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World of Opera Listings

NPR's World of Opera features full-length operas and can be heard every Wednesday night at 7 p.m.

July 8, 2009
ROSSINI: The Voyage to Rheims
La Scala, Milan
La Scala Orchestra and Chorus
Ottavio Dantone, conductor
CAST: Patricia Ciofi (Corinna); Annick Massis (Contessa di Folleville); Carmela Remigio (Madama Cortese); Juan F. Gatell Abre (Cavalier Belfiore); Dmitry Korchak (Conte di Libenskof); Alastair Miles (Lord Sidney); Nicola Ulivieri (Don Profondo); Fabio Capitanucci (Don Alvaro)

Rossini's last Italian opera, this score was originally conceived as a one-act "occasional piece" -- nearly three hours long! -- to celebrate the coronation of a French king, and it contains some of the finest vocal writing Rossini ever produced. And don't worry: This La Scala production does include an intermission.

July 15, 2009
VERDI: Simon Boccanegra
Vienna State Opera
Vienna State Opera Orchestra and Chorus
Yves Abel, conductor
CAST: Leo Nucci (Simon Boccanegra); Roxana Briban (Maria); Giacomo Prestia (Jacopo Fiesco); Mario Malagnini (Gabriele Adorno); Eijiro Kai (Paolo Albiani); Dan Paul Dumitrescu (Pietro)

At times neglected, this sombre and brooding drama -- with only one major female role -- is now widely recognized as among Verdi's most powerful and compelling operas. Leo Nucci takes the complex title role in a production from Vienna.

July 22, 2009
HADYN: Orlando Paladino
Concertgebouw, Amsterdam
Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic
Alessandro De Marchi, conductor
CAST: Henriette Bonde-Hansen (Angelica); Marcel Reijans (Orlando); Pietro Spagnoli (Rodomonte); Elena Monti (Alcina); Kenneth Tarver (Medoro); Nikolay Borchev (Pasquale); Martijn Cornet (Caronte); Peter Gijsbertsen (Licone); Laura Cherici (Eurilla)

Of all Haydn's operas, this was the most popular in his lifetime, and arguably his best, described as "a comedy of errors in which most of the characters are in love with the wrong partner." Orlando, literally crazy for love, goes in search of Medoro and Angelica, while Rodomonte is trying to kill him, and the witch Alcina targets him with fiendish hexes.

July 29, 2009
DONIZETTI: The Daughter of the Regiment
Washington National Opera
Washington National Opera Orchestra and Chorus
Riccardo Frizza, conductor
CAST: JiYoung Lee (Marie); Jose Bros (Tonio); Victoria Livengood (La Marchise); Simone Alberghini (Sulpice Pingot); Obed Urena (Hortensius); Matthew J. Minor (Corporal); Madeleine Gray (La Duchesse)

Donizetti's "light comedy" is an opera that lives up to both halves of that description. The story may not be particularly challenging, but there are plenty of laughs and it's all conveyed through one of the composer's liveliest and most entertaining scores.

August 5, 2009
JANACEK: The Cunning Little Vixen
Houston Grand Opera
Patrick Summers, conductor
CAST: Lisa Saffer (Vixen); Hector Vasquez (Forrester); Jennifer Root (Forrester's Wife); Ekaterina Gorlova (Young Vixen); Fiona Murphy (Fox Golden-Stripe); Meredith F. Flores (Cricket); Alina Slavik (Grasshopper); Jon Kolbet (Mosquito/Schoolmaster); Allan Lawrence (Frog); Maria Markina (Lapak/Woodpecker); Laurie Lester (Pepik); Rebeka Camm (Chocholka the Hen); Albina Shagimuratova (Frantik); Alicia Gianni (Rooster/Jay); Ryan McKinny (Badger); Bradley Garvin (Parson); Beau Gibson (Pasek); Liam Bonner (Harasta); Tamara Wilson (Pasek's Wife)

Based on an illustrated tale published as a newspaper serial, this fanciful opera is one of Janacek's true masterworks -- at once charming, frightening, tragic and, in the end, life-affirming.

August 12, 2009
PURCELL: The Fairy Queen
Royal Albert Hall, London (The Proms)
CAST: TBA (to incude sopranos Lucy Crowe, Claire Debono, Anna Devin and Carolyn Sampson; tenors Robert Burt, Ed Lyon, Sean Clayton and Adrian Ward; bass-baritone Andrew Foster-Williams)

Technically, this drama is called a "semi-opera." Still, semi- or not, The Fairy Queen was the most lavish work of its kind when it first appeared in 1692. This production comes to us fresh from its late-July premiere at Royal Albert Hall, as part of London's famous Proms.

