Deutsche Oper Berlin, season 2025/2026
“TRISTAN UND ISOLDE”
Music drama in three acts
Music and text by Richard Wagner after the romance “Tristan” by Gottfried von Straßburg
Tristan CLAY HILLEY
Isolde ELISABETH TEIGE
Brangäne IRENE ROBERTS
Kurwenal THOMAS LEHMAN
Marke, King of Cornwall GEORG ZEPPENFELD
Melot DEAN MURPHY
A shepherd BURKHARD ULRICH
A young sailor KANGYOON SHINE LEE
A steersman PAUL MINHYUNG ROH
Herrenchor (men‘s choir) der Deutschen Oper Berlin
Statisterie (extras) der Deutschen Oper Berlin
Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin
Conductor Sir Donald Runnicles
Chorus director Jeremy Bines
Director Michael Thalheimer
Assistant director Wolfgang Gruber
Stage design Henrik Ahr
Costumes Michaela Barth
Light design Stefan Bolliger
Berlin, 16 November 2025
Following Graham Vick’s rather unsuccessful staging of Richard Wagner’s great love drama at the Deutsche Oper Berlin in 2011, there is now a new one by Michael Thalheimer.  As in his other productions, he reduces the action to a minimum of movement. It is actually what traditional opera-goers want. In view of the increasingly modern stagings by theatre directors, in which an opera can easily be set in a spaceship or the sewers, one might assume that a costumed or, in this case, illuminated concert would be welcome. It’s not quite that simple, especially when Henrik Ahr’s Spartan stage is dominated by 260 lamps (lighting design by Stefan Bolliger), whose play of light illustrates the opera, which the composer simply titled ‘Handlung’ (action). The director wants the plot to be understood primarily as the inner thoughts and feelings of the main characters, but to quote the great director Ruth Berghaus, one can say in the end: The opera still needs to be staged! The author has just convinced himself that there is another way by watching a rare film recording of a festival in Osaka in 1967, at which Wieland Wagner’s legendary Bayreuth production was shown. His abstraction in the symbolic and minimalistic is paired with a perfect Personenregie that Thalheimer unfortunately lacks, who regards his visual restraint not as minimalism but as concentration, which demands a great deal from both the singers and the audience during the five-hour performance. Consequently, only a few props are used: a simple glass of water as the inevitable potion of atonement carried in by Brangäne with meaningful strides and smashed by Isolde after Tristan and her have drunk from it. He grabs a sharp splinter, with which both slit their arms in Act 2 without consequence and Isolde cuts her throat during the Liebestod, which is completely superfluous given the transcendence of the finale. Then there is a rope which Isolde drags herself along during the prelude and so does Tristan at the beginning of Act 3. Michaela Barth’s costumes are black and white; only the traitor Melot is dressed in bright yellow and carries a knife that Tristan plunges himself into in all weltschmerz at the end of the second act. The musical aspect of the evening is just breathtaking. I remember some rather dubious Ring performances by Sir Donald Runnicles at the beginning of his tenure as General Music Director of the Deutsche Oper Berlin 16 years ago. At the start of his final season, he is demonstrating that he has developed into a Wagner specialist. He conducts the Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin with confidence, allowing it to play with precision, initially a little restrained and slow, to come into its own at the right moments, unfolding its full sound. He may sometimes stretch the tempo at the expense of tension and concentration, but nevertheless a sense of well-being sets in within Wagner’s sound universe that is rarely experienced so intensely. The singers are never drowned in the first act, while the frenetic applause after both intervals spurs him to let the orchestra’s sound overflow a little, which does not affect the genuine Heldentenor Clay Hilley in the slightest. He plays the male title role convincingly and sings with unwavering stamina and impeccable diction, including all the exposed notes that are seldom heard so perfectly, for which the audience could have given him even more applause at the end. Things are different for Elisabeth Teige who has a large, warm soprano with a solid chest voice and beautiful vibrato. Her role debut as Isolde is presumably five years too early or should have taken place at a smaller theatre. She does not sing some phrases to the end; crucial passages such as es werde Nacht, dass hell sie dorten leuche do not turn into a climax or are barely sung, as in des Welt-Atems wehendem All of the Liebestod. The way she handles Wagner’s text could also be improved. Neglected by the director, Georg Zeppenfeld sings the part of the vulnerable and wounded King Marke with his noble bass-baritone and without thunderous outbursts, creating special highlights in Marke’s monologues. Thomas Lehman from the ensemble is perfectly cast as Kurwenal. His unmistakable dramatic baritone confidently carries the role of Tristan’s caring friend through to the demanding third act. Former ensemble member Irene Roberts has arrived in the dramatic repertoire and her bright mezzo-soprano voice tends towards the high register, allowing her to sing an excellent Brangäne with great clarity of diction. Melot is appropriately cast with baritone Dean Murphy. The men’s choir is in excellent form thanks to Chorus director Jeremy Bines. Leaving the plot untouched despite extreme reduction, Thalheimer’s production could remain in the repertoire for many years to come, allowing generations of singers to perform it. Photos © Bernd Uhlig