Verdi Aida

A colorful and comedic staging of the classic opera buffa by the Vienna State Opera.

Tamino, a handsome prince, and Papageno, a bird-catcher, are sent by the Queen of Night to rescue her daughter Pamina from captivity under the high priest Sarastro. Julie Taymor's abridged, English-language production of the classic Mozart opera.

Acclaimed soprano Edita Gruberova stars as the title character in this 1996 production of Gaetano Donizetti's "Linda di Chamounix," featuring the Orchestra and Chorus of the Zurich Opera House under the direction of conductor Adam Fischer. Secretly in love with Viscount Carlo, Linda goes mad when she learns a marriage to another woman has been arranged for him. Jacob Will and László Polgár also star.

Natalie Dessay and Rolando Villazón bring Jules Massenet's classic opera to the stage in this dazzling production. In 18th-century France, Manon (Dessay) faces life as a nun, despite catching the eye of many men. When she meets the handsome but penniless des Grieux (Villazón), she falls deeply in love. The pair elopes, but their future together is threatened by outside forces.

The Met assembled an ideal cast for François Girard’s acclaimed new production of Wagner’s final masterpiece: Jonas Kaufmann in the title role of the fool “made wise by compassion”, René Pape as Gurnemanz, the veteran Knight of the Grail, Katarina Dalayman as Kundry, Peter Mattei is Amfortas, the anguished ruler of the Grail’s kingdom, and Evgeny Nikitin sings the evil magician Klingsor.

As bright and colorful as penny candy, this visually arresting production of Engelbert Humperdinck's "Hansel und Gretel" puts a twist on the classic fairy tale upon which it's based by uprooting the action to modern times. Director Laurent Pelly's interpretation, which premiered at Glyndebourne in 2008, finds Hansel, Gretel and their family taking shelter in a cardboard box while the witch's stock of goodies lines the shelves of a supermarket.

Set in a Siberian prison camp, Janacek's final opera centers on the experiences of recent arrival Alexandre Petrovitch Goriantchikov (Olaf Bar), a nobleman who finds relief from the harsh conditions in the friendship of the illiterate Alyeya (Eric Stoklossa). Recorded at the Grand Theatre de Provence, this stage production is directed by the well-respected Patrice Chereau and features famed conductor Pierre Boulez. Filmed at the Aix-en-Provence Festival on 20 July 2007.

The Metropolitan Opera's performance of "Hansel and Gretel" features music by Engelbert Humperdinck and is conducted by Thomas Fulton. The Met's storybook production cheerfully evokes a magic world of woodland sprites and candy dreams and yet brings as well the entire apparatus of Wagnerian music and drama to bear on a German fairy tale. This production is sung in English, and features the Metropolitan Opera, Chorus, and Ballet.

Recorded at the Musiektheater, Amsterdam on 21 & 25 January 2008. Performed by De Nederlandse Opera, composer Jean-Philippe Rameau's renowned tragedy "Castor et Pollux" tells the myth-based story of the selfless love between two brothers: Castor, who is mortal, and the immortal Pollux. When Castor dies trying to prevent the kidnapping of the woman he loves, Pollux decides to become mortal and replace his brother in the Underworld. Finnur Bjarnason, Henk Neven and Anna Maria Panzarella star.

Since her thrilling, 1995 debut at the San Francisco Opera, soprano Anna Netrebko has starred with opera companies and orchestras worldwide. This video gathers some of her best moments in excerpts from Giacomo Puccini's "La Boheme"; Charles Francois Gounod's "Faust"; Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's "Don Giovanni"; Vincenzo Bellini's "La Sonnambula"; and Antonin Dvorak's "Rusalka." Also included are interviews with Netrebko and her colleagues.

Princess Fedora, who is to marry the Count the following day, arrives and sings of her love for him, unaware that the dissolute Count has betrayed her with another woman. The sound of sleigh-bells is heard, and the Count is brought in mortally wounded. Doctors and a priest are summoned, and the servants are questioned. It is proposed that Count Loris Ipanov, a suspected Nihilist sympathiser, was probably the assassin. De Siriex (a diplomat), and Grech (a police inspector) plan an investigation. Fedora swears on the jewelled Byzantine cross she is wearing that Count Andrejevich's death will be avenged.

