Opera Catalog

Composer: Vincenzo Bellini
Librettist: Carlo Pepoli

Müller; Swenson, Neill, Hampson, Miles

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus

Approximate running time: 2 hrs. 34 min.

Bellini’s last opera, set during the time of the English Civil War, is a glorious treasure of melody. Ruth Ann Swenson is Elvira, the lovely Puritan heroine who goes mad when she thinks she has been jilted by her lover, Arturo (Stuart Neill). But he has only been doing his duty as a Cavalier in saving his queen, the widow of King Charles I, from th...

Composer: Vincenzo Bellini
Librettist: Count Carlo Pepoli

Bonynge; Gruberova, Merritt, Gavanelli, Plishka

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus

Approximate running time: 2 hrs. 27 min.

Few sopranos have tackled the extraordinarily difficult role of Elvira in Bellini’s last opera at the Met. In this remarkable performance, the great Edita Gruberova sails through the vocal challenges, pulling off her trademark coloratura stunts and caressing Bellini’s long, languid phrases with equal ease. She creates a poignant, very human portrai...

Composer: Vincenzo Bellini
Librettist: Count Carlo Pepoli

Bonynge; Sutherland, Pavarotti, Milnes, Morris

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus

Approximate running time: 2 hrs. 24 min.

When this production opened, it had been more than half a century since Met audiences had last heard Bellini’s gem of an opera. It was well worth the wait. “The best cast in the world,” was how one critic described the legendary performers the Met brought together. The pair sent audiences into a frenzy with their sumptuous, dazzling singing. Joan S...

Composer: Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Librettist: Modest Tchaikovsky

Ozawa; Guleghina, Palmer, Heppner, Stoyanov, Delavan

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus

Approximate running time: 2 hrs. 44 min.

Tchaikovsky’s powerful adaptation of Pushkin’s story stars Ben Heppner as Hermann, the army officer whose obsession with gambling leads to tragedy. Maria Guleghina is Lisa, the young woman he falls in love with and abandons, and Felicity Palmer sings the mysterious old Countess whose secret Hermann is after. Vladimir Stoyanov is Prince Yeletsky, Li...

Composer: Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Librettist: Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Nelsons; Mattila, Zajick, Galouzine, Mattei, Markov

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus

Approximate running time: 2 hrs. 48 min.

Tchaikovsky’s thrilling operatic adaptation of Pushkin’s classic story features an ideal cast of great singing actors: Karita Mattila is Lisa, the young woman at the center of the action. Vladimir Galouzine sings Hermann, the officer who pursues her to discover a mysterious combination of cards that would let him win a fortune at the gaming tables....

Composer: Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Librettist: Modest Tchaikovsky

Gergiev; Gorchakova, Söderström, Domingo, Hvorostovsky, Putilin

Chorus and Ballet

Approximate running time: 2 hrs. 42 min.

There’s passion and drama galore in Tchaikovsky’s rich setting of Pushkin’s chilling novel of obsession. Dashing Dmitri Hvorostovsky is Prince Yeletsky, engaged to Lisa (Galina Gorchakova) who is also loved by Gherman (Plácido Domingo at his most romantically impassioned). Lisa’s grandmother, the old Countess (Elisabeth Söderström) had been given t...

Composer: Richard Wagner
Librettist: Richard Wagner

Stiedry; Hotter, Svanholm, Davidson, Harshaw

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

Approximate running time: 2 hrs. 22 min.

The great Hans Hotter, in his Met debut season, is magnificent as Wotan in this memorable broadcast of the prologue to Wagner’s Ring cycle. He leads an extraordinary cast that also includes Margaret Harshaw as Wotan’s wife, Fricka, Set Svanholm as a true heldentenor Loge, the demi-god of fire, Lawrence Davidson as the evil Nibelung dwarf Alberich, ...

Composer: Richard Wagner
Librettist: Richard Wagner

von Karajan; Reynolds, Stolze, Adam, Kelemen

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus

Approximate running time: 2 hrs. 19 min.

Theo Adam is Wotan, leader of the gods, in this extraordinary performance of the prologue to Wagner’s Ring cycle—one of only two Met broadcasts ever conducted by the great Herbert von Karajan. The star-studded cast includes Gerhard Stolze as Loge, the cunning demi-god of fire, Martti Talvela and Karl Ridderbusch as the giants, Fasolt and Fafner, Zo...

Composer: Richard Wagner
Librettist: Richard Wagner

Levine; Schwarz, Langridge, Morris, Wlaschiha

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

Approximate running time: 2 hrs. 35 min.

Under James Levine’s thrilling direction the famous Met Orchestra is at its best in this first installment of Wagner’s Ring cycle. From the dark, mysterious beginning in the depths of the Rhine River to the blazing end as the gods cross the rainbow bridge into their new home of Valhalla, this is a searing performance. James Morris is the commanding...

Composer: Richard Wagner
Librettist: Richard Wagner

Levine; Schwarz, Langridge, Morris, Wlaschiha

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus

Approximate running time: 2 hrs. 31 min.

From the almost imperceptible single low note of the basses at the beginning to the triumphant blazing fanfare from the entire orchestra as the gods enter Valhalla at the end—there is nothing like this opening chapter of the Ring in all opera. It’s an enthralling tale of gods, giants, dwarves, treasure, and the curse that will haunt the entire worl...

Composer: Richard Wagner
Librettist: Richard Wagner

Levine; Naef, Langridge, Morris, Fink

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

Approximate running time: 2 hrs. 32 min.

No composer tells a great, mythic adventure story as well as Wagner does. And few conductors know how to let the epic unfold in all its thrilling power and drama as James Levine does. Leading the Met orchestra with authority and sweep, Maestro Levine revels in this enthralling tale of gods, dwarves, and giants all determined to possess the magic ri...

Composer: Richard Wagner
Librettist: Richard Wagner

Stiedry; Thebom, Vinay, Uhde, Davidson

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

Approximate running time: 2 hrs. 21 min.

The beginning of Das Rheingold takes the listener right into the mystical atmosphere of the Ring cycle. Out of the darkness, from the depths of the River Rhine, come the mysterious notes that signal the birth of life itself. Soon we’re in the middle of a rousing tale of ambition, greed, promises made and broken, of gods, dwarfs, and giants. They al...