Opera For Everyone

Even if you think you don’t know Opera, you know something of Georges Bizet’s opera Carmen. The tunes pervade our culture, and for good reason, popping up in films, television, and advertisements. They not only convey the passion and identity of characters who seduce and beguile, but the melodies remain long after the show has ended. Join us for Bizet’s masterpiece, the story of woman who insists on freedom, but cannot escape her fate. Hosted by Pat Wright and special guest co-host Greg.

Delve into the unconventional Baroque opera Xerxes by Handel, featuring a seductive tree, mistaken identities, and unique vocal arrangements. Explore the complex love dynamics involving King Xerxes, his brother Arsemane, Romilda, and Atalanta. Unveil deception, intricate relationships, and romantic entanglements in the Persian court. Witness dramatic confrontations, comedic chaos, and the theme of forgiveness in this opera filled with love, jealousy, and redemption.

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.