money if you can share with friends.

Sign up to CW’s newsletter
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).

We recommend nearby

  • Petersham Nurseries, Covent Garden

    Two new Petersham Nurseries restaurants have opened in Covent Garden, and both are to die for. The Petersham offers lunch and dinner menus grounded in a slow food approach, while La Gaccia provides a more laid-back all-day affair.

    Read more...
    Book Map
  • Sushisamba, Covent Garden

    Housed at the Opera Terrace, within the central Market Building, Sushisamba comes to Covent Garden. This is its second location in London after opening at Heron tower in Liverpool street. Expect Japanese-Brazilian-Peruvian fusion sushi and a truly unique culinary experience.

    Read more...
    Book Map
  • Cora Pearl

    Cora Pearl, the second restaurant from the team behind Kitty Fisher's, takes its name from the infamous 19th-century French courtesan. The menu, consisting of both French and British influenced cuisine, is deceptively simple, with cheese and ham toasties, fish stew, and chocolate ganache on offer.

    Read more...
    Book Map
4
We love

You might like

  • Kasper Holten

    Król Roger, Royal Opera House

  • Un Ballo in Maschera, Royal Opera House

    Un Ballo in Maschera, Royal Opera House

  • Image by AKA, (c) ROH 2014

    L'Orfeo, Roundhouse



  • The Culture Whisper team
  • Support Us
  • Tickets
  • Contact us
  • Press
  • FAQ
  • Privacy
  • Terms and conditions
  • Cookies
  • Discover
  • Venues
  • Restaurants
  • Stations
  • Boroughs
Sign up to CW’s newsletter
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).
×