Nina Stemme ignites Houston's 'Tristan'

HOUSTON (AP) — Thunderbolts and torrential rains greeted the audience arriving for Wagner’s “Tristan und Isolde” at the Worth Theater Center on Saturday night. Inside the opera house they experienced a different kind of storm — a flood of glorious sound as Nina Stemme unfurled her magnificent voice.

The Swedish soprano gave a performance of overwhelming vocal and dramatic intensity as the Irish princess, from gleaming top notes down to a potent, crystal-clear lower register. Her high C’s at the beginning of the love duet in Act 2 rang out with sustained brilliance, and she finished the night with a rapturous “Liebestod,” capped by a luminous, lingering, hushed final note.