As a step towards his goal (never realized, in the end) of an annual Pacific Northwest Festival of the Arts, Glynn Ross expanded Seattle Opera’s by-now traditional pair of Ring cycles by adding Tristan und Isolde to the summer run in 1981 (one performance per cycle). But first, the company presented Tristan during the subscription season, so it would be easy to remount later in the summer. Recent breakthroughs in lighting and projection technology contributed to the stylish look of the production, and a pair of stalward Seattle Opera Wagnerians took on the challenging lead roles.