August 19, 2009
OFFENBACH: The Tales of Hoffmann
Grand Theatre of Geneva
Suisse Romande Orchestra
Patrick Davin, conductor
CAST: Marc Laho (Hoffmann); Nicolas Cavallier (Lindorf, Coppelius, Dr. Miracle, Dapertutto); Stella Dufexis (Niklausse, Muse); Patricia Petitbon (Olympia); Rachel Harnisch (Antonia); Maria Riccarda Wesseling (Giulietta); Eric Huchet (Andres, Cochenille, Frantz, Pitichinaccio); Francisco Vas (Spalanzani); Bernard Deletre (Schlemil); Rene Schirrer (Luther); Gilles Cachemaille (Crespel)

Offenbach's masterpiece is both a three-act opera and a trilogy of taut, individual dramas, all rolled into one. This Geneva production features baritone Marc Laho in the tour-de-force triple villain roles, with three different standout sopranos as the tales' three heroines.

August 26, 2009
HANDEL: Ezio
Rococo Theatre, Schwetzingen
Basel Chamber Orchestra
Attilio Cremonesi, conductor
CAST: Yosemeh Adjei (Ezio); Netta Or (Fulvia); Mariselle Martinez (Valentiniano); Hilke Andersen (Onoria); Donat Havar (Massimo); Marcell Bakonyi (Varo)

While Ezio may lack the lustrous ensembles that characterize some of Handel's best operas, the musical and dramatic impact of its many spectacular solo arias make its characters some of the most vivid that Handel ever evoked.

September 2, 2009
VERDI: Aida
Houston Grand Opera
Carlo Rizzi, conductor
CAST: Zvetelina Vassileva (Aida); Marco Berti (Radames); Dolora Zajick (Amneris); Gordon Hawkins (Amonasro); Tigran Martirossian (Ramfis); Bradley Garvin (King of Egypt); Tamara Wilson (Priestess); Beau Gibson (Messenger)

One of the world's most popular operas, Verdi's drama takes a familiar plot element -- the thorny love triangle -- and reinvents it using strikingly complex characters who confront their anxieties and passions amidst the mystery and spectacle of ancient Egypt.

September 9, 2009
JANACEK: Jenufa
Washington National Opera
Washington National Opera Orchestra and Chorus
Jiri Belohlavek, conductor
CAST: Patricia Racette (Jenufa); Catherine Malfitano (Kostelnicka); Kim Begley (Laca Klemen); Judith Christin (Grandmother Buryjovka); Raymond Very (Steva Buryja); Charles Robert Austin (Mayor); Janice Meyerson (Mayor's Wife); Leslie Mutchler (Karolka); Elizabeth Andrews Roberts (Jano); Jeffrey Wells (Foreman); Christina Martos (Barena); Magdalena Wor (Herdswoman)

Patricia Racette gives a stunning performance in the title role of Janacek's searing drama, alongside an equally stirring portrayal of Kostelnicka by Catherine Malfitano. Jenufa is an undoubted masterpiece, telling a disturbing, yet strangely inspiring story of multiple betrayals, gruesome murder and ultimate -- if unlikely -- forgiveness.

September 16, 2009
DONIZETTI: Lucrezia Borgia
Washington National Opera
Washington National Opera Orchestra and Chorus
Placido Domingo, conductor
CAST: Renee Fleming (Lucrezia Borgia); Vittorio Grigolo (Gennaro); Kate Aldrich (Maffio Orsini); Ruggero Raimondi (Don Alfonso); Oleksandr Pushniak (Ascanio); Girgory Soloviov (Apostolo); Jose Ortega (Oloferno); Yingxi Zhang (Rustighello); David B. Morris (Alsolfo)

This new production features two of the greatest singers of our time, with soprano Renee Fleming giving a spectacular and highly-emotional performance in the unforgiving title role, and Placido Domingo, the Washington National Opera's General Director, conducting.

September 23, 2009
VERDI: Il Trovatore
Grand Theatre of Geneva
Suisse Romande Orchestra
Evelino Pido, conductor
CAST: Tatiana Serjan (Leonora); Irina Mishura (Azucena); Zoran Todorovich (Manrico); George Petean (Count Luna); Burak Bilgili (Ferrando)

This perplexingly beautiful drama serves up so many of Verdi's finest tunes that it's hard to keep track of them. The Geneva production features Irina Mishura in one of her signature roles as Azucena, one of the darkest and most fascinating of all Verdi's characters.

September 30, 2009
RAMEAU: Hippolyte et Aricie
Capitole Theatre, Toulouse
Orchestra and Chorus of the Concert d'Astree
Emmanuelle Haim, conductor
CAST: Bernard Richter (Hippolyte); Anne-Catherine Gillet (Aricie); Allyson McHardy (Phedre); Stephane Degout (Thesee); Fancoise Masset (Oenone); Jennifer Holloway (Diane); Bruno Calucci (Mercure); Jael Azzaretti (L'Amour); Francis Lis (Pluton)

When Rameau died in 1764, one French journal concluded its tribute to him with "Here lies the God of Harmony." His tragedy Hippolyte et Aricie is led in this production by one of today's foremost interpreters of Baroque opera, Emmanuelle Haim.

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