Opéra National de Paris: Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots(2018)

Let's Sing Again(en)

An orphan (Eight-year-old boy soprano Bobby Breen) gets a chance to sing opera in New York.

Cavalleria Rusticana - Pagliacci - Live from the Zurich Opera House(it)

Britten: Billy Budd(en)

Captain Vere, an old man, is haunted by a moment in his life when he was tested and found wanting. Based on Herman Melville's novella of naval life in the late 18th Century, Benjamin Britten's 'Billy Budd' is a gripping reflection on good and evil, innocence and corruption.

Aida(en)

Any performance of Giuseppe Verdi’s Aida at La Scala, Milan, is guaranteed to be an experience – but, when it’s a new production, it becomes a major event, especially given the theatre’s notoriously critical audience. Legendary stage director Peter Stein succeeds in delivering a lucid production acclaimed in equal measure by the press and public: “a perfect coup de théâtre” (Giornale della musica). A “stellar cast” (La Stampa) contributes to the production’s success under the musical direction of Verdi specialist Zubin Mehta, who leads the orchestra in a “gorgeously colourful performance”, while “the entire ensemble is brilliant in its portrayal of the characters” (Die Presse).

L'Incoronazione di Poppea(it)

Experience Claudio Monteverdi's three-act opera in the environment it was meant to be seen with this release of a filmed performance captured live during a 2000 production staged at the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence in France. Mireille Delunsch, Anne Sofie Von Otter, and Sylvie Brunet star, and conductor Marc Minkowski leads the Les Musiciens du Louvre, Grenoble. Klaus Michael Grüber directs for stage.

L'Incoronazione di Poppea(it)

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

Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria(it)

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

Puccini: Madama Butterfly (Sferisterio di Macerata)(it)

The story of Cio-Cio-San, called Butterfly, a young Nagasaki geisha who, abandoned by her American lover after giving birth to their son, ultimately kills herself, continues to impress audiences today. In this outstandingly authentic and elegant production from the Sferisterio Opera Festival, Puccini's highly emotional music is expertly delivered. The superior cast is headed by Raffaella Angeletti, "certainly one of the best Butterflies of our time" (ForumOpera.com), who has performed this role in many Italian theatres, as well as in Madrid and at the Vienna Staatsoper.

The ROH Live: La Traviata(en)

Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London Live showing of Verdi's Traviata with subsequent re-screenings Violetta, a Parisian courtesan suffering from tuberculosis, is throwing a party to celebrate her recovery. A young nobleman, Alfredo, plans to attend, and has long been in love with Violetta. Before long, Violetta has fallen for him as well, but Alfredo's father disapproves of their relationship. He convinces Violetta to leave Alfredo for the sake of his family's image, not realising how ill she really is. Richard Eyre's production of 'La Traviata' immerses the audience in the indulgence of 19th Century Paris, a vivid setting for Verdi's famous score.

Werther(fr)

Alain Guingal conducts the Orchestre du Teatro Regio di Torino in this production of Massenet's opera based on the novel 'The Sorrows of Young Werther' by Goethe. Roberto Alagna stars as the titular character, a lovelorn poet whose heart is set on a beautiful young woman of his acquaintance. Unfortunately, the girl in question has already pledged herself to another. How will Werther deal with the thwarting of his romantic ambitions?

Così fan tutte(it)

Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducts the Wiener Philharmoniker in this filmed studio performance of Mozart's opera recorded in 1988.

Mozart: Die Zauberflöte(de)

Magic opera, Singspiel, a comedy with spectacular stage effects, Masonic ritual with Egyptian mysteries, heroic-comic opera? Die Zauberflöte is heard more often and has been more frequently performed, discussed, queried and interrogated than almost any other work in the history of opera. It is rare for the mysteriousness and multiformity of a work to be adjured with such mantric intensity. It is equally rare for a work to enjoy such undisputed success despite all these debates – and for over two hundred years at that.

Mozart: Die Zauberflöte(de)

Die Zauberflöte is one of Mozart’s most famous works and one of the most beloved of the entire operatic repertoire. Generations of spectators have been fascinated by the melodies and adventures of Papageno, the Queen of the Night, Tamino, and Pamina, the ordeals faced by the young lovers, and the work’s inexhaustible allegorical depth. The director Romeo Castellucci has deliberately stepped back from the narrative dimension of the opera in order to explore its raw emotion and its philosophical heart. For his part, the conductor Antonello Manacorda brings Mozart’s immortal music to life with the help of an outstanding cast that includes Sabine Devieilhe, one of today’s finest interpreters of the Queen of the Night.

Mussorgsky: Boris Godunov(ru)

A one-off production of Boris Godunov was staged by Andrei Konchalovsky at the Teatro Regio in Torino in 2010, with Orlin Anastassov in the leading role and Gianandrea Noseda conducting the Orchestra del Teatro Regio.

The Tsarina's Slippers(ru)

Live from ROH 2009, TV relay 1/12/2009.

Guillaume Tell(it)

New production. Recorded live at Royal Opera House, July, 05, 2015.

Tristan und Isolde(de)

Inspired by Wagner’s own tortured affair with the wife of his patron, this searing masterwork is based on Arthurian legend and tells of an illicit romance between a Breton nobleman and the Irish princess betrothed to his uncle and king. The composer’s larger-than-life sensibilities are on full display throughout the score: Along with intoxicating orchestral music that surges in tandem with the couple’s burgeoning passion and a chord left symbolically unresolved until the last moments of the opera, the opera also features one of the repertory’s most soaring and ecstatic final climaxes, as Isolde surrenders to a love so powerful that she transcends life itself.

Rossini: L'Italiana in Algeri - Festival d'Aix-en-Provence(it)

Live performance, Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, July 2006. 'L'italiana in Algeri' (English: 'The Italian Girl in Algiers') is an operatic dramma giocoso in two acts by Gioachino Rossini to an Italian libretto by Angelo Anelli, based on his earlier text set by Luigi Mosca. It premiered at the Teatro San Benedetto in Venice on 22 May 1813. The music is characteristic of Rossini's style, remarkable for its fusion of sustained, manic energy with elegant, pristine melodies.

L'Italiana in Algeri(it)

"This is Vienna State Opera live at home". April 2015. 'L'italiana in Algeri' (English: 'The Italian Girl in Algiers') is an operatic dramma giocoso in two acts by Gioachino Rossini to an Italian libretto by Angelo Anelli, based on his earlier text set by Luigi Mosca. It premiered at the Teatro San Benedetto in Venice on 22 May 1813. The music is characteristic of Rossini's style, remarkable for its fusion of sustained, manic energy with elegant, pristine melodies.

Don Pasquale(it)

"This is Vienna State Opera live at home". April 2015.