Celebrated jazz pianist and composer Julian Joseph presents a contemporary reimagining of this timeless romantic legend.
Introduction
Two young people fall under the power of a passionate, eternal love, but past events – and Tristan and Isolde’s complex identities – lead inexorably to tragedy.
Background
Julian Joseph and librettist Mike Phillips explore the contemporary resonances of this ancient British legend, immortalized in Wagner’s opera. Joseph begins afresh with an original score in which composition and improvisation are entwined, illuminating this timeless tale of all-consuming love, its ecstasy and its tragedy.
Windows into Tristan and Isolde is played against a backdrop of cultural instability, the two lovers representing two very different sides of European identity. Their story becomes emblematic not only of themes of jealousy, vengeance and sacrifice, but of intercultural encounter and a society in flux.
