Giuseppe Verdi
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Giuseppe Verdi artist page: interviews, features and/or performances archived at NPR Music
Concerts
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August 13, 2010 The famed tenor takes on one of Verdi's most nuanced roles for baritone at this year's BBC Proms.
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June 18, 2010 Find out who threw which baby into the fire in Verdi's Il Trovatore.
May 14, 2010 The great opera composer's career hit a dry patch until he found Shakespeare's Othello.
April 23, 2010 Verdi's opera is a tightly wound swirl of sentiment, appalling violence and unspeakable tragedy.
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March 12, 2010 Verdi's rarely heard opera showcases Venice's complex and deadly political history.
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February 19, 2010 Verdi's somber, historical drama features a poignant relationship between a father and his daughter.
February 12, 2010 It's the classic hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold story, played out in grand, operatic style.
January 22, 2010 Hear the composer's fascinating version of Shakespeare's classic from the Bastille Opera in Paris.
December 12, 2008 Verdi completed his masterpiece Otello at age 73, after a 12-year hiatus from composing.
November 7, 2008 Verdi's opera is a tightly wound swirl of sentiment, appalling violence and unspeakable tragedy.
July 11, 2008 A Venetian drama that Verdi called "gloomy" features some of his most brilliant and stirring music.
June 27, 2008 One of Verdi's biggest hits, La Traviata has also played a starring role in Hollywood.
June 6, 2008 In this grim drama, the bell announcing evening services means lights out for everyone — literally.
April 25, 2008 'Nabucco,' Verdi's first big hit, is famous for the immensely popular chorus, 'Va, pensiero.'
April 11, 2008 Verdi's compelling tribute to fate, in a controversial production from the Vienna State Opera.
March 28, 2008 To foil the censors, Verdi moved 'A Masked Ball' from a king's court in Sweden to colonial Boston.
January 25, 2008 Tenor Placido Domingo stars in a unique "Trilogy" of acts from three very different operas.
January 11, 2008 A fearsome conqueror is felled by his love for an enemy in Verdi's historical epic, Attila.
December 7, 2007 Verdi's Luisa Milleris based on an aptly titled play called Intrigue and Love.
November 23, 2007 "Aida" evokes the mystery of ancient Egypt, with a healthy dose of passion spurring the action.
October 26, 2007 Dmitri Hvorostovsky plays the title character in Verdi's Simon Boccanegra, from Houston.
August 31, 2007 Paoletta Marrocu stars in a vivid Washington National Opera production of Verdi's Macbeth.
May 18, 2007 Il Trovatore is a shocking drama set to some of the Verdi's most brilliant music.
April 21, 2007 Verdi wrote his swashbuckling, pirate opera, Il Corsaro, in 1848.
March 16, 2007 World of Opera presents renowned baritone Bryn Terfel as Verdi's Falstaff.
Interviews & Profiles
November 10, 2012 The opera flopped on its first run, and carries the stigma of cursing those who perform it.
June 4, 2011 Conductor Marin Alsop muses on the human story and vivid drama Verdi packed into his Requiem Mass.
February 24, 2011 The great soprano chooses favorite recordings for a session of listening and conversation.
May 17, 2010 An NPR Music producer recalls how a singer from a bygone day triggered his love of opera.
April 18, 2010 Hear NPR Music's Tom Huizenga and host Guy Raz spin new releases by young classical musicians.
May 19, 2009 The great opera composer added compassion and plenty of drama to his Requiem Mass.
December 4, 2008 Hear how Verdi's remarkably beautiful "Ave Maria" transforms his opera Otello.
May 9, 2008 The Portland Opera Chorus searches for power and precision in Verdi's grand opera.
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March 25, 2008 Sara Fishko tackles the immense web of musical history left behind by the great conductor.
September 6, 2007 The charismatic tenor had a smooth style, a ping to his voice and legions of fans worldwide.
May 22, 2006 American musicians perform Verdi's Requiem as a tribute to WWII concentration camp prisoners.
