IL TRITTICO (Royal Opera House)****

 

By Louise

Link: https://stream.roh.org.uk/products/il-trittico-2011

Available until: 7^th March 2021

Il trittico is a series of three very different short operas by Giacomo Puccini. It is common for them to be performed together, just like Cavalleria rusticana is performed with Pagliacci, and Puccini did intend for them to be performed together. Il tabarro and Suor Angelica are serious dramas, set in a barge on a river and a convent. Gianni Schicchi is a family comedy. If they were composed by different people, they would probably never have become a trittico. Sometimes just two of the operas are presented rather than all three. Sometimes they present the two serious operas. Sometimes they leave out Suor Angelica as many see it as the weakest. Sometimes Il tabarro is left out as it is a darker and nastier opera than the other two.

LA BOHEME (OperaUpClose/Soho Theatre on Demand)***

 

By Dave

Link: https://sohotheatreondemand.com/show/laboheme

Available until: Unknown. You can rent for 48 hours.

Updating opera to the present day doesn’t always work. Our lives are so different from the way people lived when a lot of the most famous and best-loved operas were composed at least a hundred years ago so understandably, it can be very difficult to set them in the present day. I’m sure you’d also have big problems if you tried to set an opera like Dr Atomic in the 19^th century. Everything would just seem wrong.

LA BOHEME (Royal Opera)*****

 

By Aashiq

Link: https://stream.roh.org.uk/products/la-boheme-2020 £3

Available until: 10^th January 2021

La bohѐme used to be my favourite opera. It was my first ever trip to the Royal Opera House. I couldn’t believe how posh it was, I was almost scared of going on those red carpets which was weird as I always thought I was born for the red carpet. But the Royal Opera House was so beautiful and so was La bohѐme.

LA BOHEME (Opera de Monte Carlo on OperaVision)****

 

By Emma

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2NF4r7qFMM

Available until: 28^th March 2021

This opera is just so relatable. It was composed 100 years ago and I think it was set even earlier but starts with four guys sharing a flat which still happens all the time. They go out clubbing, they go out with their girlfriends, they have a bit of banter but they obviously like each other a lot and have a good friendship which is really lovely.

TURANDOT (Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb on OperaVision)***

 

By Cal

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9-GvuLZnds&t=2s

Available until: February 2021

Very strange things happen in Turandot. Strange and horrific. Usually, the music is enough to ensure we don’t think about this in too much detail, but it’s more difficult in this production, which seems not only to focus on the horror but to revel in it.