Tristan und Isolde, San Francisco Opera

 

Anja Kampe as Isolde and Simon O'Neill as Tristan

Photo by Cory Weaver, courtesy of San Francisco Opera

I feel like it's been all-Tristan and all-Eun Sun Kim for the last two weeks, in good ways. Here's what I have written plus further commentary:

• Review of the film "Eun Sun Kim: A Journey into Lohengrin." Stream the film (no charge) at the SF Opera web site.
• Eun Sun Kim renews her contract with SF Opera through 2030-31.
• Preview of Tristan und Isolde. SF Chronicle and SFCV. I loved talking to Matthew Piatt (prompter and member of SFO music staff), Rufus Olivier (principal bassoon), Gabriel Young (associate principal oboe, playing principal in Tristan), and Shinji Eshima (bass) about playing in this amazing opera. Deepest thanks to all of you for making time in your schedules to chat with me during a period of intense rehearsals for Tristan.
• Review, Tristan und Isolde, SF Chronicle and SFCV. Verdict: Kim, singers, orchestra, direction all magnificent. Go see this while you can; four performances remain. One way or the other, I will see three of those. The November 5 performance has the best availability (I KNOW I KNOW).

Well, what a night the 19th was. I have extensive notes on the performance, and there's so much I had to omit. A few notes - 

• If you've got eyes like mine or you're far from the stage, bring binoculars so you can see the specificity of the singers' responses to the text, especially soprano Anja Kampe. 
• Keep an eye on Annika Schlicht's dealings with that chest of potions. 
• There really was no appropriate place to note how the staging makes sure that the singers are able to stay hydrated. In Act 2, Tristan brings a bag on stage with him, and....part way through the love duet, he pulls out a flask and pours water into a goblet, which he then shares with Isolde. It's the reverse of what happens in Act 1, where she shares the cup of atonement with him. In Act 3, there's a flask of water on stage that Kurwenal uses to give Tristan water.
• The production was designed for La Fenice (The Phoenix) in Venice, an opera house that seats about 1100 people to the War Memorial Opera House's approximately 3200. Bayreuth seats 1900. Yes, I would love to see Tristan in a very small theater.
• A friend once said that you had to sit through all of Act 3 to deserve Isolde's transfiguration (aka "Liebestod"). Hearing the Tristan finale in context is, to say the least, nothing like hearing it in isolation.
• This was my 7th live production of Tristan: Seattle, 1998, Armin Jordan; SFO, 1998, Donald Runnicles; Met, 1999, James Levine; SFO, 2006, Donald Runnicles; Bayreuth, 2015, Christian Thielemann; Paris Opera (Bastille), 2018, Philippe Jordan; SFO, 2024, Eun Sun Kim. I also saw the Met HD broadcast with Simon Rattle conducting, whatever year that was, with Nina Stemme, Stuart Skelton, Ekaterina Gubanova, Rene Pape. 
• I don't know how I managed to go nine years between live productions. Tristan is my drug of choice.