Don’t Miss Tristan And Isolde Live In HD
Lise’s performance in the Met’s "Tristan and Isolde" has received spectacular reviews, and left audiences spellbound.
Most of the remaining shows at the Met are sold out, though there are still some tickets available for the added show on Saturday April 4th, and there may be some returns for earlier shows so it’s definitely worth checking the Met’s website: https://www.metopera.org/season/2025-26-season/tristan-und-isolde/
If you can’t get a ticket, or can’t get to New York, you can see Lise sing LIVE at your local cinema on Saturday March 21st. Find out where it is showing here: https://www.metopera.org/season/in-cinemas/theater-finder/
If you’d like to read the reviews of Lise’s role debut in New York, here are some excerpts:
In the New York Times, Joshua Barone said the opera was "the event of the season", writing that: "Lise Davidsen’s soprano can rattle your skull with its resonance and leave you awed by power you almost never hear in the human voice." He went on to say that "Not once in “Tristan” did [Lise] struggle to be heard, no matter the extremes of ecstasy in the orchestra, and that comfort made space for the luxury of nuance. With a sound that carried even at its smallest, she could trace an exhilarating crescendo or, in the case of the melodic phrase for “death-devoted heart” in Act I, plunge an octave with chilling darkness." (full review here: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/10/arts/music/tristan-und-isolde-met-opera-review.html)
In New York Magazine’s Vulture, Justin Davidson wrote that Lise: "produces some of the most miraculous minutes of opera I've ever heard. She sings [Mild und leise] from inside the suspended tunnel, just far back enough from the lip of the stage that her voice is haloed in orchestral sound, just far enough above so that the softest notes float like morning fog. That sonority, at once hazy and precise, soft and powerful, builds into an overwhelming wave of melody, carrying us nearly to midnight." (Full review here: https://www.vulture.com/article/opera-review-met-new-tristan-und-isolde.html)
On Opera Wire, David Salazar wrote that: "I don’t think artistic perfection exists, but this is about as close to it as I’ve witnessed on the operatic stage in my lifetime." Salazar loved Lise’s singing throughout the three acts, but saved his highest praise for "Mild und leise", the song that ends the opera: "This was both the most intellectually rewarding interpretation of this aria I’ve personally witnessed, but also the most emotionally resonant, putting a stamp on what was a performance that will undoubtedly be remembered as historic. Everyone that has tickets for the ensuing sold-out performances is in for a truly special moment." (Full review here: https://operawire.com/metropolitan-opera-2025-26-review-tristan-und-isolde/)
In The Times, Kevin Ng wrote that: "Tristan depends on its lead couple, and the Met has a pairing that stands with the greats of the past. Davidsen’s titanic voice is made for Isolde, and indeed the wild fury of her Act I narrative and curse pins the audience to the back of its seats. But equally impressive are her floated high notes in the Liebestod, and she blends beautifully with Michael Spyres’s Tristan in their long, sensual duet." (Full review here: https://www.thetimes.com/culture/classical-opera/article/tristan-und-isolde-review-the-met-has-a-pair-who-stand-with-the-greats-z8gk8ltjx)
In The New Criterion, Jay Nordlinger said: "She’s a phenomenon, Ms. Davidsen. She has a rare, rare combination of power and lyricism. Usually, you’ve got to choose. You can have big or you can have lyrical—but you can’t have both. With Davidsen, you can." He added: "For hours last night, Davidsen gave us walls and waves of beautiful sound. She was also subtle. And she was, crucially, in tune. We tend not to notice intonation until it’s off. Davidsen was true." He had a prediction about the future too: "There is a statue of Kirsten Flagstad, the legendary Wagner soprano, in front of the Oslo Opera House. As I have said before, I believe that this current Norwegian, Lise Davidsen, will join her one day—join her in stone." (Full review here: https://newcriterion.com/dispatch/walls-of-sound-animal-roars/)
In the Financial Times, Andrew Farach-Colton wrote that: "This is not quite Davidsen's first Isolde (she sang the role in Barcelona a few months ago), but she already inhabits the role like a veteran and her singing is glorious. She can be imperious one moment, and meltingly alluring the next, and even at top volume there's never even a hint of shrillness." (Full review here: https://www.ft.com/content/4501580f-93c8-4b29-be23-f94c6d2a42f5)
On Bachtrack, No'a L. bat Miri wrote that: "Lise Davidsen’s singing was dark and brilliant, a black diamond of a soprano. In the second act, there was even a moment when she transmuted the work into something more evocative of Hildegard, choosing to let her crescendo bloom rather than burst." (Full review here: https://bachtrack.com/review-tristan-isolde-sharon-nezet-seguin-davidsen-spyres-metropolitan-opera-new-york-march-2026)
And in the New York Classical Review, George Grella wrote that: "The star of the night was Davidsen as Isolde. She delivered a stellar, often stunning performance. The easy power of her voice continues to astonish, and as Isolde she had a lustrous sound, full but not so much as to sacrifice clarity. That was essential to her characterization, which was based on superb diction and articulation, the mercurial emotions of the character coming through her voice. This was masterful operatic expression, sonically beautiful, the rise and fall of phrases and dynamics musically sumptuous, the quality of her vocal characterization changing along with Isolde’s thoughts and feelings." (Full review here: https://newyorkclassicalreview.com/2026/03/double-trouble-singers-reach-the-heights-in-mets-tristan-staging-conducting-not-so-much/)
Photo credit: Kinga Karpata and Daniel Zarewicz
