Opera on WRTI

This Saturday, November 16th, WRTI dedicates its programming to opera. The now annual "Opera Day" is a celebration of this grandest expression of music and theater.  WRTI’s Jim Cotter profiles Mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato; she's not only one of America’s premiere operatic voices, but also one of the hardiest. 

From the moment she lands on the Algerian coast to rescue Lindoro, her true love, we know the resourceful Isabella is going to outsmart the conniving Mustafà, whose great hope is to find an Italian wife for himself.

Opera lives on the Christina Riverfront in Wilmington, Delaware. There, as WRTI’s Susan Lewis reports, audiences experience the power of operatic voices in an intimate setting - uniquely presented by OperaDelaware.

OperaDelaware's next performance, Inside the Opera Studio: Opera Undressed, hosted by OperaDelaware Music Director Jeffrey Miller, guides audiences through an evening of hits, and out of the way gems, in an up-close and personal performance. November 8th at 7:30 pm, and November 10th at 2 pm.

Tune in for a treat on Saturday, October 26 at 1 pm. Tenor Luciano Pavarotti sings Rodolfo in a San Francisco Opera archival production of Giuseppe Verdi's Luisa Miller. Conducted by Jesus Lopez-Cobos. Recorded Fall 1974, War Memorial Opera House.

Synopsis and interview with Luciano Pavarotti

A sensitive poet searches for love, and repeatedly finds it lies just beyond his reach in this marvelously melodic masterpiece. Singing the title role is tenor Matthew Polenzani, who was praised by The New York Times as "coming into his prime...singing with increasing ardor, richness and power."

The prayers of a desperate woman are answered in the form of a noble warrior in Richard Wagner's most accessible opera, which contrasts the lust for power with the search for faith. The title role is sung by Brandon Jovanovich, "a first-rate Wagner tenor" (San Francisco Chronicle) who was an electrifying Siegmund in Die Walküre (2011). As his doubt-plagued bride, soprano Camilla Nylund "evokes an affecting degree of dreamy distance in Elsa's account of her mysterious savior" (Gramophone).

Two young soldiers disguise their identities to test their lovers' fidelity in this Mozart masterpiece, a sublime and sometimes startling mix of hilarious farce and poignant drama first performed in 1790.

"Achingly beautiful" is how the Associated Press describes San Francisco Opera's production of Moby-Dick. Composer Jake Heggie and librettist Gene Scheer adapt Herman Melville's meditation on man and the sea into "...a vibrant, compelling piece of musical theater..." (San Francisco Chronicle).

The tragic tale of Romeo and Juliet inspired some of Shakespeare's finest verse—and some of Bellini's most beautiful melodies. "An opera of definite dramatic appeal" (The New York Times) awash in "music of extraordinary grace" (All Music Guide), this bel canto masterpiece features international stars Joyce DiDonato, a singer of "glamour, charisma, intelligence, grace and remarkable talent," and Nicole Cabell, who "wields her radiant lyric soprano like a silken lasso" (The New York Times).