Going the distance to hear Royal Opera sing

Not everyone would fly 9,010 kilometers for an opera whose set consisted at times of two chairs and a cheap-looking table, but Johannesburg lawyer Emile Myburgh did it for Wagner's Tristan und Isolde at London's Royal Opera House - and he'll be back.

For the $2,000 or so Myburgh said he spent on the trip instead of buying a new iPhone and iPad, he heard Swedish soprano Nina Stemme, the world's leading Isolde, and American tenor Stephen Gould in a spare but overwhelming production of Wagner's paean to doomed love that sold out every night, commanding top prices and earning five-star reviews.

"I think Covent Garden is the best," says Myburgh, 42, topping off his two-opera trip on Thursday with Verdi's Un Ballo in Maschera, in a new production by German director Katharina Thoma making her Royal Opera House debut.