Opera at Eight

In addition to the opera excerpts presented throughout the day, WETA VivaLaVoce features a complete opera at 8 pm each day: Opera at 8. These opera performances are taken from the extensive WETA Classical library, ranging from classic recordings to the most recent releases.

  • Siegfried

    Episode

    Richard Wagner

    Wolfgang Windgassen (tenor) [Siegfried] ** Birgit Nilsson (soprano) [Brünnhilde] ** Hans Hotter (baritone) [Der Wanderer] ** Gerhard Stolze [Mime] ** Gustav Neidlinger [Alberich] ** Kurt Böhme [Fafner] ** Marga Höffgen [Erda] ** Joan Sutherland (soprano) [Der Waldvogel] ** Vienna Philharmonic ** Sir Georg Solti (conductor)
  • Orfeo ed Euridice

    Episode

    Christoph Willibald Gluck

    Agnes Baltsa (mezzo-soprano) [Orfeo] ** Margaret Marshall (soprano) [Euridice] ** Edita Gruberova [Amore] ** Ambrosian Opera Chorus ** Philharmonia Orchestra ** Riccardo Muti (conductor)
  • Madama Butterfly

    Episode

    Giacomo Puccini

    Mirella Freni (soprano) [Cio-cio-san] ** Luciano Pavarotti (tenor) [B. F. Pinkerton] ** Christa Ludwig (mezzo-soprano) [Suzuki] ** Robert Kerns (baritone) [Sharpless] ** Michel Sénéchal (bass) [Goro] ** Marius Rintzler [Il Bonzo] ** Elke Schary [Kate Pinkerton] ** Giorgio Stendoro [Il principe Yamadori] ** Hans Helm [Il commissario imperiale] ** Wolfgang Scheider [Lo zio Yakusidè] ** Siegfried Rudolf Frese [L'ufficiale del registro] ** Evamaria Hurdes [La madre di Cio-cio-san] ** Erna Maria Mühlberger [La zia di Cio-cio-san] ** Martha Heigl [La cugina di Cio-cio-san] ** Vienna State Opera Chorus [Parenti ed amiche di Cio-cio-san ** Marinai] ** Vienna Philharmonic ** Herbert von Karajan (conductor)
  • Leonore

    Episode

    Ludwig van Beethoven

    Alastaire Miles [Don Fernando] ** Matthew Best [Don Pizarro] ** Kim Begley [Florestan] ** Hillevi Martinpelto [Leonore] ** Franz Hawlata [Rocco] ** Christiane Oelze [Marzelline] ** Michael Schade [Jaquino] ** Rob Burt [Erster Gefangener] ** Colin Campbell [Zweiter Gefangener] ** The Monteverdi Choir ** Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique ** John Eliot Gardiner (conductor)
  • Catone in Utica

    Episode

    Antonio Vivaldi

    Cecilia Gasdia [Cesare] ** Marilyn Schmiege [Marzia] ** Susanna Rigacci [Arbace] ** Margarita Zimmermann [Emilia] ** Lucrezia Lendi [Fulvio] ** Ernesto Palacio [Catone] ** I Solist Veneti ** Claudio Scimione (conductor)
  • Roméo et Juliette

    Episode

    Charles Gounod

    Roberto Alagna (tenor) [Roméo] ** Angela Gheorghiu (soprano) [Juliette] ** José van Dam (baritone) [Frère Laurent] ** Marie-Ange Todorovitch [Stéphano] ** Simon Keenlyside (baritone) [Mercutio] ** Alain Fondary [Capulet] ** Claire Larcher [Gertrude] ** Daniel Galvez Vallejo [Tybalt] ** Guy Flechter [Benvolio] ** Didier Henry [Pâris] ** Till Fecnher [Grégorio] ** Alain Vernhes [Le Duc] ** Christophe Fel [Frère Jean] ** Anne Constantin [Manuela] ** Doris Lamprecht [Pepita] ** Yann Beuron [Angelo] ** Chœur et Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse ** Michel Plasson (conductor)
  • Hippolyte et Aricie

