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Shanghai Opera House Announces Cast Change for ‘Tristan und Isolde’

By Rudolph Tang

The Shanghai Opera House has announced a cast change for its upcoming production of “Tristan und Isolde,” which will launch Bayreuth in Shanghai.

Last week, the company announced that soprano Nina Warren will make her house debut as Isolde in the 2022 Bayreuth Festival production, directed by Roland Schwab. Nina replaces Song Qian, a soloist of the Shanghai Opera House, who withdrew due to health reasons.

Song’s departure has dashed the hopes of many Chinese audiences who were looking forward to witnessing the country’s first Isolde sung by a Chinese soprano. Since 2000, “Tristan und Isolde” has been staged five times in China, with the title role always performed by foreign sopranos:

  • Nadine Secunde with the Taiwan Philharmonic (NSO) in June 2003 in Taipei
  • Gabriele Maria Ronge with the China Philharmonic in June 2007 in Beijing
  • Mona Somm with the Tiroler Festspiele Erl in October 2015 in Beijing
  • Linda Watson with the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra in June 2016 in Taichung and Taipei
  • Ann Petersen with the NCPA in August 2017 in Beijing

Nina Warren will share the role of Isolde with Lise Lindstrom and is scheduled to sing on the third night, alongside Chinese singers Yu Yang, Yu Haolei, Wang Xiaoxi, and Tao Kuo. She made her role debut as Isolde in 2022 with the Eugene Symphony in Oregon.

The cast for the opening nights includes Erin Caves, Corby Welch, Lise Lindstrom, Egils Siliņš, Kay Stiefermann, Bettina Ranch, as well as singers in the smaller roles of the shepherd (Ein Hirt) and the steersman (Ein Steuermann).

Co-presented by the Bayreuth Festival, Shanghai Grand Theatre, and Shanghai Opera House, the residency will feature conductor Xu Zhong—Director of the Shanghai Opera House—leading the company’s orchestra and chorus in three Wagner productions, also including “Die Walküre,” and “Tannhäuser.” These three operas are part of three-year residency introducing Bayreuth Festival stagings of “Tristan und Isolde,”

“Tristan und Isolde” opens on July 4, 2025, at the Shanghai Grand Theatre and runs through July 6.

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By Rudolph Tang

Hailed as “Writer and expert on the classical music industry in China” by the New York Times, Rudolph Tang (唐若甫) is a most read journalist for Musical America based in Shanghai and Beijing, member of the Society for Musical Criticism of China, European Correspondent of Music Lover magazine, Chair of the International GINASTERA Society’s China Branch. He has covered topics on classical music and opera since 2000.
Upon graduation from Tongji University, he served as Editor of the Gramophone China, jury member of the MIDEM Classical Awards, Head of Communications of the China Symphony Development Foundation and the Alliance of Asia-Pacific Region Orchestras.
His first book The Many Faces of Musicians in China, a collection of music criticism and journalism since 2005, was published by Beijing Normal University Press in September 2014. He was the co-author of China Creative Digest 2014 & 2015 published by China’s Ministry of Culture.
A native of Shanghai, he was on the nominating committee of Classical: NEXT’s Innovation Awards 2015-19 and selected reviewing panel of China National Arts Fund. Other than writing, he has given lectures at top colleges and conservatories in Tokyo, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Nanning, Shenzhen and at forums hosted by the Peking University, the Association of British Orchestras, Philharmonie de Paris and Centre national de la musique of France.

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