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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.

May 14, 2008
MOZART: Cosi fan tutte
Vienna State Opera
Riccardo Muti, conductor
CAST: Barbara Frittoli (Fiordiligi); Angelika Kirchschlager (Dorabella); Ildebrando D'Arcangelo (Guglielmo); Francesco Meli (Ferrando); Laura Tatulescu (Despina); Natale De Carolis (Don Alfonso)

Deceptively complex, Cosí fan tutte is a comic farce that leaves many of its listeners more than a little bit queasy -- and pondering the future of their most treasured relationships. The libretto may spring plenty of jokes, but Mozart's music tells you to hold on to your heart; you never really know which way the romantic winds are blowing.

May 21, 2008
BELLINI: Norma
Vienna State Opera
Friederich Haider, conductor
CAST: Edita Gruberova (Norma); Jose Cura (Pollione); Elina Garanca (Adalgisa); Dan Paul Dumitrescu (Oroveso); Marian Talaba (Flavio); Caroline Wenborne (Clotilde)

In the title role of Bellini's most popular opera, the legendary soprano Edita Gruberova proves that the bel canto tradition is well-served by mature artistry, as well as vocal brilliance.

May 28, 2008
HANDEL: Ariodante
Grand Theatre of Geneva
Kenneth Montgomery, conductor
CAST: Joyce DiDonata (Ariodante); Patricia Petibon (Ginevra); Sandrine Piau (Dalinda); Antonio Abete (King of Scotland); Charles Workman (Lurcanio); Marie-Nicole Lemieux (Polinesso)

Handel was nothing if not cosmopolitan -- a German-born composer who became a superstar as the most popular composer of Italian operas in 18th-century London. Completed in 1734, Ariodante premiered at what was then a brand new opera house in a place now synonymous with opera in England -- Covent Garden.

June 4, 2008
DONIZETTI: Maria Stuarda
Royal Opera of Wallonie, Liege
Luciano Acocella, conductor
CAST: Patrizia Ciofi (Maria Stuarda); Marianna Pizzolato (Elizabeth); Diana Axentii (Anna); Danilo Formaggia (Leicester); Federico Sacchi (Talbot); Mario Cassi (Cecil)

In operas from Elizabeth at Kenilworth to Anna Bolena, Donizetti seemed fascinated by the intrigues and rivalries of British royalty. This opera, Maria Stuarda, deals with the complex relationship between Elizabeth I and Mary Stuart -- also known as Mary, Queen of Scots.

June 11, 2008
VERDI: I Vespri Siciliani
Washington National Opera
Placido Domingo, conductor
CAST: Maria Guleghina (Elena); Franco Farina (Arrigo); Lado Ataneli (Montforte); Vitalij Kowaljow (Procida); Erin Elizabeth Smith (Ninetta); Robert Baker (Danieli); Corey Evan Rotz (Tebaldo); J. Austin Bitner (Manfredo); James Shaffran (Roberto); John Marcus Bindel (Bethune); Benjamin von Atrops (Vaudemont)

If you've ever wondered why some people think an opera's not over until all the characters are dead, this piece may be the reason. It has enough deadly plotting, and enough of Verdi's finest music, for several evenings in the opera house. We hear it from Washington, in a production led by legendary tenor (and now conductor and administrator), Placido Domingo.

June 18, 2008
Catan: Salsipuedes, a Tale of Love, War and Anchovies
Houston Grand Opera
Guido Maria Guida, conductor
CAST: Ana Maria Martinez (Lucero); Zheng Cao (Magali); Chad Shelton (Ulises); Scott Hendricks (Chucho); James Maddalena (Colonel/Madame Collette); Oren Gradus (Captain Magallanes); Nicholas Phan (El Chino); Laquita Mitchell (Orquidea); Heidi Stober (La China); Joseph Evans (General Garcia); Pablo Bracho (Sergeant Guzman)

A thumbnail synopsis of this opera by Daniel Catan reads like a cross between Mozart's Cosí fan tutte and Mel Brooks' fictional Broadway creation Springtime for Hitler! Salsibuedes joins Catan's popular previous opera Florencia en al Amazonas among the many Houston Grand Opera world premieres to have been featured on World of Opera.

June 25, 2008
SAINT-SAENS: Samson and Delilah
The Washington National Opera
Giovanni Reggioli, conductor
CAST: Olga Borodina (Dalila); Karl Tanner (Samson); Alan Held (High Priest); Kyle Ketelson (Abimelech)

Ella Fitzgerald once sang a tune with the line "Delilah was a floozy!" -- or at least she was until she met "this buckaroo named Sam." And that?s not a bad summation of Saint-Saens's colorful biblical blockbuster. The Washington National Opera brings it to us in a production featuring the splendid soprano Olga Borodina as the one-time floozy, and Karl Tanner as the man who brings down the house -- literally.

July 2, 2008 VERDI: La Traviata
Vienna State Opera
Renato Palumbo, conductor
CAST: Krassimiria Stoyanova (Violetta); Piotr Beczala (Alfredo Germont); Zeljko Lucic (Giorgo Germont); Sophie Marilley (Flora); Gergely Nemeti (Gastone); In-Sung Sim (Douphol); Eijiro Kai (D'Obigny); Alfred Sramek (Doctor Grenvil)

When the diva dies just as the final curtain falls, it may seem like an operatic cliche -- but not in the hands of Giuseppe Verdi. He made the final scene of La Traviata one of the most profound of them all, and also created one of opera's greatest romantic characters, Violetta Valery.

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