Tristan und Isolde

Tristan und Isolde is an epic musical drama of love and death, drawn from a 12th-century Celtic legend and transformed by Wagner into a cultural revolution. A death potion meant for revenge becomes a love elixir, awakening a passion that defies duty, reason, and divine law. Their forbidden love reaches its height in the opera’s second act and ends in the sublime Liebestod, where Isolde’s transfiguration follows Tristan’s death.

Wagner’s score—written between 1857 and 1859—is one of opera’s most groundbreaking, rich in chromaticism, harmonic daring, and orchestral colour. Finnish conductor Susanna Mälkki returns to the Liceu to unveil its mysteries. In Bárbara Lluch’s new production, Tristan and Isolde are souls resisting the roles imposed on them, seeking truth in love, yet doomed by their escape from reality.

Lise Davidsen makes her long-awaited debut as Isolde, joined by Clay Hilley as Tristan—together promising a landmark moment in Wagnerian performance at the Liceu.