    Episode

    Jean-Philippe Rameau

    Véronique Gens [Aricie] ** Jean-Paul Fouchécourt [Hippolyte] ** Bernarda Fink (alto) [Phèdre] ** Russell Smythe [Thésée] ** Thérèse Feighan [Diane] ** Annick Massis [L'Amour] ** Laurent Naouri [Pluton/Neptune/Jupiter] ** Florence Katz [Onone] ** Jean-Lous Georgel [Mercure/Arcas] ** Luc Coadou [Tisiphone] ** Jean-Louis Meunier [Parque] ** Jacques-François Loiseleur des Longchamps [Parque] ** Jérôme Varnier [Parque] ** Monique Simon [La Grande-Prêtresse] ** Stephan Van Dyck [Un Suivant de l'Amour] ** Kiyoko Okada [Une Prêtresse] ** Meredith Hall [Une Chasseresse] ** Ensemble Vocal Sagittarius [Nymphes de Diane, habitants de la forêt, suivants de l'Amour, prêtresses de Diane, divinités infernales, Trézéniens, matelots, chasseurs et chasseresses, bergers et bergères] ** Les musiciens du Louvre ** Marc Minkowski (conductor)
  • Il Pirata

    Episode

    Vincenzo Bellini

    Maria Callas [Imogene] ** Constantino Ego [Ernesto] ** Pier Miranda Ferraro [Gualtiero] ** Glade Peterson [Itulbo] ** Chester Watson [Goffredo (Solitario)] ** Regina Sarfaty [Adele] ** Chorus and Orchestra of the American Opera Society ** Nicola Rescigno (conductor)
  • La traviata

    Episode

    Giuseppe Verdi

    Edita Gruberova [Violetta Valéry] ** Patricia Spence [Flora Bervoix] ** Monica Bacelli [Annina] ** Neil Shicoff [Alfredo Germont] ** Giorgio Zancanaro [Giorgio Germont] ** Kim Begley [Gastone, Visconte de Létorières] ** Peter Sidhom [Barone Douphol] ** David Barrell [Marchese d'Obigny] ** Alastaire Miles [Dottore Grenvil] ** Peter Bronder [Giuseppe, servo di Violetta] ** Fabrizio Visentin [Domestico di Flora] ** Nicholas Folwell [Commissionario] ** Ambrosian Singers [Signori e signore ** Amici di Violetta e Flora ** Mattadore ** Piccadori e zingare ** London Symphony Orchestra ** Carlo Rizzi (conductor)
  • La Juive

    Episode

    Fromental Halévy

    José Carreras (tenor) [Eléazar] ** Julia Varady (soprano) [Rachel] ** Dalmacio Gonzales [Léopold] ** June Anderson [La Princesse Eudoxie] ** Ferruccio Furlanetto (bass) [Le Cardinal de Brogni] ** René Massis [Ruggiero] ** Renè Schirrer [Albert] ** Ambrosian Opera Chorus ** Philharmonia Orchestra ** Antonio de Almeida (conductor)
  • Eugen Onegin

    Episode

    Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

    Rosemarie Lang [Larina] ** Mirella Freni (soprano) [Tatjana] ** Anne Sofie von Otter (mezzo-soprano) [Olga] ** Ruthild Engert [Filipjewna] ** Thomas Allen (baritone) [Eugen Onegin] ** Neil Shicoff [Lenski] ** Paata Burchuladze [Fürst Gremin] ** Michel Sénéchal (bass) [Triquet] ** Jürgen Hartfiel [Ein Hauptmann] ** Gunter Emmerlich [Saretzki] ** Rundfunkchor Leipzig ** Staatskapelle Dresden ** James Levine (conductor)
  • La Damnation de Faust

    Episode

    Hector Berlioz

    Richard Leech (tenor) [Faust] ** Gilles Cachemaille (bass) [Méphistophélès] ** Françoise Pollet [Marguerite] ** Michel Philippe [Brander] ** Chours de l'Orchestre symphonique de Montréal ** Orchestre symphonique de Montréal ** Charles Dutoit (conductor)