BY KAREN BOSSICK

“Tristan und Isolde,” Richard Wagner’ss transcendent meditation on love and death, will hit the big screen on Saturday as part of the Metropolitan Opera’s live simulcast MetHD.

The lavish production, which has been eagerly awaited for years, will start at 9:55 a.m. Saturday, March 21, at Merlin’s Magic Lantern in Ketchum, thanks to a partnership between Sun Valley Opera and Broadway and the movie theater.

The screening runs for a whopping five hours and 10 minutes!

Soprano Lise Davidsen will portray the Irish princess Isolde, who falls in love with Tristan who has been sent to Ireland to fetch her to marry his uncle after they accidentally ingest a love potion. Tenor Michael Spyres will sing the love-drunk Tristan.

The director is Yuval Sharon, hailed by The New York Times as “the most visionary opera director of his generation.” He was the first American to direct an opera at the famed Wagner festival in Bayreuth.

Joining him as music director will be Yannick Nezet-Seguin, a Canadian conductor and pianist who has conducted more than 1,700 performances, many of them as music director of the Metropolitan Opera, a position he has held since 2018.

Mezzo-soprano Ekaterina Gubanova will reprise her signature portrayal of Brangane, the handmaid and confident of Isolde. And bass-baritone Tomasz Konieczny will portray Kurwenal—Tristan’s companion--after appearing in Wagner’s “Der Fliegende Hollander” and “Ring Cycle.”

Ryan Speedo Green debuts as King Mark.

Tickets are $22 for the general public and $20 for seniors; doors open at 9:30 a.m. and the concession stand will be open.