Showing results for "Opera" in Arts & Entertainment

Opera is the fastest growing of all the performing arts, attracting audiences of all ages who are enthralled by the gorgeous music, vivid drama, and magnificent production values. If you've decided that the time has finally come to learn about opera and discover for yourself what it is about opera that sends your normally reserved friends into states of ecstatic abandon, this is the book for you.

Immerse yourself in more than 400 years of the world's most celebrated operas and discover the fascinating stories behind them. Explore the lives of singers such as Maria Callas, Luciano Pavarotti, and Jonas Kaufmann. Meet composers like Mozart, Wagner, and Britten, and the librettists with whom...

To watch any opera lover listen to a favorite work, eyes clenched tight in concentration and passion, often betraying a tear, is to be almost envious. What must it be like, you might think, to love a piece of music so much?And now one of music's most gifted teachers is offering you the opportunity to answer that very question, in a spellbinding series of 32 lectures that will introduce you to the transcendentally beautiful performing art that has enthralled audiences for more than 400 years.

Here is the colorful story of sometimes temperamental composers and even more temperamental singers working in an art form which has produced some of man's noblest artistic creations. This absorbing history is illustrated by over 100 musical examples by Naxos artists as well as some of the greatest singers of the 20th century, including Enrico Caruso and Fyodor Chaliapin.

A vibrant, official, celebration of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s iconic multi-award winning musical, exploring its rich history, with letters from its cast, crew, and global fanbase, and featuring exclusive photos and archival materials. Since its opening night in 1986, Phantom of the Opera has...

When Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died in 1791 at the age of just 35, he nonetheless left behind the defining composition in every available musical genre of his time: symphony, chamber music, masses, and above all - opera. Opera was the prestige genre of the era, and the thought of it, Mozart wrote, made him, "beside myself at once." It was a form he loved dearly, depending on it heavily for personal, professional, artistic, and financial reasons of the greatest weight.

Known as opera’s “disrupter-in-residence,” director Yuval Sharon has never adhered to the art form’s conventions. In his many productions in both the United States and Europe, he constantly challenges the perception of opera as aloof by urging, among other things: performing operas in “non-places,” such as parking lots; encouraging the use of amplification; and shuffling the traditional structure of classic works, like performing Puccini’s La bohème in reverse order, ending not with the tubercular heroine Mimi’s death but with her first falling in love.

Read by the author, acclaimed conductor Jane Glover. 'You don’t have to be able to hum Mozart to find this book utterly engrossing . . . I couldn’t put it down' - Joanna Lumley An expertly researched and vividly written account of Mozart’s formative trips to Italy. At thirteen years old...

Immerse yourself in more than 400 years of the world's most celebrated operas and discover the fascinating stories behind them. Explore the lives of singers such as Maria Callas, Luciano Pavarotti, and Jonas Kaufmann. Meet composers like Mozart, Wagner, and Britten, and the librettists with whom...

Wagner’s Ring cycle is the most ambitious work in the history of music: four operas that combine to tell a single epic story. Based in legend, it has become a legend in its own right: a supreme challenge for conductors, singers, opera producers, and indeed for audiences. But for all its grandeur and complexity, The Ring is far more accessible than many music lovers think.

The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux. "The Phantom of the Opera" by Gaston Leroux is a Gothic horror novel first published in 1909-1910. Set beneath the grand Paris Opera House, the story follows a mysterious, disfigured figure known as the Phantom who haunts the theater's depths. When he becomes obsessed with a young soprano named Christine Daaé, a dangerous love triangle emerges involving her childhood friend Raoul. As the Phantom's demands grow more violent and his jealousy intensifies, Christine finds herself trapped between two worlds—one above ground, one in the shadows below.

Step into a world where mystery and romance intertwine, exploring the shadows that lie beneath the grandeur of an opera house. This podcast delves into themes of obsession, identity, and the supernatural, where the haunting presence of an unseen figure challenges perceptions and ignites curiosity. Each week, experience a new complete audiobook that brings these themes to life, offering a diverse range of stories across different eras and styles. Whether you're seeking a thrilling escape or a deeper understanding of human emotions, this rotating collection of audiobooks provides a captivating ...

Monteverdi’s Orfeo, first performed in 1607, generates a special excitement because it is the first unquestioned masterpiece of opera. Notable for its precise orchestration and powerful drama it was a groundbreaking work. It concerns the legend of Orpheus, the demigod whose music had the power to conquer the forces of Hell and to bring his wife back, briefly, to life. The extracts used in this introduction are from Naxos’ full recording; it uses authentic period instruments, which serve to evoke the early Baroque period of the opera’s composition.

Blunt and at times wittily subversive, Opera Wars spotlights opera culture—it’s colorful and sometimes warring personalities, increasingly fierce controversies over content, and the battles being waged for its economic future. Drawing on interviews with dozens of opera insiders—as well as...

Through a deft compilation of primary sources—letters, memoirs, and personal accounts from composers, librettists, and performers—Michael Rose re-creates for his readers the circumstances that gave rise to fifteen operatic milestones. From Monteverdi and Mozart to Puccini and Berg, each chapter focuses on a well-known opera and tells the story that lies behind its creation.

Step into the shadows of an enchanting theatre, now under new management. Witness a diva who believes she has the voice to captivate, a young ingenue with undeniable talent, and a mysterious masked figure whose wrath knows no bounds when his desires go unmet. With a backdrop of secrets, intrigues, and the peril of falling chandeliers, the legend of the Phantom of the Opera unfolds before your very ears! (Summary by Karen Savage)

Cast lists and plots of 100 famous, not-so-famous, and infamous operas are presented by Felix Mendelsohn (not the composer), with some insightful comments sprinkled in along the way. This book is an interesting curiosity for opera lovers, as well as a handy introduction for those who are just getting their operatic toes wet. A complete list of the operas included can be found on our website, audiobookcontractors.com.

DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE ist eine der bekanntesten Opern und ein zeitloses Meisterwerk. DIE HOCHZEIT DES FIGARO des Genies Mozart begründet die Zusammenarbeit zweier Meister ihres Fachs: des Komponisten Mozarts mit dem Librettisten Lorenzo da Ponte. RIGOLETTO gilt als das erste Meisterwerk von Giuseppe Verdi und begründet seinen Weltruhm. Bereits bei der Uraufführung im Jahr 1851 am Teatro La Fenice in Venedig feierte sie einen überwältigenden Erfolg und wurde in den folgenden Jahren in ganz Europa aufgeführt.

The Beggar's Opera by John Gay is a satirical ballad opera that cleverly critiques 18th-century politics, society, and corruption. Set in a criminal underworld mirroring upper-class behavior, it follows the story of the roguish highwayman Macheath, who is caught in a web of betrayal, love, and deceit. With humorous commentary on greed, hypocrisy, and power, the play uses popular tunes of the time to parody traditional opera. This groundbreaking work remains a sharp, entertaining critique of human nature and societal structures - Summary by Dream AudioBooks

For anyone who has been intimidated, overwhelmed, or just plain confused by what they think opera is, Who’s Afraid of Opera? offers a lively, easy-to-follow guide to what author Michael Walsh describes as “the greatest art form yet invented by humankind.” From opera’s origins in Renaissance Italy to the Who’s rock odyssey “Tommy”, and Stephen Sondheim’s “Into the Woods”, Walsh explores what opera is and what it’s not, what makes a great singer, and why it takes Tristan so long to die.