Axel Köhler’s production of Der Freischütz at the Dresden State Opera was described by Die Presse as “a minor miracle in Dresden”. In the words of the Salzburger Nachrichten, Köhler “scored a bulleye” with his sombre and satanic interpretation of Weber’s Romantic opera about love, temptation, souls sold to the Devil, obsession andfaith. According to the Financial Times, Christian Thielemann and the Dresden Staatskapelle conjured up a sense of “mortal terror from the orchestra pit. […] Thielemann is in command of every detail. That makes for utterly gripping listening.”

Through the power of a love potion, Tristan and Isolde have fatefully fallen for each other, but Princess Isolde is promised to Marke, the king and Tristan's liege lord. The lovers live their connection in secret, which inevitably has to be discovered and leads to catastrophe. The visually stunning production by Marco Arturo Marelli prepares the ground for the secret of this love in space and color, captured in Richard Wagner's opera, which premiered in 1865, in which the music becomes almost the sole carrier of the plot.