Offenbach’s mockery of bourgeois ideals, the sublimity of music and the institution of marriage ensures that the moralistic sermonizing of ‘Public Opinion’ falls on deaf ears. The mysterious figure of John Styx tells the story of behind-the-times Orpheus and his hacked-off Eurydice, of gods and goddesses seeking diversion, jaded with humdrum life in Olympus. He tells of the rebellion in the pantheon, which Jupiter adeptly averts by promising an amusement for his entourage. Burning with curiosity to see the beauteous captive and the contest between Jupiter and Pluto for Eurydice’s favour, the illustrious company embarks on an infernal ride to the underworld that culminates in what is surely the most wellknown can-can in the history of music. And what of Eurydice? She ends up putting a spoke in everyone’s wheel…

“In a world that often demands certainty, Dialogues des Carmélites invites us to sit with profound q...

As the saying goes, “Shakespeare invented him, Verdi made him immortal” – and, surely, it was Bryn T...

A filmed performance of the January 2016 world premiere production of Toshio Hosokawa's opera dedica...

"Despite the multitude of characters and situations, the plot is simple: the eternal flow of life. I...

Opera in three acts, a prologue and an epilogue, by Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880), with a libretto i...

Rigoletto is a jester in the court of the Duke of Mantua. He has a hunch-back and he's rather unattr...

The Queen of the Night enlists a handsome prince named Tamino to rescue her beautiful kidnapped daug...
A colorful and comedic staging of the classic opera buffa by the Vienna State Opera.

Finding the right librettos was not easy, but one month after the end of the First World War, his tr...

In an epic tale of good versus evil, Faust sells his soul to the Devil and tries to save Marguerite ...

Based on Gluck's masterpiece and performed entirely on location in and around the environs of the Ba...

The heroic Koroghlu is a poor youngster who leads a peasants' revolt against the tyrannic Khan.

ENO revival of the classic Gilbert and Sullivan operetta as reimagined in a 1930s grand hotel settin...

The Gershwins’ modern American masterpiece has its first Met performances in almost three decades, s...

Paying a rare visit to her estate, a countess clashes with the man she hired to manage it.

In the court of Princess Turandot, suitors who fail to solve her riddles are brutally killed. But wh...
Filmed production of Bizet’s Carmen at Earls Court in London, June 1989.

The moon landing is juxtaposed to Dante and Beatrice's journey through paradise in this visual orato...

Clara is given an enchanted Nutcracker doll on Christmas Eve. As midnight strikes, she creeps downst...

The innocent Candide discovers that human beings aren't all they are cracked up to be and ultimately...