The Best Of Opera - Maria Callas , Luciano Pavarotti , Natalia Margarit, Patrizia Chiti

Bethoven

Great Opera Performances

The Golden Rule Of Opera Singing: Keep A Low Larynx - How To Sing Opera - Operatic Technique

Under the footlights at Lyric Opera of Chicago

Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean) European Anthem - 'Beethoven's 9th Symphony'

Show Boat 2013-14 San Francisco Opera

Street Opera in Florence, Italy

Verdi - La Traviata: Drinking Song (Libiamo ne' lieti calici) [HD]

ISGAP Fellow Phyllis Chesler on The Hijacking of History by Opera: The Death of Klinghoffer

More on the controversy about the opera surrounding the events which led to the death of Leon Klinghofer.

I love opera. I was once a regular contributor to NPR's "At the Opera," and that privilege lasted for almost three years. I attend the Metropolitan opera as often as I can—I also attend the Chelsea Opera, the NY City Opera (when it existed), and the Glimmerglass Opera Festival in Cooperstown almost every summer.
The Metropolitan Opera's General Manager, Peter Gelb, has a constitutional as well as an artistic right to produce whatever he wants. However, his choice of The Death of Klinghofferis an abdication of moral responsibility, political sensitivity, and gravitas. Gelb's showcasing of this opera is equivalent to a college president's decision to allow ISIS, Hamas, al-Qaeda, or the Taliban to speak on campus because "all sides must be heard and understood" because "all points of view are equally valid."

Blood libels against Israel and the Jews, mythic pseudo-histories—genocidal narratives—have permeated the Western campuses. These dangerous falsehoods claim the privilege of free speech and academic freedom and they have been welcomed by the intelligentsia. Now, these same ideas are making their debut amidst the trappings of high culture.

Sarah Brightman

More Criticism of the Klinghofer Opera

This comes from a conservative blogger.

John Adams, the composer, is an American genius. Among his truly remarkable achievements are the operas, Nixon in China (1977 and Doctor Atomic (2005). His orchestral works include The Transmigration of Souls (2002), commissioned by the New York Philharmonic as a memorial to the 9-11-2001 attacks on the USA. That work received the Pulitzer Prize.

His opera, Death of Klinghoffer (1991), was picketed in New York recently, in a revival performance at the Met. The problem was not with Adams’ music but with the libretto. In key passages singers emphasize with the Palestinian cause, and romanticize the murderers of the wheelchair-bound Jew, Dr. Klinghoffer.

Check out previous stories about this opera, here and here.  

Klonghoffer "lackluster" in Premiere

This story was covered yesterday. According to the Times of Israel, the premiere was "lackluster.

But let’s back things up a bit. I was at the Metropolitan Opera’s Monday premiere of “The Death of Klinghoffer,” a work dating from 1991 about the 1985 hijacking of the Italian cruise liner Achille Lauro. The ship was taken by members of the Palestinian Liberation Front who subsequently murdered a wheelchair-bound New York Jewish passenger named Leon Klinghoffer.

Prior to the performance I attended a two-hour rally, a peaceful scrum in a tiny traffic triangle where Broadway meets Columbus Avenue at West 64th Street. A few hundred people were there, many carrying signs declaring that the opera was anti-Semitic propaganda. Most felt the show should be shut down. No one I spoke to had actually seen it, though as New York City-based protester Noah Cohen put it, “I have no need to go look in a mirror and see a distorted version of my own face.”
The problem with the work, whose detractors included former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, former governor David Patterson and US Congressional representatives Carolyn Maloney and Peter King (a nice combination of Democrats and Republicans), seemed to stem from the fact that the opera does not portray the hijackers as mindless bloodthirsty monsters, but dares to give the men and their cause a degree of backstory.

Opera v. truth: The fetid fouls of 'Death of Klinghoffer'

Phyllis Chesler says opera based on the act of terror which left Israeli citizen Leon Klinghoffer dead is anti Semitic, check out the piece.

I love opera. For almost three years, I regularly contributed to NPR's "At the Opera." I attend the Metropolitan Opera House as often as I can. But the decision to stage "The Death of Klinghoffer" represents an abdication of moral responsibility, political sensitivity and gravitas.
Met Opera General Manager Peter Gelb has a constitutional and artistic right to produce whatever he wants. Yet showcasing this opera is equivalent to a college president's inviting a member of ISIS, Hamas, or the Taliban to speak on campus because "all sides must be heard" and "all points of view are equally valid."
As a feminist, I wouldn't boycott an opera because the female heroes are betrayed, go mad or are murdered. As in life, our great operas are tragedies in which the heroes die.
But, where there are heroes there are also villains.
The villain in Puccini's "Tosca" is unmistakable: He is Scarpia, the police chief of Rome who tortures political prisoners and attempts to rape the great singer, Floria Tosca. We don't get a backstory about Scarpia's dysfunctional childhood, nor do we sympathize or identify with him.
He is a heartless villain and the opera doesn't allow (let alone ask) us to pity or sympathize with him. We are meant to fear and despise him, perhaps even hate him.

Paris Opera expels veiled woman during performance

Here's part of the story. 

France's government is drawing up a new set of rules for theatres after the Paris Opera ejected a woman for wearing a veil during a performance, the institution's deputy director said Sunday.

The incident took place when a veiled woman was spotted on the front row of a performance of La Traviata at the Opera Bastille, Jean-Philippe Thiellay told AFP, confirming a media report.

France brought in a law in 2011 banning anyone from wearing clothing that conceals the face in a public space, or face a 150 euro ($190) fine. 

Romantic Love Songs - Opera

Patience

Patience is an opera which has been performed in a number of places for more than a century. It was created by the duo Gilbert and Sullivan. First performed in London, here's a performance from Colorado State University.

Chicago Opera Theater's Joan of Arc

Lindsey Stirling - Phantom of the Opera Live @ Vic Chicago 3/9/13

Britain's Got Talent Lucy Kay Beautiful Opera Singer