
Richard Wagner depicts an all-consuming love affair in a masterly way, the French film maker Philippe Grandrieux directs.
A ship is approaching the Cornwall coast. On board: a melancholic knight and an indomitable princess. Tristan is bringing Isolde to the old King Marke, whom she is to marry. I'd rather die, she thinks – but the death potion in which she seeks escape turns out to be a love potion. Even before they go ashore, Tristan and Isolde are condemned to be one another's prisoners. Their forbidden love is so all-consuming that it can only result in an ecstatic death. In his musical drama Tristan und Isolde, Richard Wagner portrays desire in sound. Yearning melodies, endless dissonances on the verge of redemption: even the most dispassionate listener will be defenceless against this music. In the French filmmaker Philippe Grandrieux, Wagner is given an ideal travelling companion. Grandrieux' radical films bathe in a sensual twilight where sound and image merge. His directing places Isolde in the focal point of Wagner's opera and asserts itself as a fever dream in which music, video and dance become one.
ca. 5 hours, incl. intermissions
Exceptionally, the live introduction to this production will be replaced by an audio introduction in three parts. These will appear from 6 March on operaballet.be.
Given the immersive nature of this production, there will be no surtitles. We recommend reading the synopsis before the performance, which will be distributed via our website, mailings and social media and on the night of the performance.
This performance contains nudity and uses stroboscopic lighting effects.
We recommend this production for ages 16 and above.
German sung
The creators
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Alejo Pérez
Conductor
Philippe Grandrieux
Regie, belichting, video, scenografie & choreografie
An D'Huys
Costume design
Roy Cornelius Smith
Tristan
Carla Filipcic Holm
Isolde
Albert Dohmen
König Marke
Dshamilja Kaiser
Brangäne
Bjorn Hofman
Technical light design