Tagged: Opera

Airs Saturday, November 24 at 12:00 noon  Recorded this summer in the Royal Opera House Covent Garden between two gala performances celebrating the 20th anniversary of Angela Gheorghiu's international debut appearances, the acclaimed soprano specially made time available to look back on her legendary career and discuss some of her most famous roles, in conversation with Jon Tolansky.

 In this intimate and revealing portrait of one of the very greatest artists of our time, Verdi's La traviata, Massenet's Manon, Puccini's La boheme, Puccini's Madama Butterfly and also Vladimir Cosma's Marius et Fanny are on the bill, and there is an aria that Angela Gheorghiu will be singing when she is the star soloist in the World Orchestra for Peace's Sir Georg Solti Centennial Concerts in New York and Chicago later this fall. 

Airs Saturday, July 14 at 7 p.m. It was in the notoriously opera-critical country of Italy that Joan Sutherland was christened “The Stunning One” after her debut in Venice in 1960.  The previous year, after her “Mad Scene” in Lucia di Lammermoor at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the applause lasted 20 minutes. The next year, in anticipation of her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in the same role, the queue for standing room tickets began at 7.30 that morning.

Airs Saturday, June 23 at 12:00 noon. With Jerusalem as the prize, General Goffredo and his chief knight Rinaldo are battling it out with King Argante. But the king’s lover and ally is the sorceress Armida — and she uses every trick in her arsenal to help win the war. Good thing Rinaldo has some supernatural reinforcements of his own! Handel wanted to make it big in England, and he did it in spades with Rinaldo! For the first time he specified sorcery and magic in the plot — hiring an illustrious producer to bring it off, and booking a megastar for the lead. Three hundred years later, Lyric follows suit! Fabulous David Daniels headlines this amazing new production.

Rinaldo Features charismatic virtuoso singers. David Daniels as Rinaldo, one of the world’s top countertenor; As Armida, Elza van den Heever who offers an astonishing performances filled with emotional conviction and originality; As Argante, the phenomenal Luca Pisaroni, whose lightning vocal attack, nimble upper range, and ringing vivacity will leave you spell bound; and ss Rinaldo’s inamorata, you’ll love Julia Kleiter, the young German soprano who appears to rave reviews with major conductors, including Riccardo Muti!