R10 / Tristan and Isolde • Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra

During his first three seasons as chief conductor of the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, Petr Popelka decided to stage three acts of Tristan and Isolde. The revolutionary work caused an upheaval in its time and forever changed the understanding of opera as a musical and theatrical form. In the medieval story of the powerful but forbidden love between a Breton nobleman and an Irish princess, Richard Wagner developed his concept of opera as a complex work where all the components serve the strongest possible effect of the whole. At the same time, he fully developed his innovative harmonic language, which influenced music for decades to come. In the second act, we will see tenor Bryan Register as Tristan and soprano Ricarda Merbeth as Isolde. In the famous love duet, they fully confess their feelings for each other, and in the dramatic conclusion Tristan falls wounded after the betrayal of his friend Melot.