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.

Richard Wagner's Parsifal, staged at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo in 2020, opened the opera season ...

Opera in one act, libretto by G. Forzano based on Dante's Divine Comedy. Third part of his opera Tri...
The writer Dario Fo applies his inventive genius to Rossini's comic opera in its premiere DVD releas...

Deep in a forest where druids and warriors seek revenge against the conquering Romans, Norma is scor...

After the acclaimed Met premiere of Thomas Adès's "The Tempest" in 2012, the composer returned with ...

A rarely performed bel canto gem, Rossini’s Semiramide returned to the Met for the first time in nea...

Premiered immediately before the enduring masterpieces Rigoletto, Il Trovatore, and La Traviata, Lui...

Based on a revolutionary play supposedly written by the Eternal President of the Democratic People's...

Julia Bullock, Joyce DiDonato and Jakub Jozef Orlinski star in Katie Mitchell’s thrilling new produc...

Franz Schreker’s career was cut short by the events of 1933 in Germany but he achieved real fame wit...

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

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

With his affinity for the 16th-century sculptor Benvenuto Cellini's advocacy of artistic and persona...

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

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

From the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma Terme di Caracalla "Carmen" by Georges Bizet. Director Jesus Lope...

Tan Dun portrays the Venetian explorer's travels to the Far East as a journey of both inner and phys...

The operatic version of the famous story about a governess who fears her two charges are possessed.