01 Dec 1999
Alcina
Handel's Alcina. Anonymous libretto, adapted from the libretto of Riccardo Broschi's "L'isola d'Alcina", based on Ludovico Ariosto's "Orlando furioso" (uncredited)
It is a rare opera indeed that calls for one soprano diva and no fewer than six tenors. Mary Zimmerman’s fanciful production of Rossini’s drama, designed by Richard Hudson and with choreography by Graciela Daniele, provides the perfect setting for superstar Renée Fleming’s captivating performance of the title role. A beautiful but evil sorceress in the times of the Crusades, Armida sets out to regain the love of the Frankish knight Rinaldo (Lawrence Brownlee) by putting her magical spells on him. She at first succeeds to draw him into her web of sorcery, but ultimately divine intervention—and his fellow soldiers—free Rinaldo from his enchantment—much to the vengeful fury of Armida and her demons.
Armida
Rinaldo
Goffredo
Gernando / Carlo
Ubaldo
Eustazio
Astarotte
Idraote
Love
Revenge
Ballet Rinaldo
Devil
Self - Host
01 Dec 1999
Handel's Alcina. Anonymous libretto, adapted from the libretto of Riccardo Broschi's "L'isola d'Alcina", based on Ludovico Ariosto's "Orlando furioso" (uncredited)
27 Mar 2010
After over a century out of the Met’s repertoire, audiences were thrilled to discover just what a sensational evening in the theater Thomas’s Hamlet can be. Simon Keenlyside’s riveting performance as the tortured Prince of Denmark in Patrice Caurier and Moshe Leiser’s starkly brooding production had critics raving that Keenlyside’s superb singing, coupled with his deftly delineated three-dimensional Hamlet, was one of the greatest examples of operatic drama of our time. The cast includes Marlis Petersen as the long suffering Ophélie, who brilliantly shows why her mad scene is so justly famous, along with Jennifer Larmore and James Morris as Gertrude and Claudius.
06 Jul 2000
The Graham Vicks production of FALSTAFF opened the new Covent Garden Royal Opera House, and was not to everybody's taste; the garish primary colours of the costumes. The staging is effective--the complicated counterpoint of the ensembles is reflected in unobtrusive blocking that keeps the vocal lines clear and separate, especially in the final fugue. Bryn Terfel's Falstaff is a memorable creation, self-mocking and self-aggrandising at the same time--so much so, in fact, that he almost does not need the vast prosthetic body he has to wear for the part. Desiree Rancatore is an admirably sweet-toned Nanetta; Bernadette Manca di Nissa an appropriately sardonic Mistress Quickly; Roberto Frontali as Ford, in his Act 2 scena, perfectly distils and parodies every jealousy aria ever written, including Verdi's own. Haitink's conducting is exemplary in the lyrical passages, gets almost everything out of the fast and furious comic sections.
27 May 2016
Glyndebourne's Saul stole the summer and had critics raving. The Guardian (****) applauded virtuoso stagecraft from director Barrie Kosky in his debut production there, calling the show a theatrical and musical feast of energetic choruses, surreal choreography and gorgeous singing. For The Independent, which ranked it amongst five top classical and opera performances of 2015, there was no praise too high for the cast. The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment under Ivor Bolton sparkles from the pit with period panache, and designer Katrin Lea Tag's exuberant costumes (The Times ****) set the Old Testament story in Handel's time, with a witty twinge of the contemporary.
12 Jul 1970
Wiener Philharmoniker and Wiener Philharmonia Chor Conducted by Karl Böhm Directed by Vaclav Kaslik
29 Oct 1969
Opera by Harry Somers portraying Metis leader Louis Riel and his Northwest Rebellion. 1969 CBC-TV production based on the original 1967 opera.
26 Mar 2024
Cio-Cio-San, the young Japanese bride of American naval officer Lieutenant Pinkerton, finds her romantic idyll shattered when he deserts her shortly after their marriage. She lives in hope that one day he will return.
