23-year-old Gioachino Rossini completed his masterpiece IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA incredibly quickly – legend has it in just 13 days – which Rossini attributed to ‘facility and lots of instinct’. The opera, characterized by youthful energy and bold wit, has all the ingredients for comic chaos: an imprisoned young woman, her lecherous guardian and a young noble suitor. Skilfully plotting behind the scenes is Figaro, an irrepressible and inventive character in whom many have seen a resemblance to the young Rossini himself. The score fizzes with musical brilliance, from Figaro’s famous entrance aria to the frenzy of the Act I finale. This recording sees Joyce DiDonato (Rosina) bring literal meaning to the old theatrical motto Break a leg! She did just that in an earlier show but was determined to finish her commitment and was re-staged into the production to allow for the additional challenges that come when a leading lady in a lively physical role must wheel around the other performers...

The life and career of Italian opera singer Farinelli, considered one of the greatest castrato singe...

In the awe-inspiring Teatro Olimpico,Vicenza, Cecilia Bartoli, recognised as one of the best singers...

Performed live at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Gluck's opera in three acts is conducted by ...

Viva Vivaldi! is a concert by the Italian mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli interspersing arias from the...

Imagine a window into the past. Imagine finally connecting singers' bodies to the voices you have al...

Götterdämmerung, the final instalment of Wagner’s Ring of the Nibelung, is a story of human passions...

Gustav Von Aschenbach, a passionate composer, arrives in Venice as a result of wanderlust and there ...

Jules Massanet's lyrical opera is transformed into a superb film production by Petr Weigl, shot on l...

Frantisek Filip film version of the Smetana opera.

This tragic story revolves around the licentious Duke of Mantua, his hunch-backed court jester Rigol...

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

Takarazuka Revue's Phantom based on the play by Maury Yeston and Arthur Kopit.

The celebrated mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli joins Bryn Terfel for a recital of arias and duets reco...

John Eliot Gardiner conducts Gluck’s 1776 French version of “Alceste” at the Théâtre du Châtelet in ...

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

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

Inspired by one of the twentieth century's greatest novels, composer Lorin Maazel evokes Orwell's to...

John Adams’s groundbreaking work vividly brings to life US President Nixon’s 1972 visit to the Peopl...