DON GIOVANNI (Royal Opera)*****

 

By Megan

Link: https://stream.roh.org.uk/packages/don-giovanni/videos/don-giovanni-1

Available until: 15^th August 2021

Don Giovanni is not like Mozart’s other main characters. There are some who do things which aren’t the best idea like the characters in Così fan tutte. There are characters who get themselves into really serious difficulties like the title character in Idomeneo (who makes a promise he really regrets) and Tito in La clemenza di Tito (who expects his best friend not to want to kill him). Even in the lighter operas, the characters get themselves into serious trouble. But we like all these main characters and we hope for a happy ending for them.

LA CLEMENZA DI TITO (Glyndebourne Festival Opera)****

 

By Cal

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nH4CpSLsDc&t=1s

Available until: Saturday 18^th July 2021

Glyndebourne have been very generous with their free offerings during lockdown and their latest is their 2017 production of La clemenza di Tito.

La clemenza di Tito is generally not considered to be ‘up there’ with some of Mozart’s better-known operas, but I think it has an absolutely beautiful score and perhaps even my favourite Mozart finale. It doesn’t have the sense of fun of Le nozze di Figaro, the raw sex of parts of Don Giovanni or the magic of Die Zauberflöte, but perhaps this is the one with the potential to play the biggest amount of havoc with your emotions. It shows what love can drive you to, whether that’s love for a person, power or a friend.

DON GIOVANNI (Liceu Opera Barcelona/Gran Teatre del Liceu/OperaVision)*****

 

By Megan

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1MNN-d87CE&t=2s 

Available until: 4^th June 2021

Don Giovanni is a sad opera but it has lots of really beautiful music, some really interesting characters and a great story. There are lots of really good productions which are available to watch online or on DVD but the Liceu Opera Barcelona’s production is extra special because it was filmed in the pandemic.

LE NOZZE DI FIGARO (Royal Opera)*****

By Sophie 

Link: https://stream.roh.org.uk/packages/the-marriage-of-figaro-2015/videos/the-marriage-of-figaro-2015 

Available until: 4^th April 2021

Le nozze di Figaro can be very difficult to classify as an opera. It’s not a tragedy, though some of the characters feel that way at times. It’s certainly romantic as there is at least one happy couple at the end (I’m not admitting to any more than that, but I’m not ruling it out). Many would call it a comedy, though it is possible to put on a production of Figaro that focuses on the more serious elements and although it’s compelling as both a romantic and a dramatic piece, it’s not necessarily always overwhelmingly funny.

DIE ENTFÜHRUNG AUS DEM SERAIL (Wiener Staatsoper)****

 

By Sophie

Link: https://play.wiener-staatsoper.at/event/16483d02-b762-475b-9871-27552e6373f5/play

Available until: Probably until the evening of 15^th February. There might also be future broadcasts.

Die Entführung aus dem Serail wasn’t strictly my first opera. That was Lulu and I think if you can sit through something through that strange and still want to come back for more, you probably are going to end up being an opera fan. But finding the music shop next to English National Opera’s Coliseum and buying the wonderful recording of Die Entführung by William Christie and Les Arts Florissants probably did help a lot in the matter of ensuring I went back the following week.

DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE (Wiener Staatsoper)****

  

By Megan

Link: https://play.wiener-staatsoper.at/event/5c5ac0e1-0487-4feb-8225-b783769885e5/play

Available until: Probably until around 6pm (GMT) on 14^th February but that might not be how it works. There is another broadcast on 17^th February which is available from 6pm.

Content warning: If this was a play I would be expected to warn about certain things so I probably should here too. It sounds like they’ve taken out the racism but a white character has their appearance altered so they look like a person of colour and there are two suicide attempts and lots of loud noises like bangs and thunder. There is also a bit with hunting which is sad.