Discover Songs
December 6, 2010 As the year winds down, tell us the story of your best musical moment of 2010.
January 22, 2010 Hear the composer's fascinating version of Shakespeare's classic from the Bastille Opera in Paris.
November 23, 2007 Aida, captive in Egypt, longs for her Ethiopian homeland in the aria O patria mia.
News
September 6, 2012 Celebrate the sound of the orchestra while it's silenced by a bitter labor dispute.
June 1, 2011 The American singer enjoyed a career that stretched from the Metropolitan Opera to Hollywood.
February 14, 2011 When a recording of dense, mystical organ music wins, something good has happened at the Grammys.
November 10, 2010 Flash concerts have grown popular in the past year as a way to reach a wider audience.
October 4, 2010 The venerable British classical music magazine has announced winners in 24 categories.
July 14, 2009 Sir Edward Downes conducted the BBC Philharmonic for decades and excelled in the operas of Verdi.
September 16, 2007 With her vivid operatic interpretations, the great diva turned the operatic world on its head.
January 27, 2007 Classical musicians perform Verdi's Requiem to benefit the crisis in Darfur, Sudan.
December 12, 2006 Tenor Roberto Alagna has become the first singer in memory to walk off the stage at La Scala opera.
Reviews
August 30, 2011 Hear the famed contralto sing Verdi in a 1955 radio broadcast from the Metropolitan Opera.
July 5, 2011 Hear a neglected but terrific Dutch soprano sing an aria from La Forza del Destino.
More Stories
September 23, 2010 These five books will initiate you into a long and happy career as an operaholic.
March 12, 2013 For all the grand excess of Verdi's Aida, its "Triumphal March" is surprisingly simple.
April 11, 2012 Hear why these three composers are still superstars in opera houses worldwide.
March 28, 2012 The "beautiful singing" of the early 1800s marks an appealing milestone in the story of opera.
February 1, 2012 Opera singers must obey the musical traffic signals, knowing an accelerando from a rallentando.
January 25, 2012 The skinny on what's sung when the singer stands alone.
December 14, 2011 Hear what happens when the natural male speaking voice turns to song in this baritone bonanza.
November 30, 2011 If you're talking about the kings of the high Cs, make sure you know your facts from fabrications.
November 16, 2011 Learn to love our low-voiced lady opera singers who get to play everything from royalty to rivals.
November 9, 2011 From stratospheric coloraturas to jet-powered Wagnerians, learn to love our highest-flying singers.
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October 21, 2011 The tragedies of Verdi's own life spurred some of his most extraordinary work.
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June 3, 2011 When it comes to evoking the exotic aura of ancient Egypt it's tough to top Verdi's wartime romance.
June 2, 2011 Celebrate the famed (and beleaguered) conductor's 40 years at the Met with this interactive puzzler.
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May 27, 2011 Once a great hit in Italy, this opera of ancient Roman intrigues has unfairly long languished.
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May 6, 2011 Did one chance encounter lead to Verdi's first great triumph?
March 30, 2011 The British writer's breathtaking knowledge and affable prose set him apart from all others.
November 17, 2010 The king of opera was humble about his music, but not so when the subject was cooking risotto.
June 24, 2010 Sopranos, symphony orchestras and Schubert: Hear a handful of the year's best classical CDs so far.
December 11, 2009 Learn about Verdi's engimatic, yet profoundly beautiful drama in a Covent Garden production.
September 18, 2009 Memorable music overcomes a murky story in one of the composer's most strikingly beautiful operas.
July 10, 2009 Verdi's soft spot for father-daughter relationships is on display in Simon Boccanegra.
April 10, 2009 Nadja Michael stars in a controversial Bavarian State Opera production of Verdi's Macbeth.
March 27, 2009 Verdi's steamy story of passion among the pious stirred the ire of prudish, 19th-century censors.
December 19, 2008 La Scala caused a worlwide sensation by replacing the lead tenor in the company's season premiere.
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July 15, 2011 It wasn't just Shakespeare who inspired Verdi to new creative heights.
