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...

Julia Bullock, Joyce DiDonato and Jakub Jozef Orlinski star in Katie Mitchell’s thrilling new produc...

Franz Schreker’s career was cut short by the events of 1933 in Germany but he achieved real fame wit...

Based on a revolutionary play supposedly written by the Eternal President of the Democratic People's...

The operatic version of the famous story about a governess who fears her two charges are possessed.

From the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma Terme di Caracalla "Carmen" by Georges Bizet. Director Jesus Lope...

A musician is offered a job in Vienna as stage director, but his disagreements with the aristocratic...

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

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

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

Originally commissioned to celebrate the completion of the Suez Canal and the opening of Cairos new ...

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

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

The definitive version of this rare opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The costume and set design is ...

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

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

La Vie parisienne (Parisian life) is an opéra bouffe, or operetta, composed by Jacques Offenbach in ...

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