Poulenc: Dialogues des Carmelites

At the end of 2013, the year that marked the 50th anniversary of Francis Poulenc’s death, his gripping and moving operatic masterpiece, Dialogues des Carmélites was staged in Paris by director Olivier Py with a cast featuring some of France’s finest female singers – Patricia Petitbon, Véronique Gens, Sandrine Piau and Sophie Koch – under the baton of Jérémie Rohrer. Le Figaro described the production as “a thing of wonder,” while Le Monde called it: “A masterpiece ... the most exciting and consummately achieved show to have been seen on a Pa...

Giordano: Andrea Chernier

“Kaufmann is performing the title role for the first time, and it’s hard to imagine him bettered. His striking looks make him very much the Romantic and romanticised outsider of Giordano’s vision. His voice, with its dark, liquid tone, soars through the music with refined ease and intensity: all those grand declarations of passion, whether political or erotic, hit home with terrific immediacy.” – The Guardian Presented in its Covent Garden premiere in January 2015, this staging – directed by David McVicar and conducted by the Royal Opera’s M...

Royal Opera House: Andrea Chénier

At a glittering party in 18th-century Paris, the poet Andréa Chenier delivers an impassioned denunciation of Louis XVI. Five years later, the Revolution has given way to the Terror, transforming the power balance between Chénier, his beloved Maddalena, and Gérard, the man who could destroy him...

Il Trovatore

tt0253843. Il Trovatore (1985) Verona. Verdi / Italian. Reynald Giovaninetti conducts the Orchestra of the Arena di Verona in a performance of Verdi's 'Il Trovatore'. The international cast includes Giorgio Zancanaro and Rosalind Plowright. The Count Di Luna believes that his younger brother was murdered years before by a vengeful gypsy, but still hopes that he may be alive. When he attempts to court the beautiful Leonora, he is enraged to discover that she has a lover - the troubadour, Manrico. Manrico and the Count duel, and afterwards Ma...

The Metropolitan Opera: Hansel and Gretel

This deliciously dark take on the beloved Brothers Grimm fairy tale, appealing to audiences of all ages, was part of the Met’s popular English-language holiday series. Alice Coote and Christine Schäfer star as the famous siblings lost in the woods, who battle the ravenous Witch—a zany portrayal by tenor Philip Langridge—while the Met orchestra, under the baton of Vladimir Jurowski, glories in the rich, folk-inspired score.

Donizetti : Mary Stuart

David Rendall, John Tomlinson, Janet Baker, Peter Butler, Rosalind Plowright, Angela Bostock, Glenn McKeown, Giuseppe Bardari, Tom Hammond, Alan Opie, Leigh Maurice

Vanessa - Samuel Barber

This work won Samuel Barber his first Pulitzer Prize for music: the Glyndebourne Festival presents Vanessa, a masterpiece premiered in 1958 based on a libretto by the composer's close friend, Bian Carlo Menotti. Set to one of the most beautiful scores of the 20th Century, Vanessa tells the haunting story of a woman who, once abandoned by her lover Anatol, retreats from the world to await his return, living in isolation with her mother and niece. Two decades later, a man arrives who shatters the delicate balance of their home… Olivier Award-w...