What happened to Figaro and his friends after the events told in Rossini’s and Mozart’s operas? One possible sequel is told in John Corigliano’s “grand opera buffa” The Ghosts of Versailles—an uproariously funny and deeply moving work inspired by Beaumarchais’s third Figaro play, La Mère Coupable, and commissioned by the Met to celebrate its 100th anniversary. This telecast captures its world premiere run, conducted by James Levine. Håkan Hagegård is Beaumarchais, Figaro’s creator, who is deeply in love with Marie Antoinette (Teresa Stratas in a heart-searing performance) and determined to rewrite history and save her from the guillotine. A young Renée Fleming, at the beginning of her international career, sings the unfaithful Rosina. Gino Quilico is the wily Figaro who tries to take matters in his own hands, and Marilyn Horne stops the show as the exotic entertainer Samira.
La Cenerentola, ossia La bontà in trionfo (Cinderella, or Goodness Triumphant) is an operatic dramma...
Adapted from the opera written by the composer Semen Hulak-Artemovsky.
Opera lies at the heart of Rimsky-Korsakov's colourful idiom, but performances are few and far betwe...
The water fairy Rusalka falls in love with an earthly prince. In vain, Father Aquarius warns her. He...
This DVD of a live 2005 performance from the Zürich Opera under the musical direction of Franz Welse...
Opera by Harry Somers portraying Metis leader Louis Riel and his Northwest Rebellion. 1969 CBC-TV pr...
An Egyptian military commander, Radamès, struggles to choose between his love for the enslaved Ethio...
Royal Opera favourite Bryn Terfel heads the cast for this new production of Donizetti’s comedy of do...
Simon Keenlyside smolders dangerously in the title role of Mozart’s version of the legend of Don Jua...
Richard Jones’ “La bohème” is an important weapon in the Royal Opera’s commercial arsenal. This is i...
Beethoven’s only opera is a masterpiece, an uplifting story of risk and triumph. In this new product...
Franco Zeffirelli directs these two legendary La Scala productions telling tragic tales of jealousy...
When this sumptuous production by Giancarlo del Monaco opened in 1995, legendary tenor Plácido Domin...
Franco Zeffirelli's magnificient staging of Puccini's final opera - a fairy tale set in a mythical C...
Disciplined Italian composer Antonio Salieri becomes consumed by jealousy and resentment towards the...
Classics on a Summer's Evening is an outdoor concert for an enormous audience which was staged in an...
Part folklore, part opera-ballet, this féerie presents local pagan traditions on the day of the summ...
Disenchanted opera star Carlotta Manson falls for ruffian cat burglar Barney McGann and gives up her...