LA TRAVIATA (Glyndebourne Festival Opera)*****

 

By Megan

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcIwYTkaB0M

Available until: Sunday 29^th August 2021, 5pm

Glyndebourne Festival Opera is going ahead this year which is brilliant but they are still very kindly putting some of their previous productions on their YouTube channel for us to enjoy. Or get very sad about in this case.

La traviata is one of the best-known operas with really gorgeous, emotional music and a story which is easy to follow and which actually makes sense most of the time. (There are subtitles if you don’t speak Italian.) It is based on Alexandre Dumas fils’ novel La Dame aux Camélias. The opera is set in the past world of courtesans and consumption but I think it is very relatable to the present day. A lot of people know what it’s like to be separated from someone you love and I think the whole world knows how cruel illness can be.

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.

FATAL SYSTEM ERROR (8bit/Royal Opera)****

 

 By Louise

Link: https://playcanv.as/p/A5qC9ftM/?overlay=false 

Available until: 30^th May 2021

I really like the Royal Opera’s 8bit series. They have really pushed the boundaries and tried to do things which are different and not usually something you see on the opera stage, but the works they’re producing still feel like opera.

OUR DARK SIDE AND THE MOON: A NIGHT-TIME DUET (8bit/Royal Opera)****

  

By Dave

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJfbSr2XIvA 

Available until: 30^th May

Our Dark Side and the Moon is part of the Royal Opera’s 8bit series of newly-commissioned vocal and dance pieces that can be enjoyed for free online. The aim of the series is to push the boundaries of opera and ballet and this one is inspired by the Moon and Mars landings.

FERAL (Atmospheres 2021/Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama)****

 

By Dave

Link: https://www.rwcmd.ac.uk/events/feral

Available until: 9^th May 2021

Feral is a stunning and inventive opera. At just under ten minutes, it’s probably not quite the shortest opera I’ve seen or heard (I think Samuel Barber’s A Hand of Bridge just about has the edge there) but the ideas in it are so interesting, I could easily see it becoming a full-length work.

EUGEN ONEGIN (Wiener Staatsoper)*****

 

By Sophie

Link: https://play.wiener-staatsoper.at/event/ee614b25-8435-479b-baab-21b887943915/play 

Available until: 10^th May at about 6pm

It is often said that the modern world is cruel and there is certainly a great deal of truth in that. But the world has always been cruel to people who are perceived as being unlike everyone else.

The difference now is that our lives are so public, it is harder even for the so-called normal people to hide the moments when they are less than perfect. Anyone can become the butt of the very next joke and many people seek out the relative safety of laughing along with the crowd.

CORAM BOY (Atmospheres 2021/Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama)****

 

By Cal

Link: https://www.rwcmd.ac.uk/events/coram-boy

Available until: 9^th May 2021

Coram Boy appears to be incomplete, with only Part 1 featuring as part of this performance. But it’s a great opera and it’s free to watch so if you listen to it now, you’ll know if you like it and if you ever do get the opportunity to watch the full opera, you’ll know it’s worth paying for.

AMONG THE FLOWERS (Royal Opera)**

 

By Cal

Link: https://www.instagram.com/tv/COSUCT2jw0X 

Available until: 30^th May 2021

It is important for opera companies to try to reach out to new audiences. While there are young people like me and some of my siblings who genuinely enjoy opera and have even, in some cases, either sung arias or even appeared in an opera, young opera fans do seem to be few and far between.

THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS/MAHAGONNY SONGSPIEL (Royal Opera)***

  

By Cal

Link: https://stream.roh.org.uk/packages/the-seven-deadly-sins-mahagonny-songspiel/videos/the-seven-deadly-sins-mahagonny-songspiel 

Available until: 9^th May

The last two years at the ROH are hardly what the Jette Parker Young Artists would have expected and hoped for. There has been very limited opportunity to work alongside seasoned professionals or to play roles in large-scale, well-known operas, and we can’t dismiss the impact of the absence of the audience: not just the instant positive feedback but the energy they give the singers throughout the performance, just by being there.

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.

L’HEURE ESPAGNOLE (Grange Park Opera/Wigmore Hall)****

  

By Emma

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUfUg7_bbJc 

Available until: Unknown

L’heure espagnole is really quite a naughty opera but there’s something really sweet and funny about it too. I think maybe the characters are deep enough for us to be interested in them but not so deep we’re actually going to feel bad for Torquemada?

PRIMA DONNA (Royal Swedish Opera/Kungliga Operan/OperaVision)****

  

By Aashiq

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1NdOy1-1uw&t=2s 

Available until: 5^th May 2021

I went to the London premiere of Prima Donna! I dressed up and we walked down the red carpet and I looked SO much better than Rufus Wainwright, though you can’t say his outfit wasn’t eye-catching. Janis Kelly and Jonathan Summers were in it and they were both brilliant. I had a massive crush on Jonathan even though he was probably in his 60s, I'm not saying I had wedding dreams or anything like that, but his performances are just so on point emotionally and never overdone, he always makes me care about his characters. 

DON PASQUALE (Wiener Staatsoper)****

  

By Cal

Link: https://play.wiener-staatsoper.at/event/01176d5f-1be6-4b8c-af48-3291bd6a9c69

Available until: Available on demand until 25^th April at about 6pm. There is another showing on 26^th April followed by another two days on demand.

Don Pasquale is one of those operas where you have to get the balance right. If it’s too slapstick, it’s very difficult to care. If there’s too much emotion in it, it starts to look cruel.

FALSTAFF (Wiener Staatsoper)****

  

By Cal 

Link: https://play.wiener-staatsoper.at/event/52bb9a84-0a6d-4cf2-81f3-dda03a009ac1/play 

Available until: 23^rd February, about 6pm

Giuseppe Verdi isn’t really best-known for his comedies. His second opera, Un giorno di regno, was a comedy, but that one bombed. Verdi really wanted another go at writing a comedy, but everyone wanted him to write tragedies. Gioachino Rossini even said he didn’t think Verdi was capable of writing a comedy.

CHWARAE OPERA: SANT FFOLANT/PLAY OPERA: VALENTINE’S SPECIAL (Welsh National Opera)****

 

By Lottie & Ricky 

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slqD0zvKeWM 

Available until: Unknown

RIGOLETTO (Wiener Staatsoper)****

 

By Imogen 

Link: https://play.wiener-staatsoper.at/event/1c3e3dee-79a9-4114-a6f9-e497c66758d9 

Available until: 17^th March at about 6pm

Rigoletto is about an ugly old hunchback, his adopted daughter and her really bad taste in men. He’s cute and everything but I really wouldn’t bother. I mean I’ve heard of students pretending to be dukes but dukes pretending to be students? Not in this lifetime.

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.

HANSEL AND GRETEL (Scottish Opera)*****

  

By Megan 

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHFQpXzL6PI 

Available until: Unknown

Scottish Opera’s production of Hansel and Gretel is really fun and magical. It was only posted on YouTube last month but it is obviously a really Christmassy production and even watching it in March still feels very exciting. There are trees and Christmas jumpers and for one hour and fifty-five minutes it’s like it’s Christmas again.

OTELLO (Wiener Staatsoper)*****

  

By Megan 

Link: https://play.wiener-staatsoper.at/event/734c2237-ebe1-4cdd-91e5-498327ce194a/play

Available until: 4^th February at about 6pm

I don’t always know why I like this story so much when such terrible things happen but I do love it a lot and I think Verdi’s opera tells the story of Shakespeare’s play really well.