Celebrating 150 years of Tristan und Isolde

René Pape as King Mark and Ryan McKinny as Kurnewal

Today we celebrate the 150th anniversary of Richard Wagner's masterpiece Tristan und Isolde. The opera premiered on June 10, 1865  at the Königliches Hof- und Nationaltheater in Munich.  

We were planning on doing a more comprehensive post, but due to time restraints, recommend that you listen to today's feature on WQXR. 

One of our favorite performances in recent years was Ryan McKinny role debut as Kurwenal in Christof Loy’s production at the Houston Grand Opera in the 2012-13 season featuring Ben Heppner and Nina Stemme as the lovers.
 
A couple performances featuring barihunks that we're looking forward to include René Pape singing König Marke in Munich from July 8-12, Kay Stiefermann as Ein Steuermann in Bayreuth from July 25-Aug 23 and Tommi Hakala as Kurnewal in Helsinki from May 14-28, 2016.