San Francisco Opera Presents Tristan und Isolde at the War Memorial Opera House, October 19–November 5
Eun Sun Kim; Paul Curran; Tristan und Isolde photos: Michele Crosera/Teatro La Fenice
Music Director Eun Sun Kim conducts Richard Wagner’s masterwork for the first time in director Paul Curran’s production featuring Simon O’Neill, Anja Kampe, Kwangchul Youn, Annika Schlicht, Wolfgang Koch
Simon O’Neill (Tristan), Anja Kampe (Isolde), Kwangchul Youn (King Marke),
Annika Schlicht (Brangäne), Wolfgang Koch (Kurwenval)
Tickets available at (415) 864-3330 and sfopera.com
October 27 performance will be livestreamed
New Film, Eun Sun Kim: A Journey Into Lohengrin,Available October 9 for Free Streaming at sfopera.com and YouTube
SAN FRANCISCO, CA (September 24, 2024) — San Francisco Opera presents Richard Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde (Tristan and Isolde) from October 19–November 5 under the baton of Caroline H. Hume Music Director Eun Sun Kim who leads this monumental work for the first time. Paul Curran makes his Company debut directing his production from Venice’s Teatro La Fenice which features renowned Wagnerian interpreters Simon O’Neill and Anja Kampe in the title roles. In connection with the performances, the Company announces the release of a new film, Eun Sun Kim: A Journey Into Lohengrin, on October 9 which takes viewers backstage during rehearsals for the Company’s 2023 performances of Wagner’s Lohengrin led by Maestro Kim.
Rooted in medieval legend, Tristan und Isolde is about a love that transcends all, even death itself. Though Wagner finished work on his score in 1859, the work was not performed until 1865 due to its musical complexity and titanic scale which led some to declare it unperformable. A keystone of the repertoire, Tristan und Isolde calls for the orchestra and vocal soloists to sustain the sensual yearnings expressed in the work to ecstatic extremes, from the enigmatic “Tristan Chord” in the opera’s first 15 seconds to Isolde’s climactic “Liebestod” (“Love Death”) more than four hours later.
Taking on Wagner’s score for the first time, Eun Sun Kim continues her initiative to conduct major operas by two of the art form’s most important forebears, Giuseppe Verdi and Richard Wagner, each season. The San Francisco Chronicle praised last season’s performances of an early Wagnerian masterpiece: “Lohengrin, with its long-breathed, fluid melodies and shimmery instrumental world, is the most italianate of the composer’s works, and Kim and the orchestra caught that character perfectly … The radiant orchestral prelude that opens the piece seemed to blossom from thin air.” Earlier this year, Kim led Wagner’s final opera, Parsifal, with Houston Grand Opera about which Opera observed, “… she was in total control of the magical score’s flow surges, hesitations, mystery and majesty.” Her 2024–25 Season in San Francisco also includes Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera (onstage through September 27), a sold-out performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, honoring the work’s 200th anniversary, on October 26 and Mozart’s early masterpiece Idomeneo in June 2025.
Acclaimed Scottish director Paul Curran joins San Francisco Opera to direct his production of Tristan und Isolde which premiered in Venice in 2012. Robert Innes Hopkins, well known to San Francisco Opera audiences for his sets and costumes for recent stagings of Puccini’s Tosca, Verdi’s La Traviata, and last season’s L’Elisir d’Amore by Donizetti, is the production designer and David Martin Jacques, bowing with the Company for the first time, is the lighting designer. San Francisco Opera Chorus Director John Keene prepares the artists of the Opera Chorus.
Simon O’Neill, who “combined heroic power and clarion phrasing to create a gleaming portrait” (San Franisco Chronicle) in Lohengrin with the Company last season, returns as the titular knight, Tristan. The New Zealand native and former Merola Opera Program participant is today hailed as one of the world’s leading heldentenors, or tenors who regularly perform the heroic roles in Wagner’s operas which require extraordinary endurance, range and artistry.
German soprano Anja Kampe made her San Francisco Opera debut in 2011 as Sieglinde in Die Walküre in the Company’s co-production of Wagner’s Ring cycle by director Francesca Zambello. She returns this season as Isolde, one of the most prized roles in the soprano repertoire, which she has performed with the Vienna State Opera, Munich’s Bavarian State Opera, Berlin’s State Opera and at Buenos Aires’ Teatro Colón. Of Kampe's debut at the Metropolitan Opera in Wagner’s Der Fliegende Holländer, the New York Times said, “Her singing was plush and warm, with lyrical sheen in tender phrases and steely intensity when Senta’s obsession takes hold.”
