How Yuval Sharon and Es Devlin are using cutting-edge tech to push opera forward—just when it needs it most

Despite what Timothée Chalamet may think, the Metropolitan Opera’s production of Richard Wagner’s epic Tristan und Isolde is generating a lot of buzz this season. That’s thanks in no small part to director Yuval Sharon’s bold choices, which include cutting-edge video projections and an immersive set design by Es Devlin. Sharon believes it is necessary to be forward-thinking, especially since the arts are facing a hard economic reality. He also believes it’s what helped drive the production’s impressive ticket sales. “People all saw that there is something new is being attempted here that you’ve just got to see,” he tells Fast Company. “I think that is its own reward.” In an era where New York’s storied Met Opera has faced layoffs, pay cuts, postponed productions, and a controversial financial agreement with Saudi Arabia, Chalamet’s comments, while dismissive and disrespectful, may have a kernel of hard truth in them. According to reporting by the New