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 first-ever audio-visual recording of this opera – directed by Christof Loy, conducted by Marc Al...

Starring Jonas Kaufmann as Bacchus and featuring Emily Magee with Daniel Harding conducting the Vien...

A romantic opera in three acts with music and libretto by Richard Wagner, performed by the Orchestra...

Teatro Alla Scala 1983 production of three one-act operas from Puccini.

Live performance from the Schwetzinger Festspiele, 1987. At the age of 21, Italian composer Giacchin...

Filmed at the Vienna State Opera in 2005, Andrei Serban's production of Massenet's opera with a late...

The Lyric Opera of Chicago's 1985 production of Puccini's opera, set in the late nineteenth century ...

Shortly after WWII, the DEFA Studios produced a series of operas and operettas which belonged to the...

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

This May 2010 production of Massenet's 1910 opera "Don Quichotte" marked the opera's centenary and a...

This set has Edita Gruberova singing in top form, all her scooping cast aside, which one finds in ab...

Handel's 1724 opera Tamerlano followed the success of his previous year's Giulio Cesare with another...

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 ...

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

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

Premiered in 1787, “Don Giovanni” exposes the timeless theme of a man hovering between vitality and ...

The young soldier Don José intends to marry Micaëla, a girl from his home village. But when he meets...

Lucia’s brother Enrico is horrified to learn she has fallen in love with his sworn enemy Edgardo. He...