Opera Catalog

Composer: Giuseppe Verdi
Librettist: Francesco Maria Piave

Arrivabeni; Machaidze, Chávez, Calleja, Meoni, Kocán

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus

Approximate running time: 1 hrs. 59 min.

Verdi’s riveting drama features Giovanni Meoni in the title role of the hunchbacked jester who does everything in his power to protect his innocent daughter Gilda (Nino Machaidze) from the cruel and superficial world of the licentious yet charismatic Duke of Mantua (Joseph Calleja). But when Gilda falls in love with the Duke, Rigoletto is powerless...

Composer: Giuseppe Verdi
Librettist: Francesco Maria Piave. based on the play Le Roi s'amuse by Victor Hugo

Haider; Alvarez, Siurina, Calleja

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus

Approximate running time: 1 hrs. 56 min.

The beautiful and innocent Gilda (Ekaterina Siurina) has fallen in love with the licentious Duke of Mantua (Joseph Calleja), believing him to be a poor student. Her father Rigoletto, the duke’s hunchbacked jester, has dedicated his life to keeping her from harm, and especially from his master. When Gilda is abducted and brought to the duke’s palace...

Composer: Giuseppe Verdi
Librettist: Francesco Maria Piave

Santi; Swenson, White, Leech, Nucci, Rootering

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus

Approximate running time: 1 hrs. 57 min.

Rigoletto’s one joy in life is his loving, beautiful daughter, Gilda. She is the only thing he cares for and the single bright spot in his tortured existence. So when Rigoletto’s boss, the handsome, charming, lascivious Duke of Mantua, defiles her, Rigoletto wants revenge. Leo Nucci is the tragic hunchbacked court jester, Ruth Ann Swenson the encha...

Composer: Giuseppe Verdi
Librettist: Francesco Maria Piave

Fisch; Netrebko, Herrera, Villazón, Guelfi, Halfvarson

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus

Approximate running time: 2 hrs. 4 min.

Verdi’s story about the hunchbacked father (Rigoletto) who desperately wants to protect his innocent daughter (Gilda) from the licentious Duke of Mantua has seldom been brought to life so electrifyingly as with this cast. The incandescent Anna Netrebko conveys every nuance of Gilda’s emotions as she falls in love, is betrayed, and finally gives her...

Composer: Giuseppe Verdi
Librettist: Francesco Maria Piave

Levine; Grist, Grillo, Pavarotti, Wixell, Macurdy

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus

Approximate running time: 1 hrs. 55 min.

Verdi’s tragic tale of misplaced love is splendidly enacted by this magnificent cast. Luciano Pavarotti is the elegant, licentious Duke of Mantua who successfully woos the innocent Gilda (Reri Grist) while he’s disguised as a poor student. When he ruins her, her father, Rigoletto (Ingvar Wixell) decides to get revenge—and ends up losing the only th...

Composer: Giuseppe Verdi
Librettist: Francesco Maria Piave

Sodero; Sayão, Lipton, Björling, Warren, Cordon

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus

Approximate running time: 1 hrs. 56 min.

Every once in a while the operatic stars align to create that rare performance that makes a familiar work sound brand new. The great Verdi baritone Leonard Warren delivers one of his most sublime portrayals as the hunchbacked jester Rigoletto who, thanks to his own twisted machinations, looses the only thing he cares about. Bidú Sayão is his belove...

Composer: Giuseppe Verdi
Librettist: Francesco Maria Piave

Panni; Anderson, Svendén, Pavarotti, Nucci, Furlanetto

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus

Approximate running time: 1 hrs. 58 min.

Superstar Luciano Pavarotti left his indelible mark on some of the greatest roles in the tenor repertoire—including Verdi’s Duke of Mantua, one of opera’s ultimate bad boys. In this performance, Pavarotti’s trademark honeyed tone and suave phrasing are paired with the innocence of June Anderson’s Gilda (in the soprano’s Met debut season and role). ...

Composer: George Frideric Handel
Librettist: Nicola Haym

Summers; Fleming, Blythe, Scholl, van Rensburg, Relyea

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus

Approximate running time: 2 hrs. 49 min.

The fourth Handel opera to enter the Met repertoire, Rodelinda stars Renée Fleming in the title role of the Queen of Lombardy and grieving widow of King Bertarido (countertenor Andreas Scholl), who furiously rejects marriage to Grimoaldo (tenor Kobie van Rensburg), the usurper of her late husband’s throne. Plot complications come thick and fast, am...

Composer: George Frideric Handel
Librettist: Nicola Francesco Haym

Bicket; Fleming, Blythe, Daniels, van Rensburg, Relyea

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus

Approximate running time: 2 hrs. 53 min.

Handel’s opera had never been done at the Met until this all-star cast thrilled audiences. Renée Fleming gives one of her most moving performances as the virtuous Queen Rodelinda, grieving for her husband Bertarido (David Daniels), and scornful of the man who has stolen his kingdom, Grimoaldo (Kobie van Rensburg). But if Rodelinda does not marry th...

Composer: Charles Gounod
Librettist: Jules Barbier and Michel Carré

Lewis; Blegen, Corelli, Carlson, Gill

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus

Approximate running time: 2 hrs. 34 min.

No one ever doubted the handsome, charismatic Italian tenor Franco Corelli was the personification of the romantic hero. So what better role for him than Roméo, the impetuous youth who defies his family, and his city, to follow where his heart leads? Corelli’s ardor knows no bounds in his quest for Juliette (the sparkling Judith Blegen). This perfo...

Composer: Charles Gounod
Librettist: Jules Barbier and Michel Carré

Cooper; Sayão, Björling, Brownlee, Moscona

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus

Approximate running time: 2 hrs. 6 min.

From their first meeting until their tragic deaths, Jussi Björling and Bidú Sayão are a Romeo and Juliet you won’t be able to forget. Their achingly beautiful voices convey all the passion and impetuousness of Shakespeare’s poignant teenage lovers. But at the same time Björling and Sayao sing with an elegance and charm so necessary for French opera...

Composer: Charles Gounod
Librettist: Jules Barbier and Michel Carré

Molinari-Pradelli; Freni, Gedda, Reardon, Macurdy

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Chorus and Ballet

Approximate running time: 2 hrs. 37 min.

No Roméo could possibly resist Mirella Freni’s enchanting combination of appealing innocence and impulsiveness as Juliette. Her warm lyric voice glided over Juliette’s phrases with a naturalness that brought the character to stunning life. Nicolai Gedda’s Roméo was sensitive, ardent, and as stylish as they come. Together Freni and Gedda showed a ne...