Wagner Tristan und Isolde opera to libretto by the composer. Directed 2016 by Pierre Audi at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma. Stars Andreas Schager (Tristan), Rachel Nicholls (Isolde), Michelle Breedt (Brangäne), Brett Polegato (Kurwenal), John Relyea (King Marke), Andrew Rees (Melot), Gregory Bonfatti (A Shepherd), Gianfranco Montresor (A Steersman), and Rainer Trost (A Voice of a Young Sailor). Daniele Gatti conducts the Orchestra and Choir of the Teatro Opera of Rome (Chorus Master Roberto Gabbiani). Set and costume design by Christof Hetzer; dramaturgy by Willem Bruls; lighting design by Jean Kalman; video design by Anna Bertsch. Directed for TV by Annalisa Botto. Sung in German. Released 2019, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA
Mike Ashman can’t work up much enthusiasm for this production in his review at page 94 of the March 2020 Gramophone. He finds the first two acts (of three) dramatically dull due to weak sets and costumes and pans the video as “reportage” with no “special understanding of Audi’s or Hetzer’s work and certainly not of Jean Kalman’s lighting.” David Baker, writing in the June 2020 Opera News at pages 48-49, also pans the “drab and vague” sets and costumes while tipping his hat at the “desperate conviction” of the lead singers and warmly praising the supporting cast.
Here are good trailers from Teatro dell’Opera di Roma:
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