This production from Teatro alla Scala stars opera greats Jonas Kaufmann and Erwin Schrott, with newcomer Anita Rachvelishvili making her wildly successful debut.

This production from La Scala stars opera greats Jonas Kaufmann and Erwin Schrott, with newcomer Anita Rachvelishvili making her successful debut.

Carmen

Forbidden love, wrongdoings and anguish: the Opernhaus Zürich ventures into late 19th-century French romanticism with “Werther“ by French composer Jules Massenet. A loose adaptation of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s epistolary novel “The Sorrows of Young Werther”, the opera is conducted by Germany’s Cornelius Meister. It tells the story of the impossible union of poet Werther to Charlotte, a woman of duty already promised to a wealthy businessman.Goethe’s drama is echoed in Massenet’s score by emotionally wide-ranging vocal parts written on a grand scale.

A loose adaptation of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s epistolary novel “The Sorrows of Young Werther”, composed by Jules Massenet. 

Werther

Don Giovanni is the second of Mozart’s landmark collaborations with librettist Lorenzo da Ponte (after The Marriage of Figaro and before Così fan tutte). In it, they created a work that has beguiled and entranced in equal measure since its premiere in 1787. Perfectly situated, as no other opera, between tragedy and comedy, this potent drama combines glorious music with a seductive central character who is endlessly fascinating in his complexity. Kasper Holten’s 2014 production for The Royal Opera casts Don Giovanni as an artist who thrives on an audience enticed by his creative gifts. The visually spectacular set by award-winning designer Es Devlin features ingenious video designs by Luke Halls which provide an insight into the characters’ thoughts and emotions. But at the production’s heart are the beauty and invention of Mozart’s dazzling score.

Kasper Holten’s 2014 production for The Royal Opera House casts Don Giovanni as an artist who thrives on an audience enticed by his creative gifts.

Don Giovanni

“Falstaff” is the only comic opera, as well as the last opera, of Verdi’s production. At 1893 “Falstaff” made his debut at the Teatro alla Scala accompanied by a great success. “Falstaff’s” score abounds in musical experimentation like the pseudo-symphonic sonata-form that opens the first act, the fugue buffa that closes the opera. “Falstaff” is the work of an amusing and amused Verdi. After all, as the final theme reads: “Everything in the world is a joke. Man was born a joker”. In this way John Eliot Gardiner together with stage director Sven-Eric Bechtolf are congenial to this witty opera after Shakespeare.

“Falstaff” is the only comic opera, as well as the last opera, of Verdi’s production.

Verdi: Falstaff

Victory makes Radamès a hero, but tangles his Ethiopian lover Aida in a dangerous royal love triangle and a very personal war.

Aida

Pinkerton returns to the US and finds a “real” American wife, while Butterfly waits with unshakeable faith for him to return to the house on the harbour.

Pinkerton returns to the US and finds a “real” wife, while Butterfly waits with unshakeable faith for him to return to the house on the harbour.

Madama Butterfly

The Royal Opera House stages one of Verdi’s - and opera’s - most beloved productions, La Traviata.

The timeless tale follows the tragic love story of a courtesan, Violetta, who is prepared to sacrifice everything for the man she loves, Alfredo. Torn apart by society and class, Verdi’s dramatic masterpiece has been the inspiration behind modern Hollywood classics including Pretty Woman and Moulin Rouge. 

Experience Verdi’s La Traviata, the inspiration behind Moulin Rouge, lovingly staged at London’s Royal Opera House.

La Traviata

Riccardo Zandonai’s Francesca da Rimini is a four-act opera set during the Renaissance period. The plot concerns an arranged marriage between Francesca and Giovanni, also known as Gianciotto, who is impersonated by his handsome brother Paolo, and with whom Francesca falls passionately in love. Sometimes referred to as the ‘Italian Tristan’, the opera ends in betrayal and a double murder. The production of this rarely performed opera from the Deutsche Oper Berlin proved to be a huge critical success.

Riccardo Zandonai’s Francesca da Rimini is a four-act opera set during the Renaissance period.

Francesca da Rimini

Described by Tchaikovsky as ‘lyric scenes’, Eugene Onegin receives a spectacular reinterpretation from the Norwegian director Stefan Herheim. His productions create controversy and excitement around Europe, and here he takes Pushkin’s story of illusion, disaffection and frustrated love and places the protagonists – world-weary Onegin and naïve, passionate Tatyana – in a triple temporal perspective, referencing the theatrical present, the period of the work’s composition and the pageant of Russia’s history.  Mariss Jansons, renowned for his mastery of Tchaikovsky’s symphonies, conducts this performance from Amsterdam’s Muziektheater.

Stefan Herheim delivers a spectacular reinterpretation of Pushkin’s story, with Bo Stovhus and Krassimira Stoyanova leading the cast.

Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin

Teatro Regio's 2013 revival of their highly successful 2006 production of Verdi's Don Carlo celebrates the 40th anniversary of the theatre's 1973 reopening. With traditional staging and lavish costume design, the production garnered high acclaim in the national and international press. Shown here in the four-act version, Don Carlo is the fascinating tale of father-son power struggles, adultery and love that borders on incest. The cast under the powerful baton of Gianandrea Noseda is headed by renowned Mexican tenor Ramón Vargas, and also features Ludovic Tézier, who has been hailed as one of the best Verdian singers of our time.

Don Carlo is the fascinating tale of father-son power struggles, adultery and love that borders on incest.

Verdi: Don Carlo

Recommendations

Rinat Shaham, with her sublime singing, is the provocative and free-spirited Carmen, while Dymtro Popov portrays Don José with a perfect mix of naivety and desire, his rich tenor rolling out across the harbour.

Rinat Shaham is the provocative and free-spirited Carmen, while Dymtro Popov portrays Don José with a perfect mix of naivety and desire.

Carmen

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