Acclaimed video artist Bill Viola dies at 73, created landmark `Tristan und Isolde’ production

LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) — Bill Viola, a video artist who combined with director Peter Sellars on a groundbreaking production of Wagner’s “Tristan und Isolde” originally seen in Los Angeles, Paris and New York, has died at age 73. Viola died Friday at his home in Long Beach of Alzheimer’s disease, his website announced. What was called “The Tristan Project” opened in concert form at Los Angeles’ Walt Disney Concert Hall in 2004, premiered on stage at the Paris Opéra the following year and was presented in concert at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall in 2007.   Versions have been presented in Europe, Japan and Canada.