Korean bass Kwangchul Youn takes on the role of King Marke, the betrayed monarch. Youn first appeared with San Francisco Opera last summer as Sarastro in Mozart’s The Magic Flute under Maestro Kim’s leadership. A celebrated interpreter in the Wagnerian repertoire, Youn has performed in many seasons at the Festspielhaus, Wagner’s home theater in Bayreuth, receiving praise in Parsifal for providing “a superbly resonant and authoritative foundation for the drama” (Opera).
Annika Schlicht makes her U.S. opera debut as Brangäne, Isolde’s confidant whose mishandling of potions in Act I is a catalyst for Tristan and Isolde’s love affair. Schlicht recently performed Brangäne with Deutsche Oper Berlin, a company where she has performed in a variety of Wagner works including the Ring cycle (Fricka and Waltraute), Rienzi (Adriano) and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (Magdalene). Bass-baritone Wolfgang Koch makes his San Francisco Opera debut as Tristan’s attendant, Kurwenal, for which Opera hailed his “agile, incisive” interpretation.
Tenor Christopher Oglesby sings the dual roles of a Sailor (Act I) and the Shepherd (Act III), and current San Francisco Opera Adler Fellows Thomas Kinch and Samuel Kidd are Melot and the Steersman, respectively.
Sung in German with English supertitles, the five performances of Tristan und Isolde are scheduled for October 19 (6 p.m.), 23 (6 p.m.), 27 (1 p.m.); November 1 (6 p.m.), 5 (6 p.m.), 2024.
LIVESTREAM: Tristan und Isolde, Sunday, October 27 at 1 p.m.
The Sunday, October 27 matinee performance of Tristan und Isolde will be livestreamed at 1 p.m. PT. The opera will also be available to watch on demand for 48 hours beginning on Monday, October 28 at 10 a.m. PT. Tickets for the livestream and limited on-demand viewing are $27.50. For tickets and more information about livestreams, visit sfopera.com/digital.
ANNOUNCING NEW FILM
Eun Sun Kim: A Journey Into Lohengrin
Scenes from Eun Sun Kim: A Journey Into Lohengrin.
San Francisco Opera announces the release of Eun Sun Kim: A Journey Into Lohengrin, a 60-minute film by San Francisco Opera and Lumahai Productions, the team behind the Company’s award-winning In Song video portrait series. The new film directed by Elena Park takes viewers behind the scenes and into the rehearsal process for San Francisco Opera’s October 2023 presentation of Wagner’s Lohengrin in the production by David Alden. With Music Director Eun Sun Kim at the helm, the artists and production team meet the challenge of this musical Mount Everest with singers familiar with their roles such as tenor Simon O’Neill (Lohengrin) and bass Kristinn Sigmundsson (King Heinrich) and others who—along with Kim—were taking on Lohengrin for the first time, including soprano Julie Adams (Elsa), mezzo-soprano Judit Kutasi (Ortrud) and baritone Brian Mulligan (Telramund).
The film will be released on October 9 and available for free streaming at sfopera.com and YouTube in English with optional Korean subtitles.
ANCILLARY EVENTS
WAGNER SOCIETY OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
DIRECTORS IN CONVERSATION
Green Room, Veterans Building, 401 Van Ness Avenue, Second Floor, San Francisco
Director Paul Curran on Tristan und Isolde
Monday, October 14 at 7 p.m.
With the premiere of San Francisco Opera’s production of Tristan und Isolde approaching, the Wagner Society of Northern California hosts director Paul Curran in this free preview discussion. For more information and to register, visit wagnersf.org/events/director-paul-curran-on-tristan-und-isolde.
Francesca Zambello on Tannhäuser
Monday, October 28 at 7 p.m.
Director Francesca Zambello joins the Wagner Society of Northern California for a free preview of her production of Wagner’s Tannhäuser for Houston Grand Opera in April/May 2025. Zambello also directs San Francisco Opera’s production of Carmen this fall, opening November 13. For more information and to register for the Tannhäuser discussion, visit wagnersf.org/events/francesca-zambello-on-directing-wagner-and-her-upcoming-tannhauser-in-houston.
PRE-OPERA TALKS
Conductor and music historian Peter Susskind will provide a 25-minute overview of the opera 55 minutes prior to each performance in the Opera House auditorium for ticketholders. An audio recording of the talk will be available at sfopera.com/operas/tristan-and-isolde.
*For the complete press release, including calendar and program details, open the PDF version above.