Tristan and Isolde at The Kennedy Center

Washington Post - Recommended

"...The playing was moving, nuanced and gentle, not always an adjective that you think of with Wagner. If there were chamber elements in this performance, it was because of the way that Auguin led rather than drove, giving plenty of room for wind solos, for example, to stand out. My biggest quibble was the supposedly climactic love duet, which was simply too fast — but as Auguin said in a phone interview with me before the performance, you have to compromise some of the tempi in Act II if you want the singers to be able to get through Act III. There were plenty of other pleasures to make up for it."

Baltimore Sun - Highly Recommended

"...This remarkably satisfying production provides a worthy salute to the Wagner bicentennial, and a rousing affirmation of what Washington National Opera has going for it these days, with Zambello firmly at the helm. I can't wait to see and hear what happens next."

Washington Times - Recommended

"...The Washington National Opera opened its ambitious new 2013-2014 season with Richard Wagner’s “Tristan and Isolde” in an unusual Sunday matinee “opening night” performance at the Kennedy Center Opera House. This is an intriguing, ethereal production that, after a tentative first act, drove toward a magnificent and extraordinarily moving finale."

DC Theater Arts - Highly Recommended

"...Washington National Opera opens the season with a transformative production of Richard Wagner’s epic tragedy Tristan and Isolde for his bicentennial birthday. He wrote both the music and the libretto. It may be epic in scope and score, clocking in at almost five hours, but this is a simple story of impossible love. WNO Artistic Director Francesca Zambello is committed to showcasing Wagner leading up to the WNO’s first complete production of his Ring cycle in 2016."

The Georgetowner - Highly Recommended

"... Wagner, performed, played, acted and staged this originally. He’s a bully who will not be ignored, chastened, or cut by a minute. And at journey's end with Tristan and Isolde, even if their boat takes its own sweet time arriving at the shore, it is more than worth it. You don’t have to love opera or like Wagner to be swept up in the waves."