The Orchestre National de Lille and the Opéra de Lille join forces each year to prepare a production from the opera repertoire. Tristan and Isolde, conducted by Cornelius Meister, has been picked for this season. Wagner’s opera makes high demands on the musicians in terms of technique and command of the leitmotifs around which the work is structured. Regarded as amongst the most influential works of the 19^th century and often compared to a symphonic poem, the score is renowned for its expressively sad and passionate melodies, which form a significant part of the opera’s melancholic ambience.