Opera Matinee

This year's Metropolitan Opera Listener's Choice is a 1950 performance of Giuseppe Verdi's grand masterpiece, Don Carlo, an intense telling of political intrigue, power struggle and forbidden love during the reign of King Phillip II of Spain during the 16th century. This recorded performance from the Met's archives stars tenor Jussi Björling in the title role.

Based on an epic Persian fairy tale about love, courage, loyalty and self-sacrifice, Puccini's final opera is the story of a cold-hearted princess Turandot who subjects her suitors to a deadly game of riddles, and the tenacious stranger who outwits her. A live performance from the Metropolitan Opera, with Anna Pirozzi in the title role.

A 2007 opera based on the final exchange and deaths of Mexico's 20th century painterly power couple, whose lives were so intertwined – often tempestuously. A Metropolitan Opera premiere broadcast, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

Mozart’s beloved opera is a light-hearted take on love, marriage and fidelity, Adapted from Beaumarchais’s revolutionary look at 18th century society, it was composed at the height of Mozart’s powers, with a witty libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte. A recorded performance from Wolf Trap Opera’s 2025 summer season at The Barns.

Francis Poulenc’s haunting 20th century opera, Dialogues of the Carmelites, portrays the true events of 18th century Carmelite nuns who explore the meaning of faith, sacrifice and martyrdom as they await execution by guillotine for refusing to abdicate their vocation during the Reign of Terror of the French Revolution. A recorded performance from the 2025 summer season at The Barns at Wolf Trap.