"Manon", wrote Puccini to his publisher Giulio Ricordi in 1889, "is a heroine I believe in and therefore she cannot fail to win the heart of the public." This turned out to be a truly prophetic statement since none of Puccinis other world successes were received on their first nights as rapturously as Manon Lescaut. The popularity of Puccinis great masterpiece has never waned and the highly acclaimed Götz Friedrich production at Covent Garden was hailed as an operatic milestone. Two of the worlds leading stars--Kiri Te Kanawa and Placido Domingo--head a strong cast conducted by the brilliant Italian conductor Giuseppe Sinopoli.

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

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

What happened to Figaro and his friends after the events told in Rossini’s and Mozart’s operas? One ...

Tosca is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giusep...

Renée Fleming stars in the title role of one of Handel’s greatest dramas, seen in Stephen Wadsworth’...

Live 2001 production from the Zurich Opera House of the classic Mozart/Da Ponte opera, with Nikolaus...

The stupendous climax to Wagner’s four-part Ring cycle is brilliantly realized by the Otto Schenk/Gü...

Live performance from Zürich Opera House, 2001. “Vesselina Kasarova’s Rosina turned this Barber int...

David McVicar's exhilarating new production, with Anne Sofie von Otter in the title role, restores t...

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

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

Sasha Regan’s award-winning All-male Company are set to lift everyone’s spirits with a treat in thei...

Recorded at the Glyndebourne Festival Opera in 1995, this acclaimed presentation of composer Gioachi...

Die Walküre (The Valkyrie), WWV 86B, is an opera in three acts by Richard Wagner with a German libre...
The writer Dario Fo applies his inventive genius to Rossini's comic opera in its premiere DVD releas...

This is a joy from beginning to end. Although there are many tricks and ideas from Laurent Pelly, as...

Stage director Emilio Sagi's production of the legendary Barber of Seville is enriched by a bright d...

A Victor Hugo play, haunting and scandalous, provided the inspiration for Verdi’s mid-career masterp...
“Let us assume that Switzerland is truly a paradise. The music hereto was written long ago. We have ...