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.

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

Carlos Álvarez takes the title role in the first of Verdi's Shakespearean operas, with Maria Guleghi...

Woody Allen's production of the Puccini comic opera at LA Opera in 2015

Richard Wagner called Die Walküre the “first evening” of the Ring of the Nibelung; he called Das Rhe...

The tale of a quick-witted fox and her escape from confinement for a life in the forest.

Kent Nagano superbly masters the challenges presented by this score, shapes the dynamics with subtle...

At first glance, the title of Shostakovich’s opera seems to speak for itself: Katherina, neglected a...

2014 marks a year of celebration recognizing the 150th birthday year of the German late-Romantic orc...

Rarely has a production of Verdi’s Otello been staged in such a prestigious location: the courtyard ...

Johann Strauss, Jr., a would-be composer of waltzes in mid-19th Century Vienna, attempts to thwart h...

Jean-Marie Villegier's modern interpretation of Handel's "Rodelinda" – filmed live at the world-reno...

Pious restraint comes face to face with sensuous hedonism in Camille Saint-Saëns’s grand-opera retel...

A 2002 live performance of Mikel Rouse's Dennis Cleveland, a multimedia opera set entirely on a tele...

The Zurich Opera gathered a superb cast for this production: Italian soprano Eva Mei sings the Count...

Take a perfect cast, a great conductor and a groundbreaking staging in-out makes a 'Tristan' for ete...

Lovely but lethal, the evil Princess Turandot comes to life through the performance of Luana De Vol ...

Donald Runnicles directs the San Francisco Opera in this lavish production of Giacomo Puccini’s fina...