Bedřich Smetana was the first major Bohemian composer.
Dutch National Opera
Strong women
Heroines who prove to us that opera, as a mirror of our societies, is capable of questioning certain models and gender representations.
National Moravian-Silesian Theatre / Martin Popelář
For the Summer or Forever?
OperaVision puts love at the heart of its programme in summer 2024.
Roberto Ricci
Basses
A villain or a buffoon? What is the rarest and lowest voice type?
Alfred Fedetsky
Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s work stands out as among the greatest in Russian repertoire.
Britten
Britten's operas explore profound human experiences that continue to captivate audiences around the world with their touching portrayal of the human condition.
Clive Barda
Mezzo-sopranos
Mezzo-soprano, or ‘half-soprano’ is the female voice that stands between the soprano and the contralto.
Wagner
Composer Richard Wagner, despite the controversies surrounding his life and political views, bestrides German opera like a colossus.
Kinga Karpati & Daniel Zarewicz
Emerging artists
In partnership with young artists’ programmes in Europe and beyond, OperaVision streams performances, masterclasses and concerts by the next generation of talent, as well as following their stories through a podcast series.
Puccini
Giacomo Puccini is regarded as the greatest Italian composer of the generation after Giuseppe Verdi.
Annemie Augustijns / Grand Théâtre de Genève
Costume workshop
Diverse and dramatic, opera costumes are the first thing to appear in the spotlight, even before the performer has sung a note.
Bellini
Of the three pre-eminent Italian composers of that era before the advent of Verdi in the early 1840s, it might be said that Rossini displayed more musical verve, Donizetti the greater dramatic aptitude, but Bellini's operas are the most beautiful.
Strauss
Deeply influenced by the music of Richard Wagner, Strauss found his own distinctive style in Salome and Elektra, two bold and poignant operas that demand huge orchestration and voices to match.
Potions, spells and transformations... in opera too, witches use every means to achieve their ends.
Javier del Real / Teatro Real
Love duets
There is no more moving moment in opera than the long-awaited love duet.
Balthasar Denner
Handel
George Frideric Handel is arguably the greatest composer of the baroque period.
Joseph Kriehuber
Donizetti
Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848) is a leading composer of the bel canto style.
Rosellina Garbo
Baritones
Baritone, known as barytonos in Greek meaning ‘deep sounding’, is the most common male voice that stands between the tenor and the bass.
Schreker
In the beginning of the 20th century, Austrian composer Franz Schreker was one of the only opera composers in the German-speaking world whose success could compete with Richard Strauss.
Sandra Then / Deutsche Oper am Rhein
Mad scenes
In opera, characters have more than enough reasons to tip over into madness.
Ferdinand Mulnier
Verdi
Giuseppe Verdi is regarded as one of the greatest opera composers who played a pivotal role in shaping the evolution of Italian opera during the 19th century.
Patrik Borecký | National Theatre Brno
The Year of Czech Music
Czech music is enjoyed on many opera stages. Thanks to collaborations with National Theatres in Brno and Prague, OperaVision has been extending the reach of both well- and little-known Czech music abroad.
Dvořák
Antonín Dvořák was the first Bohemian composer to achieve worldwide recognition and is considered one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era.
Mia Mandineau
Long Story Short
OperaVision has teamed up with Mia Mandineau to offer you some brilliant summaries of popular operas streamed on our platform, complete with humour, drawings and quirky references to current events.
Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons
Purcell
Henry Purcell is arguably England’s finest composer of music for the stage before Benjamin Britten, yet he wrote only one opera.
Hans Jörg Michel
Inspired by Shakespeare
Shakespeare’s plays have been a rich source of inspiration for composers throughout history.
James Glossop / Anthropocene, Scottish Opera 2019
Opera for our time
For over four centuries, opera has continually reinvented itself by experimenting with new ideas and adapting to evolving tastes.
Craig Fuller / Garsington Opera
Greek myths and tragedies
Greek mythology, with its timeless themes of love, heroism, and the divine, has inspired composers to write operas throughout the centuries.
Mozart
A man of the Enlightenment, Mozart is not a political animal; he has a sharp eye on the world around him.
Rossini
Gioacchino Rossini is considered one of the most talented Italian composers of his time and his best known for his comic operas.
Hans Jörg Michel / Deutsche Oper am Rhein
Baroquissimo!
The first ever operas were written around 1600 by baroque composers, including Monteverdi and Cavalieri, who used dramatic text and music to express their stories, which were often based on Classical Greek and Roman mythology.
Moniuszko
Stanisław Moniuszko is generally regarded as the founder of Polish national opera and the most important composer of the 19th century after Chopin.
Monika Rittershaus / Deutsche Oper am Rhein
Bel canto
The Italian for ‘beautiful singing’ is used to describe Italian opera of the first part of the 19th century. Three pre-eminent Italian composers of that era are Rossini, Donizetti and Bellini.
Janáček
Czech composer Leoš Janáček is a unique musical voice with an uncanny ability to suggest mood with just a few notes, an understated but passionate lyricism, and an emotional charge to his operas as powerful as any in the 20th century.
Donizetti Opera Festival
Tenors
Tenors in opera frequently take the leading male role. They are said to have irresistible charm - on and off stage!
Fabrizio Sansoni, Teatro dell'Opera di Roma
Sopranos
Soprano is the highest operatic voice and the most common in the female range.
Craig Fuller
Orpheus
Orpheus has became the emblem of the artist who rises above earthly worries and brings us closer to eternal truths.
Polish National Ballet
International Dance Day
Dance communicate emotions that transcend language barrieres. International Dance Day is an annual celebration of the positive impact of dance on our lives and its place accross cultures worldwide.