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Englebert Humperdinck: Hansel und Gretel — BBC Prom 61

The annual visit of Glyndebourne Opera to the BBC Proms has become an eagerly awaited event.

Puccini’s Edgar at the Teatro Regio Torino

A world premiere of a new opera holds the promise of an exciting new addition to the fairly calcified collection of masterpieces that comprise the standard repertory.

Like her impressive recording of Lieder by Dvořák (Harmonia Mundi CD 901824), Bernarda Fink’s recording of a selection of Lieder by Brahms not only offers a fine representation of the music, but also demonstrate the singer’s command of this repertoire.

David McVicar’s Salome

This high-concept Salome takes place in Nazi Germany.The set has two levels: on top, Herod revels with the banqueters; below, we see a dingy basement, full of kitchen workers, relaxed soldiers, and the prostitutes who help them relax.

Aspen makes Corigliano’s Ghosts classic

When it debuted at the Met in 1991 John Corigliano’s overwrought and somewhat all-too comic Ghosts of Versailles was praised largely as a vehicle for the long-celebrated artistry of Teresa Stratas and Marilyn Horne.

Jean Sibelius: Kullervo, Op. 7.

Sibelius’s 1892 symphonic poem for soloists, chorus, and orchestra is in the tradition of the cantata-like symphonies of the nineteenth century, as found in Mendelssohn’s Lobgesang or Mahler’s Second Symphony.

Glimmerglass Rarities Out-Score Hall of Famer

To frame it in nearby-Cooperstown sports metaphors, the enterprising Glimmerglass Opera scored two decisive ‘home runs,’ and a decent enough ‘single’ in its 2010 Festival season.

Robert Baksa — An Interview by Tom Moore

Robert Baksa is a name that is well-known to lovers of contemporary chamber music, with a hundred chamber works to his credit.

Lulu at Covent Garden

One of the leading lights of Berg’s Vienna was the architect Adolf Loos, the great crusader against ornament.

Un ballo in maschera at the Teatro Real

The greatest dramatic tenor and soprano roles have proven irresistible to Marcelo Alvarez, who started primarily as a lyric tenor, and Violeta Urmana, whose first career success came as a mezzo.

Sigismondo, La Cenerentola, Demetrio e Polibio at Pesaro

The fourteen year old Rossini composed his first opera Demetrio e Polibio in 1806 though it was not performed for another six years.

Tristan und Isolde, Bayreuth 2009

As the prelude plays, we see circles of fluorescent light moving slowly in uncertain black space. Are we seeing flights of flying saucers, as in Close Encounters of the Third Kind?

Mozart and Rossini Finales at Grant Park, Chicago

During a recent concert at the Grant Park Music Festival, held on this occasion in the adjacent Harris Theater, members of the Ryan Opera Center of Lyric Opera of Chicago presented ensembles from four operas, two each by Mozart and by Rossini.

Schumann’s Genoveva

Robert Schumann’s only opera Genoveva (1850) is best known as a failure in its time and has since fallen into the list of succès d’estime, but with this new release, based on a production intended for television, conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt champions the work in his second recording of the score.

Tales of Hoffmann at Santa Fe

The performances of Jacques Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann at Santa Fe Opera this summer are the based on Michael Kaye’s edition of the score.

Tristan in Seattle

Seattle, the city of software and Starbucks, is also a summer site for serious Wagnerites.

To Loxford with Love

There was a time when the works of Benjamin Britten, one of the 20th-Century’s supreme composers, were not welcome at Santa Fe Opera.

Marco Polo at Het Muziektheater, Amsterdam

Does this Tan Dun opera prove or disprove that for East and West, the twain shall never meet?

Michael Christie conducts Corigliano in Aspen

Michael Christie, now 34, was too young to see John Corigliano’s Ghosts of Versailles when it was new at the Metropolitan Opera in 1991.

OPERA TODAY ARCHIVES »

FeaturedOperas

01 Sep 2010

BERTIN: La Esmeralda

La Esmeralda: Opéra in four acts. »

Recently in FeaturedOperas

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12 Aug 2010

VERDI: Ernani — Florence 1957

Ernani: Dramma lirico in four parts. »

14 Jul 2010

von Waltershausen: Oberst Chabert

Oberst Chabert (Colonel Chabert): Tragic opera in 3 acts. »

23 Jun 2010

VERDI: Otello — La Scala 1954

Otello: Dramma lirico in four acts.Music composed by Giuseppe Verdi. Libretto by Arrigo Boito after The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice by William Shakespeare. »

24 Apr 2010

HAHN: Le Marchand de Venise

Le Marchand de Venise (“The Merchant of Venice”): Opéra in three acts. »

17 Mar 2010

STORACE: Gli Equivoci

Gli Equivoci (The Comedy of Errors): Opera in two acts. »

07 Feb 2010

MARTIN: Der Sturm

Der Sturm: Opera in three acts »

30 Jan 2010

PURCELL: The Fairy-Queen

The Fairy-Queen: Semi-opera in five acts. »

18 Jan 2010

VERDI: Macbeth — Vienna 2009

Macbeth: Melodramma in quattro parti. »

03 Jan 2010

WAGNER: Das Liebesverbot

Das Liebesverbot: Grosse komische Oper in two acts. »

13 Dec 2009

VERDI: Falstaff — Wales 2008

Falstaff: Commedia lirica in three acts. »

30 Nov 2009

THOMAS: Hamlet — London 2003

Hamlet: Opéra in five acts.Music composed by Ambroise Thomas. Libretto by Michel Carré and Jules Barbier after The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark by William Shakespeare. »

