A short opera about the assassination of poet and dramatist Federico García Lorca at the hands of Nationalist forces at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War.
This John Dexter production, designed by Desmond Heeley, was a parting gift to the great American soprano Beverly Sills, who bid farewell to the Met as Norina, the smart young widow at the center of Donizetti’s comedy. The sensational Alfredo Kraus sings her beloved Ernesto. Håkan Hagegård, in...
The celebrated mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli joins Bryn Terfel for a recital of arias and duets recorded at Glyndebourne Opera House in 1999. The programme features favourite pieces from Mozart, Rossini and Donizetti, with the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Myung-Whun Chung.
The World Orchestra for Peace, conducted by Sir Georg Solti, performs pieces by Rossini, Bartók, and Beethoven in Victoria Hall, Geneva in July 1995 in celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of United Nations.
Göran Gentele's production of Verdi's Un ballo in maschera premiered on television on New Year's Day 1965. Gentele's version is an adaptation in which some of the roles have changed names and locations. The opera is sung in Swedish, and the translation was done by Erik Lindegren.
The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House presents a new production of Poulenc's short opera La Voix Humaine, featuring soprano Danielle de Niese and shot on location in Paris and London.
In ancient Babylon, SEMIRAMIDE (Anderson) encourages her lover Assur (Ramey) to murder her husband, King Ninus. Her son, Ninius, disappears, believed dead, and Semiramide rules in her own right. 15 years later, as the opera opens, she is about to announce the name of her successor. Idreno (Olsen)...
Live performance, part of Monteverdi cycle staged by Oper Zürich with Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducting the Zürich Opera House Monteverdi Ensemble. Staged and directed by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle
The three main soloists have voices on a scale that can compete with these flashy production values – White and Kasarova, in particular, sing at a level of intensity that would swamp anything less; the climactic seduction trio has rarely been sung so well or with such an overpoweringly...
Set in a South Bohemian village, this faithful film version of Smetana’s opera follows farmer Krušina’s plan to marry his daughter Mařenka to wealthy Vašek. Mařenka loves Jeník, a stranger. Through matchmaking schemer Kecal’s plots and revealed identities, true love triumphs in a festive...
The composer's opera buffa transcends the spirit of Beaumarchais’ comedy and combines the absurd with a touch of satirical realism in a score where rhythm and virtuosity place the comic effects in an ongoing dramatic narration. As a result, the characters – Rosina in particular – gain a new...
Extraordinary soprano Asmik Grigorian tackles the demanding role of Cio-Cio-San, the loyal geisha at the heart of Puccini’s devastating tragedy. Tenor Jonathan Tetelman stars as the callous American naval officer Pinkerton, whose betrayal destroys her. Mezzo-soprano Elizabeth DeShong reprises the...
When Barbe-bleue loses his fifth wife, the turbulent Boulotte is selected at random to be the next one. But Barbe-Bleue falls in love with Hermia – who loves the shepherd Saphir – and soon wearies of Boulotte. So, he asks his alchemist to concoct for him an “anti-wife” philtre. But, as on...
Rigoletto is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the play Le roi s'amuse by Victor Hugo. Despite serious initial problems with the Austrian censors who had control over northern Italian theatres at the time, the opera had a...
Systematically overturning accepted morals, Elagabalus dresses men as women, and names women to the Senate, favours sinning servants and humiliates generals. Baroque and carnivalesque, Eliogabalo is not, however, an opera that advocates a return to order. Leonardo García Alarcón, a finder of...
A notable opera singer tries to commit suicide because of a emotional breakdown. While hospitalized in a psychiatric clinic, her daughter cautiously approaches the man she considers to be the blame for the state of her mother in order to gain her revenge.
Olga Neuwirth, for a long time one of the great composers of the present, succeeds with this opera in creating a captivating arc across many musical genres. It’s an exciting, socially critical production by Polly Graham who puts a fantastically singing and playing Kate Lindsey in the center of...
The pain of unrequited love is portrayed unforgettably by two of today’s greatest stars. Renée Fleming is musically and dramatically radiant as the shy Tatiana, who falls in love with the worldly Onegin, played with devastating charisma by Dmitri Hvorostovsky. Their mesmerizing vocalism and...
Opera singer Chivo is currently playing a singing cowboy, and Mexican bandito Braganza kidnaps him (along with Jane, an heiress) so he can learn to become more like the American movie gangsters he admires.
