The Ghosts of Versailles

This telecast offers a rare opportunity to see the legendary Joan Sutherland in the role that first catapulted her to international stardom. She drove audiences wild by the way her opulent voice caressed the music’s long phrases and sprinted effortlessly through the fiendish runs, trills, embellishments and stratospheric high notes. One of the glories of the operatic world, her portrayal of Donizetti’s hapless heroine is a multifaceted and moving characterization. The incomparable tenor Alfredo Kraus is Edgardo, the man Lucia loves but cannot have. (Performance taped November 13, 1982. Broadcasted September 28, 1983.)

This first film of Cyprus' first director, Giorgios Filis, depicts music and dance customs in the form and style of a folk opera, with traditional Cypriot dances and songs. The film consists of a folkloric inventory based on the folk culture of Cyprus, as well as on similar ritual happenings. The narration and dialogue are entirely in the Cypriot dialect and are characterized by a rhetorical and poetic mood.

Live performance from the Zurich Opera House, January 2002.

Stephen Wadsworth’s production of Mussorgsky’s epic masterpiece brilliantly captures the suffering and ambition of the Russian people at a critical time in their nation’s history. René Pape is riveting as the Tsar of the title, giving a commanding and charismatic performance of one of the greatest bass roles in the repertoire—his Boris is dominating, tortured, flawed and utterly unforgettable. The extraordinary cast and the Met Orchestra and Chorus are led by Russian maestro Valery Gergiev, the foremost Mussorgsky interpreter of our time.

Live performance from Chorégies d'Orange, 11 July 2015.

Live performance from Taormina Opera Festival, July 15, 2015.

Live performance from the Opéra de Lyon, July 1 2012. Controversial production by Olivier Py.

Benjamin Britten's 1973 opera, performed in 2008 at the Liceu Opera in Barcelona, Spain.

A beautiful love story that bloomed in Paris and scattered in the Bastille. France at the end of the 18th century, where the populace struggled with poverty and the aristocracy drowned in luxury. After his father was murdered by an aristocrat, Ronan, a farmer, fled to Paris and joined the revolutionaries. He gains passionate friends such as Robespierre, Danton, and Desmoulins, and burns hope for a new era. (Toho 2018)

Disciplined Italian composer Antonio Salieri becomes consumed by jealousy and resentment towards the hedonistic and remarkably talented young Viennese composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

A group of merchants and vikings navigate dramatic events both within and without in this epic musical based on the Icelandic Vinland sagas. As secrets are exposed, two women (Freydís and Gudrid) have a reckoning.

What drives men and women to risk their own lives to save those of others? Fuoco Sacro tells the story of the Vigili del Fuoco, the Italian fire department, and does it through the voices of the people who, over half a century of history, have tackled with competence and a spirit of self-sacrifice the greatest calamities that Italy has tragically had to experience at firsthand.

Kraus - Nucci - Serra - Pertusi - Vespasiani ... Chour du Théâtre Regio de Parme Orchestre Symphonique dell'Emilia Romagna "Arturo Toscanini" ANGELO CAMPORI - Parme, 02/1987

Few singers have plumbed the depths of the role of Violetta as did she incomparable soprano Renata Scotto. Her interpretation surprises with fresh insights at every turn, illuminating aspects of the character that are latent in the libretto and the schore but rarely dramatized with such completeness. For example, when Germont meets Violetta, he is immediately struck by her strong bearing ( Quai modi! , he exclaims in an aside).

Verdi - Un ballo in maschera / Domingo · Barstow · Quivar · Jo · Nucci · Rydl · Chaignaud · Wiener Phil. · Solti · Schlesinger · Salzburg Festival 1900

La Traviata was recorded at what was one of Venice's most exquisite 18th-century opera houses, La Fenice, tragically destroyed by fire in 1996, and now rebuilt. This glorious house is where La Traviata was premiered in 1853. In this memorable performance, Slovak soprano Edita Gruberova takes the leading role of Violetta, the tragic heroine, persuaded by Alfredo's father, Giorgio, to sacrifice her happiness with Alfredo for the sake of family honor.

Staged by the Salzburger Marionettentheater. Wagner's great epic condensed into two hours — compact, humorous and very exciting! Marionettes encounter actors and take us into a time tunnel of mythological entanglements.

Live performance from the Metropolitan Opera, 27 February, 1996.

Live performance from the Metropolitan Opera, 31 December 1986.

This John Dexter production, designed by Desmond Heeley, was a parting gift to the great American soprano Beverly Sills, who bid farewell to the Met as Norina, the smart young widow at the center of Donizetti’s comedy. The sensational Alfredo Kraus sings her beloved Ernesto. Håkan Hagegård, in his Met debut role and season, is Dr. Malatesta, the man who helps the young couple trick the crusty old bachelor of the title (Gabriel Bacquier at his comical best) into a fake marriage. This being a Donizetti comedy, it all turns out perfectly well at the end—and getting there is pure operatic fun.