In Rigoletto, the deformed figure of the hunchbacked jester at the Mantuan court acts as a foil to his cynical and powerful master, an unscrupulous philanderer contrasted with his cruel and unforgiving fool. Rigoletto encourages and welcomes the Duke's conquests, pitilessly mocking his victims until he discovers that the Duke has abducted the one person he genuinely loves, his own daughter. As a result, the character of the court jester is transformed into a tragic figure who, in spite of his evident immorality and malice, allows us to sense the devotion he feels for his daughter and his horror at being destroyed by the same despotic world as that which he himself has helped to create.
Wagner’s mystic masterpiece Parsifal at the Staatsoper Berlin, staged by Dmitri Tcherniakov and cond...
Visually this is a gripping production which captures the drama of this opera perfectly. It's downri...
The Lyric Opera of Chicago's 1985 production of Puccini's opera, set in the late nineteenth century ...
Sasha Regan’s award-winning All-male Company are set to lift everyone’s spirits with a treat in thei...
Carlos Álvarez takes the title role in the first of Verdi's Shakespearean operas, with Maria Guleghi...
The sets and costumes by Ponnelle are truly reflective of the 'grand style'. Plus the fact that the ...
The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House presents a new production of Poulenc's short opera La Voix Hu...
Diana Damrau’s reputation as the world’s leading coloratura soprano has been built on her extraordin...
Woody Allen's production of the Puccini comic opera at LA Opera in 2015
A notable opera singer tries to commit suicide because of a emotional breakdown. While hospitalized ...
Filmed at the Vienna State Opera in 2005, Andrei Serban's production of Massenet's opera with a late...
Emmanuelle Haïm has established herself as one of the world’s leading performers, conductors and int...
I Vespri Siciliani must me Verdi's most underrated masterpiece. Most people are put off by the fact ...
From the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma Terme di Caracalla "Carmen" by Georges Bizet. Director Jesus Lope...
What happened to Figaro and his friends after the events told in Rossini’s and Mozart’s operas? One ...
This Blu-ray is a splendid record of a creative production with terrific voices and direction, as go...
Originally commissioned to celebrate the completion of the Suez Canal and the opening of Cairos new ...
Inspired by one of the twentieth century's greatest novels, composer Lorin Maazel evokes Orwell's to...
This set has Edita Gruberova singing in top form, all her scooping cast aside, which one finds in ab...