Opera singers (left to right) Elīna Garanča, Helen Donath and Tamar Iveri perform in Mozart's opera Così fan tutte at the Salzburg Opera Festival. Andreas Schaad/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
Giuseppe Verdi Giuseppe Verdi artist page: interviews, features and/or performances archived at NPR Music
Giuseppe Verdi
Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen's voice has been called one-in-a-million. James Hole/Decca Records hide caption
From Norway With Horsepower: Soprano Lise Davidsen Is Conquering Opera
The exterior of Casa Verdi, founded by famed Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi in the late 1890s. Diego Rinaldi/Courtesy of Casa di riposo per musicisti, Fondazione Giuseppe Verdi hide caption
For Opera Singers, Life After Retirement — At Least At One Very Special Rest Home
Leontyne Price as Leonore in a Metropolitan Opera production of Verdi's La forza del destino, 1977. James Heffernan/Metropolitan Opera Archives hide caption
Don Giovanni (Gerald Finley, left) is pulled down to hell by the ghost of the Commendatore (Alastair Mills) in a Glyndebourne production of Mozart's Don Giovanni. Robbie Jack/Corbis via Getty Images hide caption
John Bonham of Led Zeppelin at the Los Angeles-area Inglewood Forum in 1973. Jeffrey Mayer/WireImage hide caption
Sarah Joy Miller as Anna Nicole Smith in Anna Nicole by Mark-Anthony Turnage, the final production from the New York City Opera, which closed its doors for good this fall. Stephanie Berger hide caption
It was a big year for extravagant classical box sets. Denise DeBelius/NPR hide caption
Riccardo Muti leading the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Todd Rosenberg/Courtesy of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra hide caption
Giuseppe Verdi's operas have an uncanny ability to probe into our contemporary psyche. Leemage/Universal Images Group/Getty Images hide caption
Don't be caught fishing for facts about Verdi on the bicentennial of his birth. Getty Images/DeAgostini hide caption
In his operas, Giuseppe Verdi had a knack for empowering marginalized people — like the title character of Aida, who is an enslaved Ethiopian princess (played in this 2011 French production by American soprano Indra Thomas). Gerard Julien/AFP/Getty Images hide caption
Soprano Angela Meade made her professional debut in the role of Elvira in Verdi's Ernani at the Metropolitan Opera. Marty Sohl/Metropolitan Opera hide caption
New York native Richard Tucker in the title role of Offenbach's The Tales Of Hoffmann. Sedge LeBlang/Metopolitan Opera Archives hide caption
Anna Netrebko's Verdi comes out August 20. Kristian Schuller/DG hide caption
Anna Netrebko, 'Verdi'
Soprano Natalie Dessay, with tenor Charles Castonovo, in Philippe Béziat's documentary Becoming Traviata. Distrib Films hide caption
Verdi's opera Aida, set in the time of the Pharaohs, is known for its extravagance, yet its "Triumphal March" is surprisingly simple. iStockphoto.com hide caption
Soprano Maria Slatinaru and bass Paul Plishka perform in a 1986 production of Verdi's La Forza del Destino at the San Francisco Opera. Ron Scherl/Redferns hide caption
Robert Spano conducts members of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, who are currently in a lock out labor dispute. J.D. Scott/Atlanta Symphony Orchestra hide caption
In a production of Verdi's opera Rigoletto at the Sydney Opera House, the title character (baritone Jonathan Summers) reels at the discovery of his dead daughter. Patrick Riviere/Getty Images hide caption
Maria Callas, a masterful bel canto singer, performs in the title role of Bellini's Norma in Paris, May 23, 1964. AFP/Getty Images hide caption