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...

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

This short begins with a pair thriving in a lush paradise representing the Garden of Eden. The pair ...

Vivian, Roe, JJ, Ines and a mysterious French man through a 20 year musical memory of New York City....

A dead woman wanders through the shadowy space between memory and reality, tracing the lines of her ...

Two mystical beings emerge from the scenery, embarking on a journey through Gallup— Na'nízhoozhí in ...

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

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

There are elements of Eurotrash in this outdoor Aix-en-Provence summer opera production. Nevertheles...

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

Fierrabras of 1823 is the last of Franz Schubert’s stage works. Rarely performed to this day, this h...

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

Witness the Zurich Opera's stunning production of Richard Wagner's masterpiece "Tannhauser," conduct...

1989 recording of the San Francisco Opera production of Mefistofele: Boito's retelling of Goethe's F...

This is the 2004 version of Kaija Saariaho's opera performed by the Finnish National Opera and condu...

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

"La Bohème" is one of Giacomo Puccini's most popular and timeless works and the second-most performe...

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

Take a perfect cast, a great conductor and a groundbreaking staging in-out makes a 'Tristan' for ete...

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