Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore is one of the staples of the comic opera repertory. The plot hinges on whether earnest but dim-witted Nemorino will snag Adina, the flirtatious heroine. She's a tease who takes up with Belcore, an army sergeant, to make Nemorino jealous. After numerous (and humorous)...
This first-rate 1982 production of Verdi’s Falstaff marked the great 20th century Italian maestro Carlo Maria Giulini's return to opera conducting after more than a decade's absence. Renato Bruson leads a brilliant cast as the lovable fat knight Sir John Falstaff, going toe to toe in a series of...
As the release of the ‘Tutto Verdi’ series from the Teatro Regio progresses, one has begun to have fears that the later Verdi operas will fail to measure up to the standards that have been set on DVD by productions from international houses across the globe. The issues of the early and middle...
Claude D'Anna's film of Verdi's Macbeth is a gloomy affair, stressing the descent into madness of the principal villains. It's acted by the singers of the Decca recording of the opera (with two substitutions of actors standing in for singers) and the lip-synching is generally unobtrusive. The...
Live recording at Parma Verdi Festival 6 October, 2008. Massimo Zanetti conducting Orchestra e Coro del Teatro Regio di Parma. Stage director Stefano Vizioli.
This was Domingo's last set of performances as Otello in La Scala. In spite of his relatively advanced age, he is still in excellent form, both vocally and in terms of stage presence. Nucci is also his usual self, delivering a performance of very high standard. Barbara Frittoli is an excellent...
Arena di Verona Opera Festival 2019 starts with La Traviata in the new stage design signed by Franco Zeffirelli, the last great Master of Italian direction. The new production takes the form of the ultimate synthesis of his aesthetic thoughts on Traviata.
Celebrating a great artist is always a gala occasion, but when the honoree is the legendary Luciano Pavarotti, the event is one to treasure. To pay tribute to the 30th anniversary of Pavarotti’s Met debut, the company featured him in fully staged excerpts of three operas: Act II of Donizetti’s...
La traviata (Italian: [la traˈviaːta], "The Fallen Woman"[1][2]) is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on La dame aux Camélias (1852), a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils. The opera was originally entitled...
Live performance at Opernhaus Zürich in 2006. Nello Santi conducting Orchester der Oper Zürich and Chor der Oper Zürich. Directed for the stage by Gilbert Deflo.
Part of Tutto Verdi series - Simon Boccanegra (2010) Parma. Revised version (1881). 'Simon Boccanegra' is an opera with a prologue and three acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, based on the play 'Simón Bocanegra' (1843) by Antonio García Gutiérrez, whose play...
The spectacular production from the 2007 festival at the historic Arena di Verona. Renowned Verdi singers Leo Nucci and Maria Guleghina take on the roles of Nabucco and his daughter Abigail. Daniel Oren conducts Verona's resident orchestra. Filmed in High-Definition.
Live performance of April 5, 2005 at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna. Leo Nucci, Dimitra Theodossiou, Mariana Pentcheva, Miroslav Dvorski lead the cast. The Orchestra & Chorus of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna is conducted by Carlo Rizzi. Optional English, French, Italian, Spanish and Japanese...
This production of Giuseppi Verdi's opera based on Macbeth, the famed play by William Shakespeare, is a musical succès d'estime but falls short in the cinematic arena. Shirley Verrett stars as the murderous and ambitious Lady Macbeth, Leo Nucci co-stars as her similarly ambitious but slightly more...
Rigoletto is a jester in the court of the Duke of Mantua. He has a hunch-back and he's rather unattractive, but he's good at his job of humiliating the courtiers for the amusement of the Duke. The courtiers, of course, are not amused. The Duke is a ladies man who feels his life would be meaningless...
I due Foscari was Verdi's sixth opera and based on Lord Byron's play The Two Foscari. Rich in intrigue, the plot tells of the final days of the famous Venetian doge, Francesco Foscari, and his illegal overthrow in 1457.
Nabucco the complex story of Nebuchadnezzar the King of Babylon, who proclaims himself God and is hereon afflicted with madness remains a success with audiences. The director Günter Krämer paid particular attention to the interpersonal component of the opera accentuating the conflict-ridden...
