Thomas has latterly suffered some life setbacks, but here he is, energetically introducing the evening’s proceedings. This is a special occasion, marking the departures of both Kirill Petrenko and Nicholas Bachler (Music Director and Intendant, respectively) from the Bayerischer Staatsoper, and Thomas is with us throughout the event, roaming the corridors and dressing rooms (nice!), interviewing the Tristan (Jonas Kaufmann), the Brangäne (Okka von der Damerau), and Bachler himself. My conversational German having rusted badly from its always subfluent former state, I didn’t capture these dialogues in any granular fashion, except to glean that all concerned are very much at home in Munich, all is glorious, and that Kaufmann is “a modern tenor,” by which I infer that he willingly lends himself to productions like the one at hand, and cheerfully submits to being interviewed at some length between Acts 1 and 2 of Tristan und Isolde. One major participant not so importuned is Petrenko, who for reasons I cannot imagine doesn’t care for this sort of thing. There is also a “Director’s Notes” talk, in English, by Krzysztof Warlikowski (see below). And Thomas conducts one more interview, also in English, which he speaks ziemlich gut. This one is with the sole American in the cast, Sean Michael Plumb, who sings (effectively—a strong, steady baritone of good quality) the short but crucial part of Melot. This chat begins innocently: what sort of role does Plumb usually sing? Papageno, Figaro (which one not specified), etc., so it’s fun to play the mean guy for a change. But then (and I paraphrase): does Plumb prefer the American system, where we sort of “take it easy,” or the German, where “we take it more serious?” I hadn’t encountered that kind of cultural arrogance in quite some time, and for a second I was afraid that Plumb, with “How do I get out of this one?” thoughts pinging around his cerebral cortex and his jaw momentarily stuck as with some of those Haribo gummies between his teeth, might have an egg-on-face moment. But no such thing. He comes right back, eagerly, with the only answer he can possibly give, to the effect that he loves both and adjusts accordingly. But Thomas won’t let it go, and (letting drop along the way that he’s on the board of the Los Angeles Opera—and why not? he’s put in his SoCal time and has lots of money) insists: but which audiences does Plumb like better, the naïve American ones who applaud at inappropriate places, or the more “serious” German ones? And there’s more along the same line, which one could take as borderline sadistic were it not more probably oblivious. Plumb is unruffled, unfazed. He, too, is a modern singer.

After the show and the curtain calls, amid applause that I hopefully assume is more for the occasion than the performance, the orchestra serenades Petrenko with a Rosenkavalier medley (he wears a little smile) and then, with Thomas leading the way, all involved troop outdoors onto a platform, grinning and waving to the assembly like politicians running for small-town office. This is surely the Oper für Alle segment of the show, but I wasn’t clear whether the Alle had been watching a Jumbotron video of the performance, or were simply gathered in tribute. Thomas introduces each cast member, along with Petrenko, and does another brief interview with Kaufmann and, if I recall aright, Bachler. And then it’s a wrap.