The scheming Count Almaviva (Erwin Schrott, left) and Basilio the music master (Benjamin Bruns) prop up a swooning Susanna (Slyvia Schwartz), the object of the Count's nefarious affections. Michael Pohn/Wiener Staatsoper hide caption
The tortured relationship between Carmen (mezzo-soprano Beatrice Uria-Monzon) and Don Jose (tenor Roberto Alagna) is at the center of one of opera's biggest blockbusters. A. Bofil/Liceu Theatre Barcelona hide caption
Carlos Alvarez and Lyubov Petrova in Verdi's Rigoletto Karin Cooper/ hide caption
Tosca (Catherine Naglestad) with her politically subversive lover, the painter Caravadossi (Roberto Alagna). Photo Grand Angle Orange hide caption
Though Pelléas (Yann Beuron) and Mélisande (Marta Márquez) do not explicitly discuss their love for each other until late in the opera, it smolders throughout the first three acts. Hans Joerg Michel hide caption
Claudio Abbado conducts this concert performance of Beethoven's "Fidelio" at the Lucerne Festival in Switzerland. Peter Fischli/Lucerne Festival hide caption
The Vixen (Isabel Bayrakdarian) sows seeds of discontent among the barnyard animals. New Press Photo Firenze/Maggio Musicale Fiorentino hide caption
Even the few light-hearted moments in Berg's opera are surrounded by darkness. The disturbed Wozzeck (Georg Nigl) has horrific visions of knives and blood, which turn out to be prophetic. Damir Yusupov/Bolshoi Theatre hide caption
Eugene Onegin (Dmitry Hvorostovsky) rejects his suitor with hardly a thought, but he comes to regret it by the end of the opera. Axel Zeininger/Wiener Staatsoper hide caption
Sophie Koch and Jonas Kaufmann as the star-crossed lovers in Werther. Michael Pöhn/Wiener Staatsoper hide caption