This seminal work of avant-garde opera from composer Philip Glass and director Robert Wilson arrives full-circle, coming to France, the site of its 1976 Avignon Festival world premiere, at the tail end of this 2014 revival tour for a landmark Theâtre du Châtelet production and a first ever filming by award-winning arts filmmaker Don Kent. Eschewing conventional narrative, the opera revolves loosely around pacifist Einstein’s relationship to the creation of the atomic bomb.

Alban Berg's black, satirical opera is one of the masterpieces of the 20th Century. It charts the rise and fall of a femme fatale "created to make trouble", from life as a society hostess to prostitution and eventual bloody death at the hands of Jack the Ripper. Berg's score is intensely beautiful, and the rich characterisation brilliantly executed.

Tim Albery's Olivier-nominated production for The Royal Opera delves deep into the psychology of Wagner's cursed wanderer and his beloved Senta, detailing the monomania and uncompromising idealism that finally drives them apart. Michael Levine's elemental single set is dominated by a rolling metal hull that represents the Dutchman's phantom ship, the poverty of Senta's home and the treacherous sea.

Opera's most popular double bill, fondly known as Cav and Pag, conducted by Herbert von Karajan. In 'Cavalleria rusticana', Turiddu returns from military service to find that his fiancée Lola had married the carter Alfio while he was away. In revenge, Turiddu seduces Santuzza, a young woman in the village. In 'Pagliacci', the drama unfolds as Canio (Pagliaccio) struggles with rage, despair, and desire on learning of his wife Nedda's intended infidelity with Silvio. Canio's tragic conflict increasingly mirrors the comedy of Pagliaccio.

The Christoph Marthaler production of Leoš Janáček's "Věc Makropulos", recorded live at the Salzburger Festspiele on 8 & 30 August 2011. Angela Denoke stars as Emilia Marty, with Raymond Very as Albert Gregor, Peter Hoare as Vitek, Jurgita Adamonyté as Krista, and Johan Reuter as Jaroslav Prus. Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts the Wiener Philharmoniker.

Donizetti's L'Elisir d'amore in a colorful version signed Annabel Arden. A pastoral romance between Adina, the rich and gorgeous landowner, and Nemorino, a simple peasant, L'Elisir d'amore sets Tristan and Iseult's love potion at the center of the action. With Ekaterina Siurina, Peter Auty, Alfredo Daza, Luciano Di Pasquale and the London Philharmonic Orchestra under Maurizio Benini's baton. Revival of production first performed 12 October 2007. This recording is of performances 12/15 August 2009.

Albert Rosen conducts the Wexford Festival Opera's production of the classic Antonín Dvorák tale about a young woman who defies her parents by insisting on dancing even if it means she must dance with the devil. Anne-Marie Owens plays Kate, who's dismayed to discover that her spontaneous outburst has attracted the attention of one of Lucifer's minions. Joseph Evans stars as Jirka, the handsome shepherd who risks a voyage to hell to rescue her.

Soprano Yvonne Kenny turns in a spirited performance as Aspasia in this brilliant staging of composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's first notable opera -- penned when he was only 14 years old. The production, set in early Roman times, follows the inner circle of the empire's most formidable foe, King Mithridates of Pontus. Maestro Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducts the sterling cast, which includes tenor Gosta Winbergh and mezzo-soprano Ann Murray.

Staging directors Patrice Caurier and Moshe Leiser infuse German composer Engelbert Humperdinck's fairy-tale opera with more than a dollop of black humor in this 2008 London performance that's both enchanting and menacing. Angelika Kirchschlager and Diana Damrau play Hansel and Gretel, respectively, and beloved British baritone Thomas Allen portrays their father in an outstanding production led by maestro Colin Davis.