Washington National Opera : NPR

Placido Domingo Conducts 'Don Giovanni'

October 17, 2008 • Mozart's dark comedy features music of limitless genius, and a drama that lives up to the score.

Carlos Alvarez and Lyubov Petrova in Verdi's Rigoletto Karin Cooper/ hide caption

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10 Operas You Need To Know From World Of Opera

Vengeance Reversed: Verdi's 'Rigoletto'

April 23, 2010 • Verdi's tightly wound masterpiece swirls heartfelt sentiment together with appalling violence and genuine tragedy, along with some of the most familiar tunes he ever composed.

Hear An Audio Introduction To The Opera

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Storms And Salvation: 'The Flying Dutchman'

November 27, 2009 • Wagner's stormy one-acter requires lead singers with great power, both dramatically and vocally. Alan Held and Jennifer Wilson fit the bill in this turbulent opera focused on one of Wagner's favorite themes: the redemptive power of love. From the Washington National Opera.

Washington National Opera on World of Opera -- 'La Boheme'

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Deadly Dysfunction: Strauss' 'Elektra'

November 12, 2009 • Strauss' lurid yet sumptuous one-act opera tells the story of Elektra and her decidedly dysfunctional family — her murdered father Agamemnon, her frantic sister Chrysothemis and their homicidal mother, Klytaemnestra. The production is from the Washington National Opera.

Washington National Opera on World of Opera -- 'Elektra'

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Concerts

Placido Domingo in Handel's 'Tamerlano'

October 16, 2009 • Tenor Placido Domingo takes on the 126th role of his legendary career, as Bajazet in Handel's Tamerlano. The Washington National Opera's production also features countertenor David Daniels in the title role.

Washington National Opera on World of Opera -- 'Tamerlano'

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Hear An Opera: Renee Fleming In 'Lucrezia Borgia'

September 11, 2009 • Acclaimed soprano Renee Fleming sings the unforgiving title role, with Placido Domingo conducting, in a Washington National Opera production of Donizetti's steamy historical drama.

Hear An Opera: Renee Fleming In 'Lucrezia Borgia'

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Music

Donizetti's Darling 'Daughter of the Regiment'

July 24, 2009 • Soprano JiYoung Lee stars as a "military brat" who gets adopted by an entire army. The opera is Donizetti's Gallic, romantic romp, The Daughter of the Regiment, from the Washington National Opera.

Washington National Opera on World of Opera -- 'Daughter of the Regiment'

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Music

Unlikely Alliance: Bluebeard and Gianni Schicchi

June 5, 2009 • Renowned bass Samuel Ramey stars as a serial murderer in Bartok's Bluebeard's Castle, and as the devious title character in Puccini's Gianni Schicchi, a comedy with a corpse at the center of the action. It's a deadly double bill from the Washington National Opera.

Washington National Opera on World of Opera -- 'Bluebeard's Castle'

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Music

Legacy of Anguish: 'Sophie's Choice'

April 23, 2009 • Composer Nicholas Maw turns William Styron's searing novel Sophie's Choice into a brilliant and moving opera. World of Opera presents the work's American premiere, from the Washington National Opera.

An Audio Introduction to the Opera

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Prelude to an Epic: Wagner's 'Das Rheingold'

March 13, 2009 • Das Rheingold, the "Preliminary Evening" to Wagner's epic Ring cycle, is a 160-minute spectacle that flies by in a flash, introducing vivid worlds where gods, giants and dwarves all vie for ultimate power.

Washington National Opera on World of Opera -- 'Das Rheingold'

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Concerts

Anything for Love: 'La Clemenza di Tito'

February 20, 2009 • In Mozart's final opera, an entire city burns to save a single love affair. Though written on demand, to humor a preening monarch, the score is Mozart at his best — shot through with startling innovations and great beauty.

Music

A Captive in Control: 'L'italiana in Algeri'

January 23, 2009 • The plot is more than a little silly — not to mention politically incorrect in the extreme — but wackiness was never done better, or more beautifully, than Rossini did it in The Italian Girl in Algiers, heard in a Washington National Opera production filled with world-class, Rossini singers.

World of Opera

Deadly Dysfunction: Strauss' 'Elektra'

November 21, 2008 • Strauss's lurid yet sumptuous one-act opera tells the story of Elektra and her decidedly dysfuntional family — her murdered father Agamemnon, her frantic sister Chrysothemis and their homicidal mother, Klytaemnestra. The production is from the Washington National Opera.

Washington National Opera on World of Opera -- 'Elektra'

Audio is no longer available

Placido Domingo in Handel's 'Tamerlano'

November 14, 2008 • Tenor Placido Domingo takes on the 126th role of his legendary career, as Bajazet in Handel's Tamerlano. The Washington National Opera's production also features countertenor David Daniels in the title role.

Washington National Opera on World of Opera -- 'Tamerlano'

Audio is no longer available

Vengeance Reversed: Verdi's 'Rigoletto'

November 7, 2008 • Verdi's tightly wound masterpiece swirls heartfelt sentiment together with appalling violence and genuine tragedy, along with some of the most familiar tunes he ever composed. From the Washington National Opera.

Washington National Opera on World of Opera -- Rigoletto

Audio is no longer available

Storms And Salvation: 'The Flying Dutchman'

October 31, 2008 • Wagner's stormy one-acter requires lead singers with great power, both dramatically and vocally. Alan Held and Jennifer Wilson fit the bill in this turbulent opera focused on one of Wagner's favorite themes: the redemptive power of love. From the Washington National Opera.

Washington National Opera on World of Opera -- The Flying Dutchman

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Antics and Anguish: Puccini's 'La Boheme'

October 10, 2008 • Electric passion becomes lasting love, and ends with desperate tragedy, in Puccini's La Boheme — maybe the greatest "date opera" in history — in a racy new production from the Washington National Opera.

Washington National Opera on World of Opera -- 'La Boheme'

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Music

The Great American Opera: 'Porgy and Bess'

July 4, 2008 • The Washington National Opera presents George Gershwin's landmark opera, in a performance originally webcast live on NPR.org from the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. The show also includes interviews with director Francesca Zambello, conductor Wayne Marshall and more.

In Audio Introduction to 'Porgy and Bess'

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Music

Love and Ruin: Saint-Saens' 'Samson and Dalila'

June 20, 2008 • Camille Saint-Saens lived from the waning years of music's classical era, all the way into the early decades of 20th-century modernism. The tumultuous, romantic opera, Samson and Dalila is one of his many masterpieces.

Mon coeur s'ouvre a ta voix

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Concerts

Death at Sundown: Verdi's 'I Vespri Siciliani'

June 6, 2008 • There are plenty of operas in which the main characters sing their final words with their last breaths. In this one, nearly everyone on stage kicks the operatic bucket as the curtain falls. Placido Domingo leads a production from Washington, D.C.

Washington National Opera on World of Opera -- 'I vespri siciliani'

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Music

Donizetti's 'The Elixir of Love'

February 22, 2008 • Romance conjured by a magic potion is no match for the real thing in Donizetti's insightful comic romp, The Elixir of Love, from the Washington National Opera.

An Audio Introduction to 'The Elixir of Love'

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Music

Mozart's 'The Magic Flute'

December 28, 2007 • Mozart's The Magic Flute has been delighting children of all ages ever since its smash premiere more than 200 years back, with a story that seems made for kids but still leaves grown-ups with plenty to contemplate. The Washington National Opera's fanciful production is a brilliant way to ring in the operatic New Year.

Washington National Opera on World of Opera -- 'The Magic Flute'

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