Tristan und Isolde

A minimalist staging which puts the focus on the singers and the music. Tenor Robert Dean Smith was brought in at the last minute to fill in for the ailing tenor, and he steals the show. Wagner's opera is one of the most challenging to stage, as there isn't much action; it's an abstract presentation of love, betrayal, jealousy, and death. One of the most famous passages in all of Western music sums it up: the Liebestod (the Love-Death) sung by Isolde in the concluding moments of the opera.