Lise Davidsen’s Isolde arrives at the Met in new Tristan und Isolde

The Metropolitan Opera opened a highly anticipated new production of Richard Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde on March 9, with Lise Davidsen taking on the role of Isolde in what marks one of the most closely watched Wagnerian events of the season.

The staging is directed by Yuval Sharon, who makes his Metropolitan Opera debut, with Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducting. The cast also includes Michael Spyres as Tristan, Ekaterina Gubanova as Brangäne, Tomasz Konieczny as Kurwenal, and Ryan Speedo Green, who makes his role debut as King Marke.

Such has been the demand for the production that the Met has already added an additional performance on April 4, extending the run beyond the originally announced dates.

A long-awaited role for Lise Davidsen

For Davidsen, the production represents another milestone in a role that many observers have long expected her to sing. Widely regarded as one of the most demanding parts in the dramatic soprano repertoire, Isolde has long been associated with the Norwegian soprano’s Wagnerian voice.

Earlier this year, Davidsen made her role debut as Isolde at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, a step she had deliberately postponed until she felt fully prepared for the part. That production, conducted by Susanna Mälkki, marked her first fully staged encounter with Wagner’s heroine and was followed closely by the international opera community.

The Met staging now brings the role to one of the world’s largest opera houses, placing Davidsen at the centre of a production conceived on a large visual and symbolic scale.

Yuval Sharon’s Met debut

The new production also marks the Met debut of American director Yuval Sharon, one of the most distinctive figures in contemporary opera staging. Founder of the Los Angeles-based experimental company The Industry, Sharon has become known for innovative productions that challenge conventional approaches to the repertoire.

In 2018, he became the first American director to stage an opera at the Bayreuth Festival, with a new production of Wagner’s Lohengrin. His work has also included unconventional projects such as staging operas in moving cars across Los Angeles and presenting Wagner in unexpected urban spaces.

According to a report by Adam Nagourney in the New York Times the Metropolitan Opera’s decision to entrust Sharon with Tristan und Isolde represents a significant artistic step for the company.

Met general manager Peter Gelb told the newspaper that audiences expect an abstract approach to Wagner’s work, adding that the new staging would be “unlike anything anyone has seen at the Met or anywhere.”

Sharon himself has described Tristan und Isolde as “the single hardest work in the traditional repertoire to stage.”

A symbolic staging

Sharon’s interpretation focuses on the philosophical dimensions of Wagner’s drama, exploring themes of love, death, and rebirth.

The staging centres on a large scenic structure that transforms across the three acts, shifting from the ship carrying Isolde to Cornwall to a symbolic tunnel that evokes the passage between life and death. At key moments in the third act, the production presents two parallel versions of Tristan, merging the mythic world of the story with ritual imagery on stage.

The visual environment is created by an international design team including Es Devlin (set design), Clint Ramos (costumes), John Torres (lighting), Jason H. Thompson (projections), Ruth Hogben (video design), and Annie-B Parson (choreography).

Musical direction

The production is conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, who leads his first fully staged Tristan und Isolde at the Metropolitan Opera.

Reflecting on the score’s unique structure, the conductor told the New York Times that Wagner’s music offers few stable reference points: “You have to swim with it — and make sure that nobody drowns.”

One of the performances, on March 21, will also be transmitted worldwide as part of the Met’s Live in HD cinema series.

Part of a broader collaboration

The new Tristan und Isolde also marks the beginning of a broader collaboration between Yuval Sharon and the Metropolitan Opera. The director is scheduled to stage a new Ring cycle for the company beginning with Das Rheingold in the 2027–28 season, culminating in a full presentation of Wagner’s tetralogy in 2030.

Davidsen is expected to sing Brünnhilde in that project, further strengthening her association with Wagner’s repertoire at the Met.

With a major Wagnerian role debut still fresh in memory, a visually ambitious staging, and a director known for bold interpretations, the Met’s new Tristan und Isolde stands as one of the most significant operatic events of the current season.