From 7 to 10 p.m. every Monday, explore the wonderful world of opera. The Winter Festival includes:
JANUARY 4, 2021: ERNANI
By Giuseppe Verdi with Luciano Pavarotti and Joan Sutherland featuring Richard Bonynge conducting the Orchestra and Chorus of the Welsh National Opera.
ENCORES
By Luciano Pavarotti and Joan Sutherland
JANUARY 11, 2021: TANNHAUSER
By Richard Wagner with Placido Domingo, Cheryl Studer, and Agnes Baltsa featuring Giuseppe Sinopoli and the Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus of the Royal Opera House
Guest Host: Jeremey Bot
JANUARY 18, 2021: SEMELE
By George Frideric Handel with Kathleen Battle, Marilyn Horne, Samuel Ramey and Sylvia McNair featuring John Nelson conducting the Ambrosian Opera Chorus and the English Chamber Orchestra.
JANUARY 25, 2021: DON PASQUALE
By Gaetano Donizetti with Barbara Hendricks and Gabriel Bacquier featuring Gabriele Ferro conducting the Orchestra and Chorus of Opera Lyon.
LA BOUTIQUE FANTASQUE
By Giaochino Rossini orchestrated by Ottorino Respighi featuring Andrew Davis and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra
FEBRUARY 1, 2021: FAUST
By Charles Gounod with Boris Christoff, Victoria de los Angeles, and Nicolai Gedda featuring André Cluytens conducting the Chorus and Orchestra of the Paris Opera.
FEBRUARY 8, 2021: I CAPULETTI E I MONTECCHI
By Vincenzo Bellini with Janet Baker, Beverly Sills, and Nicolai Gedda featuring Giuseppe Patané conducting the John Alldis Choir and New Philharmonia Orchestra.
ENCORES
A sampling of Love Duets for Valentine’s Day
FEBRUARY 15, 2021 IDOMENEO
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart with Anthony Rolfe Johnson, Anne Sofie von Otter, Sylvia McNair and Cornelius Hauptmann featuring John Eliot Gardiner conducting the Monteverdi Choir and The English Baroque Soloists.
FEBRUARY 22, 2021: TURN OF THE SCREW
By Benjamin Britten with Ian Bostridge and Joan Rodgers featuring Daniel Harding and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra.
BALLAD OF HEROES, OP.14
By Benjamin Britten with Martyn Hill tenor and the London Symphony Chorus and Orchestra
MARCH 1, 2021: THE TRAGEDY OF ARMIDE
By Jean-Baptiste Lully with Stephanie Houtzeel, Robert Getchell, Francois Loup , William Sharp, and Ann Monoyios featuring Ryan Brown conducting the Opera Lafayette.
DAPHNIS ET CHLOÉ SUITE NO.2
By Maurice Ravel featuring Stanislaw Skrowaczewski and the St. Olaf Choir and Minnesota Orchestra
MARCH 8, 2021: TURANDOT
By Giacomo Puccini with Birgit Nilsson, Renata Tebaldi, Giorgio Tozzi, and Jussi Bjoeling featuring Erich Leinsdorf and the Chorus and Orchestra of Rome Opera.
ENCORES
By Birgit Nilsson, Renata Tebaldi, Giorgio Tozzi, and Jussi Bjoeling
MARCH 15, 2021: SIMON BOCCANEGRA
By Giuseppe Verdi with Piero Cappuccilli, Mirella Freni, Nicolai Ghiaurov, José Carreras and José van Damm featuring Claudio Abbado and the Chorus and Orchestra of the Teatro alla Scala, Milan.
FOUR SACRED PIECES
By Giuseppe Verdi featuring Robert Shaw conducting the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus
Hi Joe,
The production of Faust that you are featuring on February 1 of your Winter Opera Festival is what made me fall in love with Opera when I was in the 6th grade. I went on to sing opera in small European houses and with the ensemble of the Staats Oper in Vienna, Austria. I really enjoy your shows. Thank you.
You’re very welcome, Christine. My love of Victoria de los Angeles’ Jewel Song dates back to some “Greatest Opera Hits” cassette tape I owned in the 70s and played again and again until the tape got stuck in the machine and would no longer play. Any other version of this famous aria by any other soprano is just “wrong.” Thanks for listening.