Queensland is certain to prove irresistible to Wagner fans next year. Not only will it host Opera Australia’s new, fully digital production of the Ring Cycle in November 2020, it will also now see Queensland Opera present two performances of Tristan und Isolde in October. Acclaimed New Zealand tenor Simon O’Neill will take on the role of Tristan, with American soprano Meagan Miller as his Isolde. Finnish conductor Pietari Inkinen, who has conducted the Ring and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg for OA, will lead the Queensland Symphony Orchestra and OQ Chorus in a semi-staged production by Artistic Director Patrick Nolan, which will also feature video elements. Tristan will represent Inkinen’s company debut.

Simon O’Neill. Photo © Albert Comper

“Opera Queensland is delighted to bring some of the world’s leading opera singers to Australia to perform what is widely regarded as one of the greatest operas in the musical canon,” said Nolan, who has been intending to program Tristan since his appointment in April 2017. “It will be 15 years since Brisbane audiences had the opportunity to experience Tristan und Isolde and there’s a certain yearning...