The musician Tannhäuser has left the court of the Wartburg to become the consort of the goddess Venus. Disillusioned with her hedonistic realm, he yearns for spiritual nourishment and a reunion with his former beloved, Elisabeth. But if she and the other Wartburg inhabitants learn where he has been, will they ever forgive him?

The work features some of the composer’s greatest writing for chorus, alongside solo numbers such as Tannhäuser’s plea for freedom, Elisabeth’s exultant greeting to the Wartburg Hall and Wolfram’s poignant song to the Evening Star.

Expert Wagnerian Sir Donald Runnicles’s interpretation of Tannhäuser at the 2013 BBC Proms was rapturously received. He now conducts the Deutsche Oper Berlin in what promises to be an unforgettable concert performance.