Opera For Everyone

Rossini’s exuberant Opera Buffa, The Barber of Seville, features the irrepressible jack-of-all-trades Figaro. This Bel Canto masterpiece is where you will hear the quintessential opera piece “Largo al Factorum,” best known for the glorious (and comic) repetitions of “Figaro, Figaro, Figaro. . .” Everyone clamors for Figaro’s attention, and in this wild romp he assists Count Almavia to wed Rosina, the lovely ward of the greedy Dr. Bartolo. No marriage for Figaro here—that’s a different opera! With Pat and guest co-host, Petria Fossel.

Have you ever wondered just who that woman with the blond braids, shining breastplate, and iconic opera helmet might be? Meet Brünhilde and her clan in the in this epic tale. Dwarfs, water nymphs, giants, dragons, forbidden love, heroes, gods, mortals, greed, pride, lust, resentment, the beginning of time, the end of time, what happens in between, fire, marriage, blood, flying horses, a magic sword, contract law—it’s all here in one of history’s greatest works of art, Richard Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen, the story of the accursed golden ring of infinite power. With Pat and guest co-host, Petria Fossel.

With unabashed romanticism, Gaetano Donizetti sweeps us into the passions of the final days of Mary Queen of Scots in his Bel Canto masterpiece, Maria Stuarda. Donizetti seeks not accuracy in history and politics, but to explore the boundaries of affection and loyalty by imagining a tragic love-triangle involving Mary Stuart, Queen Elizabeth I, and Elizabeth’s favourite, the Earl of Leicester. Only one woman will survive. Keely and Pat co-host. Now you can feast on all three of Donizetti’s “Tudor Queen Operas” on Opera for Everyone: Anna Bolena, Episode 53; Maria Stuarda, Episode 54; Roberto Devereaux, Episode 44.

Donizetti dazzles in the Bel Canto masterpieces that comprise his Tudor Queen “trilogy.” In Anna Bolena, the first of these, Henry VIII has turned against his second wife, Anne Boleyn, and decided to make Anne’s lady-in-waiting, Jane Seymour, his next queen – in this take, for reasons of passion not dynastic politics. Opera For Everyone will soon be presenting the second Tudor Queen opera, Maria Stuarda, and you can find the third opera, Roberto Devereaux, as Episode 44. Enjoy these presentations of English “history” from an unabashedly Italian perspective. Keely and Pat co-host.

Arabella delights with its lyric comedy and fascinates with its depth of psychological insight. This sixth and final collaboration between composer Richard Strauss and librettist Hugo von Hofmannsthal, a society opera set in nineteenth century Vienna, continuously surprises as the story unfolds. Is that a trouser role or a humorous play on operatic convention? Exactly who is doing the plotting in this marriage plot? When is a glass of water more than just a glass of water? With special guest co-host Greg.

Join us for Gaetano Donizetti’s exquisite Bel Canto comic opera, La Fille du Régiment. Found as a baby on the battlefield, Marie was raised by the regiment. Her true love, Tonio, enlists to be by her side, but it’s complicated. Pavarotti, as Tonio, in the role that made him Pavarotti. Dame Joan Sutherland as Marie.

Rossini’s La Cenerentola is subtitled “Goodness Triumphant,” and in this opera we see a joyful celebration of goodness. It is the familiar Cinderella story, but without the magical elements. Magic is unnecessary for the larger-than-life characters in this Bel Canto Opera Buffa. Join us for this delightful opera, with special guest Christine Goodman.

Adriana Lecouvreur, by composer Francesco Cilea and librettist Arturo Colautti, is an opera that exquisitely dramatizes the life of the great French actress Adrienne Lecouvreur of the Comédie Française. Adriana Lecouvreur’s story is based on the play by Eugène Scribe, and as well as being the central character of Cilea’s soaring and heart-breaking opera, she has been portrayed on screen by such acting greats as Sarah Bernhardt and Joan Crawford. Join us for the twists and turns of this beloved, dramatic woman’s life. Hosted by Pat Wright and Keely Herron.

Richard Wagner’s earliest opera in repertoire, The Flying Dutchman: once every seven years, the black ghost ship with blood-red sails enters port, and its captain goes ashore in search of faithful love to redeem his curse. With special guest, Greg.

In describing La Traviata, Verdi called it “a subject for our time.” Though the pressures and expectations of the mid-19th century opera world required setting it in the previous century, La Traviata is a timeless and tuneful look at some of the most raw and enduring emotions of humankind. It is justifiably one of the most frequently performed operas worldwide. In the spirit of Opera for Everyone, if you liked Rent or Moulin Rouge, listen to the story of this opera of “the fallen woman” who was part of the inspiration for both. In this episode, host Pat and special guest-co-host Grant take a close look at the story and that is both behind and within it. And if that’s not enough, this opera boasts one of the world’s great drinking songs!