15 Nov 2009

ROSSINI: Otello — Bad Wildbad 2008

Otello, ossia Il moro di Venezia (‘Othello, or The Moor of Venice’): Dramma in three acts. »

18 Oct 2009

BERLIOZ: Béatrice et Bénédict — Paris 2009

Béatrice et Bénédict: Opéra comique in two acts »

11 Oct 2009

NICOLAI: Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor — Berlin 1943

Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor (The Merry Wives of Windsor), a comical-fantastical opera in three acts with dance. »

29 Sep 2009

VERDI: Otello — Vienna 2006

Otello: Dramma lirico in four acts.Music composed by Giuseppe Verdi. Libretto by Arrigo Boito after The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice by William Shakespeare. »

06 Sep 2009

MASSENET: Werther — Vienna 2000

Werther: Drame lyrique en 4 actes et 5 tableauxMusic composed by Jules Massenet. Libretto by Edouard Blau, Paul Milliet and Georges Hartmann based on Die Leiden des jungen Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe »

23 Aug 2009

THOMAS: Mignon — New York 2005

Mignon: Opéra comique in three acts. »

26 Jul 2009

GOUNOD: Faust — Vienna 2008

Faust, Opéra en cinq actes. »

12 Jul 2009

GOUNOD: Faust — 1953

Faust, Opéra en cinq actes. »

15 Jun 2009

PUCCINI: Turandot — Buenos Aires 1965

Turandot, dramma lirico in three acts. »

10 Jun 2009

VERDI: I masnadieri — Baden-Baden 1998

I masnadieri [The bandits]: Melodramma in four parts »

17 May 2009

TCHAIKOVSKY: The Maid of Orléans — Moscow 1971

The Maid of Orléans: [Orleanskaya deva]: Opera in four acts »

11 May 2009

ROSSINI: Guglielmo Tell — Rome 1954

Guglielmo Tell: Melodramma tragico in four acts »

03 May 2009

DONIZETTI: Maria Stuarda — Paris 1972

Maria Stuarda: Tragedia lirica in two or three acts. »

26 Apr 2009

VERDI: Don Carlo — Rome 1954

Don Carlo: Opera in four acts. »

19 Apr 2009

VERDI: Luisa Miller — Reggio Emilia 1976

Luisa Miller: Melodramma tragico in three acts. »

12 Apr 2009

WAGNER: Götterdämmerung — Rome 1968

Götterdämmerung: Third day of Der Ring des Nibelungen in a prologue and three acts. »

06 Apr 2009

WAGNER: Siegfried — Rome 1968

Siegfried: Second day of Der Ring des Nibelungen in three acts. »

29 Mar 2009

WAGNER: Die Walküre — Rome 1968

Die Walküre: First day of Der Ring des Nibelungen in three acts. »

22 Mar 2009

WAGNER: Das Rheingold — Rome 1968

Vorabend (preliminary evening) of Der Ring des Nibelungen, in four scenes. »

15 Mar 2009

ROSSINI: Il Barbiere di Siviglia — La Scala 1956

Il Barbiere di Siviglia [Almaviva, ossia L’inutile precauzione (‘Almaviva, or The Useless Precaution’)]: Commedia in two acts. »

08 Mar 2009

CHERUBINI: Medea — La Scala 1961

Medea (Médée): Opéra comique in three acts. »

01 Mar 2009

BELLINI: La sonnambula — La Scala 1957

La sonnambula, Melodramma in due atti »

22 Feb 2009

PUCCINI: Tosca — Mexico City 1952

Tosca: A melodrama in three acts. »

15 Feb 2009

ROSSINI: Armida — Firenze 1952

Armida, Dramma per musica in tre atti. »

08 Feb 2009

VERDI: La Traviata — Lisbon 1958

La Traviata: Melodramma in three acts. »

01 Feb 2009

VERDI: Un ballo in maschera — La Scala 1957

Un ballo in maschera: Melodramma in three acts »

25 Jan 2009

BELLINI: Il Pirata — New York 1959

Il Pirata: Melodramma in two acts. »

18 Jan 2009

BELLINI: Norma — Roma 1955

Norma: Tragedia lirica in two acts. »

11 Jan 2009

DONIZETTI: Lucia di Lammermoor — Roma 1957

Lucia di Lammermoor: Opera in three acts. »

04 Jan 2009

PUCCINI: Turandot — Wien 1961

Turandot, dramma lirico in three acts. »

28 Dec 2008

PUCCINI: Gianni Schicchi — La Scala 2008

Gianni Schicchi: Opera in one act (no. 3 of Il trittico) »

21 Dec 2008

PUCCINI: Suor Angelica — La Scala 2008

Suor Angelica: Opera in one act (no.2 of Il trittico). »

14 Dec 2008

PUCCINI: Il Tabarro — La Scala 2008

Il Tabarro [The Cloak]: Opera in one act (no.1 of Il Trittico). »

07 Dec 2008

PUCCINI: La Rondine — La Scala 1994

La Rondine: Commedia lirica in three acts. »

01 Dec 2008

PUCCINI: La Fanciulla del West — La Scala 1956

La Fanciulla del West: Opera in three acts. »

23 Nov 2008

PUCCINI: La Fanciulla del West — Firenze 1954

La Fanciulla del West: Opera in three acts. »

16 Nov 2008

PUCCINI: Madama Butterfly — Covent Garden 1957

Madama Butterfly, opera in two acts. »

09 Nov 2008

PUCCINI: Tosca — Bruxelles 1958

Tosca: A melodrama in three acts. »

02 Nov 2008

PUCCINI: La Bohème — Vienna 1988

La Bohème, opera in four acts. Music composed by Giacomo Puccini. Libretto by Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi lllica, based on episodes from Henri Murger’s Scènes de la vie de Bohème. »