Wagner: Tristan Act 3 'Isolde kommt' (Claude Heater) video

Kurvenal, Dan Richardson. In 58 Von Karajan hired Claude for the Vienna Staatsoper as a baritone and took him to La Scala to sing in his Tristan and Isolde with Birgit Nilsson. Claude later sang the same role with Birgit at Bayreuth Festspiel Haus and also debuted at the same time in 1966 as Siegmund to Gwyneth Jones Sieglinde in Wagners Die Walkurie. His first Tristan was in Hannover, Germany where after the grueling 5 hour opera he bowed for another 26 minutes of applause! He prepared the role in Munich and Salzburg under the guidance of Max Lorenz who was the favorite Tristan in Europe while Lauritz Melchoir sang it at the Metropolitan Opera. Visit Claude's website www.claudeheater.com After his debut as Tristan Claude sang it in eight different productions in one year including The Festival of Two Worlds with Giancarlo Menotti at Spoletto and Trieste, Italy as well as the Lyceo in Barcelona and the Hamburg Opera with Birgit Nilsson followed by the Dresden Opera with Astrid Varnay. He finished his Boston Otello with Renata Tebaldi and Ramon Vinay as Iago and took a midnight plane to Italy where he had a staged orchestra rehearsal of Tristan in Genoa the next day. Both his Bayreuth and La Scala debuts came in 1966 as Siegmund with Gwyneth Jones and Erik with Leonie Rysanek. He had five seasons at Barcelonas Lyceo singing Tristan, Tannhauser, Siegmund, Siegfried that he staged as well. Montserrat Caballe stepped in for an ailing Anja Silja to sing the Elizabeth as a ...