David Robertson to Conduct Wagner's TRISTAN UND ISOLDE at Sydney Opera House

In one of the most anticipated highlights of the 2015 Sydney Symphony Orchestra season, Chief Conductor and Artistic Director David Robertson will unveil an epic production of Tristan und Isolde in the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall this June, marking the first Sydney performance of the Wagner masterpiece in more than 20 years.

Canadian heldentenor Lance Ryan will sing Tristan with Christine Brewer as Isolde, heading an incredible cast also including Katarina Karne?us, Boaz Daniel, Stephen Milling and the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs. Visual artist S. Katy Tucker, who brought the sea into the Concert Hall for The Flying Dutchman in 2013, returns to transform the Concert Hall with her inspired and fluid illusions, providing a stunning visual interpretation of this powerful drama, opening June 20.

Tristan und Isolde is the third instalment of Robertson's Opera in Concert series, following the critically acclaimed 2013 performances of Wagner's The Flying Dutchman and Richard Strauss' Elektra in 2014. Robertson has led the resurgence of operas in concert at the SSO, bringing to Sydney dramatic repertoire with full orchestra - something that can only be experienced in the Concert Hall.

As the Sydney Morning Herald noted following The Flying Dutchman: "The Sydney Symphony's concert performances of Wagner over the years have lost little of the staged experience, while gaining the full concert-hall splendour of the Sydney Symphony."

From the thrilling tension of its opening to the cathartic resolution of its final notes, Tristan und Isolde is a sweeping irresistible musical journey of star-crossed lovers. The opera's tragic story reaches the same emotional heights as Romeo and Juliet, in a tale of sublimated passion unleashed, love and betrayal − all on a grand scale.

According to Robertson, conducting Tristan und Isolde is a life changing experience. "You may have conducted a huge repertoire, but then all of a sudden you conduct Tristan und Isolde and the world looks different - or you look differently at the world," he explains.

It will be a busy month for Robertson and the musicians of the SSO, who will also perform with celebrated violinist Anthony Marwood in Steve Mackey's Beautiful Passing violin concerto in a concert program also featuring works by Smetana and Dvorak.

Also in June, Robertson will conduct the orchestra in two concerts featuring mezzo-soprano Katarina Karne?us singing Berlioz's Les Nuits d'e?te? (Summer Nights), appearing in a program with Haydn's Symphony No.31 and Schubert's Symphony No.4.