NEW YORK - Ben Heppner and Deborah Voigt finally sang together in a complete performance of Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde," earning three curtain calls and eight minutes applause from an excited audience at the Metropolitan Opera.

The duo had been scheduled to sing in all six performances of a revival that began March 10. Heppner, the world's top heldentenor, missed the first four because of a blood-born infection. Voigt, among the leading Wagnerian sopranos, left in the middle of the second performance because of a stomach virus. When Heppner returned last Tuesday, Voigt was sidelined by the stomach virus.

There were groans at the start Friday night when Thomas Connell III, the Met's production stage manager, walked on stage, with many in the sellout crowd of 4,000 fearing the tenor or soprano would be sidelined again.

Connell said Margaret Jane Wray, who had been scheduled to sing Brangaene, was ill and would be replaced by Michelle DeYoung, who had sung the first five performances. Music director James Levine then entered the pit and conducted a 5-hour, 15-minute performance that ended at 12:15 a.m.

Voigt and Heppner had previously sung excerpts of "Tristan" in concert, and their first appearance together in a staged production was highly anticipated by opera fans. The Met streamed Friday night's performance on its Web site.

Source: AP