19 Nov 1962
Film version of the Rimsky Korsakov opera from the Pushkin story. Motsart i Salyeri (Mozart and Salieri), based on a legend that Salieri poisoned Mozart, meditates on the nature of creativity while introducing, in brilliantly compressed speeches, what was to be one of the important Russian themes—metaphysical rebellion against God.
19 Oct 2024
Two-time Tony Award–winning composer Jeanine Tesori’s powerful new opera Grounded, commissioned by the Met and based on librettist George Brant’s acclaimed play, wrestles with the ethical quandaries and psychological toll of 21st-century warfare.
01 Jan 1993
It is to composer and librettist Arrigo Boito and his constant pestering of the octogenarian Verdi that there remained within him one last great comedy fighting to get out that we owe this absolute miracle of an opera. Produced in 1893 as Verdi turned 80 there is much in this masterpiece that can be identified as a modernist neoclassical work. The use of short motifs instead of long arioso melodic lines, the spry and reduced orchestral textures and the lack of a single 'stand and deliver' dramatic declamatory aria all serve to make this more of a 20th century work than an example of 19th century late-Romanticism.
08 Mar 2013
Love blossoms between Maroc, a singing boat refugee, and Lisa, a collector of singing seashells who dreams about love.
02 Mar 2015
Donizetti's French masterpiece was in the hands of Italian conductor Antonello Allemandi. This maestro, a bel canto specialist, captured the fire and intensity of the passions from the get-go, making the overture a superbly eloquent transition to a musical world based on beautiful lines and colors that elaborate distress and make it compellingly elegant. Allemandi demonstrated a full authority over the stage for the musically complex scenes, and in the arias and duets he demonstrated his confidence in the artistry of distraught singers by establishing ample tempos to support their soaring vocal lines while he concentrated on pulling every possible nuance from the pit players.
01 Jan 1966
An interpretation of Georges Bizet's opera "Carmen," which is presented in an artful form with a twist.
24 Dec 1951
The historic, original, live airing of what would become an annual Christmas tradition throughout the 1950s, this opera tells the story of Amahl, a crippled shepherd boy, and his destitute mother, who provide temporary shelter to three men who are following a star to the newly-born Christ child.
29 Jun 2015
Hammerstein and Kern’s Show Boat is a true classic of American musical theater - a tale of life on the Mississippi from the 1880s to the 1920s is both a poignant love story and a powerful reminder of the bitter legacy of racism. The exuberant production from the San Francisco Opera features songbook classics such as “Ol’ Man River” and “Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man”.
01 Jan 1994
The Queen of the Night has begged Prince Tamino to free her daughter Pamina from the clutches of the High Priest Sarastro, who has abducted her. Together with the bird-catcher Papageno, Tamino enters Sarastro's realm to seek her. When he finds her, the two fall in love, but they have to have to undergo ordeals before they can be together. At the end, Papageno is also rewarded with his Papagena.
03 Nov 2015
No overview found
01 Dec 1986
Recorded live at the Vienna State Opera, Placido Domingo and Eva Marton star in a sumptuous recording of Ponchielli's famed four-act melodrama, a story of tyranny and intrigue set in semi-historical and ever-romantic Venice. The action is projected by strong characters whose fundamentally sound instincts become distorted by raw passion. The performance draws upon both human and technical resources including a large ballet and varies in mood from the happy carnival to scenes of the darkest gloom and horror.
10 Feb 2011
Live performance 10 February 2011 at the Palais Garnier. Emmanuelle Haïm conducting Le Concert d'Astrée and les Choeurs de l'Opéra national de Paris. Directed for stage by Laurent Pelly.
07 Mar 2009
Anthony Minghella’s stunning production of Puccini’s opera opened the Met’s 2006–07 season and was seen by thousands of people around the world as part of the company’s Live in HD series. Patricia Racette is Cio-Cio-San, the trusting and innocent young geisha of the title, who disastrously falls in love with American Navy lieutenant B. F. Pinkerton (Marcello Giordani), only to be abandoned by him. Maria Zifchak is her loyal servant Suzuki and Dwayne Croft is Sharpless, the sympathetic American consul who does all he can but is unable to avert tragedy. Performance Date Mar 7, 2009