‘Tristan Project’ to be broadcast

Last December at Walt Disney Concert Hall, some Los Angeles opera enthusiasts got a taste of things to come with “The Tristan Project,” a semi-staged version of a new production of Wagner’s “Tristan and Isolde” from the Los Angeles team of stage director Peter Sellars, video artist Bill Viola and Los Angeles Philharmonic music director Esa-Pekka Salonen, to be presented at the Paris Opera the following spring.

But for those who weren’t able to follow the project to Paris, a recording of that fully staged version, featuring tenor Ben Heppner as Tristan and soprano Waltraud Meier as Isolde, will be broadcast Saturday as part of BBC Radio’s “Opera on 3” program. The 4 hour and 20 minute recording may also be accessed through the BBC Radio website: www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/.

Meanwhile, in other opera news, on Nov. 12 National Public Radio will offer its first live opera broadcast: a performance of a new Washington National Opera production of Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess” in honor of the work’s 70th anniversary. The performance will be aired on more than 100 stations across the country and audiocast live on the network’s website, www.npr.org.

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Diane Haithman