When the most voluptuous, sought-after courtesan in the world meets an ascetic monk whose life is devoted to God, you know erotic sparks are going to fly. And when the clash takes place in a glorious, but rarely performed, opera by Massenet, it’s a delight to the ear just as much as to the eye. Renée Fleming is every inch the glamorous Thaïs, swathed in elegant gowns designed by Christian Lacroix. Thomas Hampson is Athanaël, the tortured man of God. This production by John Cox, which premiered in December 2008, brilliantly sets the stage for a confrontation as old as civilization itself.
Car Men is a collaboration between the renowned choreographer Jíri Kylían and filmmaker Boris Paval ...

All the throbbing eroticism—and ultimate heartbreak—of Puccini’s youthful score is unleashed by Jame...

Officers Ferrando and Guglielmo are certain that their lovers Dorabella and Fiordiligi are faithful ...

The complete version of Verdi's Otello performed by Placido Domingo and Kiri Te Kanawa, at the Royal...

A production of Mozart's opera recorded live at Zurich Opera House in 2000. Cecilia Bartoli leads an...

The deformed Phantom who haunts the Paris Opera House causes murder and mayhem in an attempt to make...

Who loves whom in Così fan tutte, Mozart’s and Da Ponte’s cruelly comic reflection on desire, fideli...

Disciplined Italian composer Antonio Salieri becomes consumed by jealousy and resentment towards the...

Two years prior to the opening scene, the nobleman Florestan has exposed or attempted to expose cert...

It's hard to imagine confirmed Straussians not wanting this starry Metropolitan Opera performance of...

An excellent performance of this delightful opera. The principals are superb, especially the sisters...

La traviata (Italian: [la traˈviaːta], "The Fallen Woman"[1][2]) is an opera in three acts by Giusep...

Pietro Mascagni's opera recorded in 2009. Conductor Stefano Ranzani leads the orchestra and chorus o...

Desdemona in Verdi's Otello was a career role for soprano Renata Tebaldi, from her first operatic pe...

Here is a rare and exceptional example in which the director and costume designer amuse themselves w...

The director, Roland Schwab, has created his version of Hell. The set is like a high iron walled han...

This live version of Puccini s superbly dramatic opera was recorded in Rome in the exact locations a...

The grand scale and magnificent acoustics of the Roman arena in Verona are ideally suited to the pag...

This is the 2004 version of Kaija Saariaho's opera performed by the Finnish National Opera and condu...