Movies: Brian Large

"Manon", wrote Puccini to his publisher Giulio Ricordi in 1889, "is a heroine I believe in and therefore she cannot fail to win the heart of the public." This turned out to be a truly prophetic statement since none of Puccini’s other world successes ...

Wagner’s Romantic opera demands singing actors who can truly inhabit their parts, and that’s just what we have here. Is it possible for a Knight of the Holy Grail to look more enticing than Peter Hofmann? No wonder Elsa (Eva Marton) falls in love at ...

John Dexter’s brilliant production, James Levine’s masterful conducting of the eclectic score, and a sensational cast come together to make this Kurt Weill–Bertolt Brecht masterpiece a riveting evening of music theater. At the center of the action is...

Recorded at Britain's Glyndebourne Opera Festival, Leos Janacek's opera follows the exploits of Emilia Marty (Anja Silja), a sexually irresistible prima donna who experiences everything imaginable in her long life, which lasts longer than 300 years. ...

Live from the Metropolitan Opera: Simon Boccanegra...

The Met production easily has the most beautiful staging, designed by Otto Schenck, who also produced the fabulous set for the Met's previous Ring cycle. Kurt Moll is a wonderful Gurnemanz, but compared to his studio recording under Karajan a decade ...

Violetta, a courtesan much wooed by Parisian society, organizes a grand party that is attended, amongst others, by the young Alfredo Germont. He confesses his feelings to Violetta, who is already suffering from consumption. She vacillates between gen...

Arabella, Op. 79, is a lyric comedy or opera in three acts by Richard Strauss to a German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal, their sixth and last operatic collaboration....

Set during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar (Nabucco), King of Babylon, the opera tells the tale of Nabucco's fictitious daughters, Abigaille and Fenena, who are rivals for the love of Ismaele, nephew of the King of Jerusalem....

James Levine leads a remarkable cast in one of Verdi’s most enduringly popular operas and brings fresh insights to this beloved score. Ileana Cotrubas is poignant and touching as Violetta, the consumptive courtesan who finds true love with Alfredo, s...

Wiener Philharmoniker, director Riccardo Muti...

Vladimir Horowitz's piano recital in 1987 at the Musikvereinssaal in Vienna....

Live performance from La Scala in Milan. Nabucco was the first production of the theatre's 1986-87 season....

The Vienna Philharmonic's New Year's Concert for 2003....

A timeless tale told in a florid bel canto style, Rossini’s take on the Cinderella story offers an ideal propellant for a virtuosic mezzo-soprano to rocket from rags to riches. But in this retelling, the supporting characters soar just as high: Cinde...

2014 marks a year of celebration recognizing the 150th birthday year of the German late-Romantic orchestral, operatic and lied master composer, Richard Strauss (1864-1949). Arabella (premiered 1933, Dresden) was the last of the half dozen Strauss wor...

This evocative production by Giancarlo Del Monaco sumptuously captures the look and feel of 14th century Genoa and is a perfect compliment to Verdi’s setting of this story of searing conflict between public duty and private grief. Plácido Domingo is ...

The last and arguably finest opera of Modest Mussorgsky is captured in one of its most powerful interpretations in this 1989 recording from the Vienna State Opera, conducted by Claudio Abbado. A moody opera that is thematically broad at times and int...

Live performance at the Metropolitan Opera, 1984. James Levine conducting Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus. Stage direction by Piero Faggioni....

This superb 2006 production of the Los Angeles Opera's La Traviata stars Renée Fleming, who joins the ranks of the elite handful of sopranos whose vocal and acting talents make their portrayals memorable. Her Violetta Valéry is a vulnerable figure to...