Oct 10th, 2008 · Electric passion becomes lasting love, and ends with desperate tragedy, in Puccini's La Boheme — maybe the greatest "date opera" in history — in a racy new production from the Washington National Opera.
Aug 15th, 2008 · William Berger, author of Puccini Without Excuses, sizes up two new and very different recordings of the composer's best-known opera. Berger says the beauty of Bohème lies in the little details of the characters' lives.
Sep 21st, 2007 · Renowned bass Samuel Ramey stars as a serial murderer in Bartok's Bluebeard's Castle, and as the devious title character in Puccini's Gianni Schicchi, a comedy with a corpse at the center of the action. It's a deadly double bill from the Washington National Opera.
Sep 14th, 2007 · Legendary tenor Placido Domingo takes to the podium, to conduct Puccini's Madame Butterfly, in a Washington National Opera production starring soprano Xiu Wei Sun as Cio-Cio-San.
Sep 6th, 2007 · We end Thursday's program with a 1982 performance at London's Royal Albert Hall. Luciano Pavarotti sings an aria from Puccini's Tosca.
Aug 17th, 2007 · Full-bore, Italian "verismo" meets the American frontier, in Puccini's Girl of the Golden West, from Glimmerglass Opera. Minnie is a golden-hearted woman serving a Deadwood-style mining camp as everyman's sister, teacher, mother and sweetheart -- until a mysterious stranger comes to town, and she falls in love with the wrong guy.
Jul 20th, 2007 · Turandot, Puccini's extravagant portrayal of ancient China, is home to "Nessun dorma!" -- one of music's most famous numbers -- a soaring tenor aria that's been recorded by performers ranging from Franco Corelli and Placido Domingo, to the Twelve Girls Band and the Scottish Fiddle Orchestra.
Jun 15th, 2007 · Welsh car phone salesman Paul Potts wowed British audiences last weekend with his performance of "Nessun Dorma," an aria from the Puccini opera, "Turandot." He appeared on the British television network's Britain's Got Talent. Potts talks to Madeleine Brand.