Die Zauberflöte or The Magic Flute as it’s called in English is a really magical opera. It’s not just the flute that is magic. There are some magic bells too and lots of effects like flying which aren’t magic in the opera but they are magic for the people who are watching. Even when you can see they aren’t really flying, it is still exciting watching them go up to the ceiling.

LA CLEMENZA DI TITO (Wiener Staatsoper)*****

 

By Dave

Link: https://play.wiener-staatsoper.at/event/1ce883b8-d4ae-4d83-8e77-d68fd056a291/play

Available until: I’m not sure but Don Giovanni is still available more than 24 hours after broadcast and Figaro is no longer available 3 days after broadcast. So I’d guess at all of them being around for 48 hours but that is a guess. There is another broadcast on 16th February from 6pm.

La clemenza di Tito is generally included in the list of Mozart’s best-known operas but although it’s performed more often than works like La finta giardiniera, Mitridate, re di Ponto and Il re pastore, it’s definitely not up there with the Da Ponte operas and Die Zauberflote and it’s probably performed a bit less often than Idomeneo and Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail (though this is open to debate, I haven’t sat down and done a survey).

LE NOZZE DI FIGARO (Wiener Staatsoper)*****

 

By Louise

Link: https://play.wiener-staatsoper.at/calendar

Available until: There is another broadcast on 11^th February at 6pm (probably 5pm in the UK) but I didn’t watch it live so it’s available for at least a while after broadcast.

Note: The subtitles are automatically set to German, but they are also available in English and Italian.

Le nozze di Figaro is probably my favourite opera. The music is really beautiful, the story is really good and the characters are great so it is quite difficult not to enjoy Figaro, but every so often you see a production that is really really special. This is one of them.

COSI FAN TUTTE (Scottish Opera/Theatre Royal Glasgow)****

 

By Megan

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

Available until: 7^th February 2021

Scottish Opera’s production of Cosi fan tutte is really lighthearted and fun but it does take the story seriously and shows the characters as real people. The title is usually translated as ‘So do all women’ but this production seems to focus on the fact that everyone makes mistakes. So it’s like Cosi fan tutti. ‘Tutti’ means all males but it’s also used for a mixture of men and women.

AMADEUS (National Theatre at Home)*****

 

By Aashiq

Link: https://www.ntathome.com/amadeus £6.66, £8.32 for a month’s subscription to watch all the plays or £83.32 for a year’s subscription

Available until: If you rent it, you can access it for 3 days. If you subscribe, I think you can watch it as many times as you like till they take it down. They add new plays every month so they might be taking them away too.

Yes, I know I already saw it when it was streamed on youtube. But I love it, okay? So I’m watching it again. It’s a really well-written play about my favourite composer (and it’s basically my dream role, I’d say I spend a very large proportion of my life acting like a child and playing the piano) and I don’t think there’s any play in existence with a better soundtrack.

DON GIOVANNI (Royal Opera)*****

 

By Louise

Link: https://stream.roh.org.uk/packages/don-giovanni-2019/videos/don-giovanni

Available until: 27^th December 2020

The Royal Opera have been really wonderful for keeping us entertained during the pandemic. They stream their past productions online for a very small price, as well as putting on socially-distanced shows for a very small or no audience, which can be watched online.

This production of Don Giovanni is probably my favourite ROH streamed production so far, but I did enjoy all the other productions a lot. It is a beautiful opera musically anyway and it has lots of interesting characters, but in Kasper Holton’s production – revived by Jack Furness - they are especially interesting because he has shown the characters in ways I have never seen them before. The ending is really interesting too.

COVID FAN TUTTE (Finnish National Opera and Ballet/OperaVision)***

 

By Dave

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwNz8C33JOc

Available until: 16^th February 2021

I like a good pun and this isn’t a bad one. You’ve got to admire the speed with which they’ve put it together (I know the opera houses were probably all closed, but that didn’t mean nobody had anything to do). There is some great singing, obviously some great music and there is a lot about this production which is really enjoyable.