Opera Workshop: Audio Recordings

La Divina sings selections from Verdi, Puccini, Bellini, Massenet, Gounod, Delibes, Bizet, and more in this big boxset!

One of the best classic recordings of Puccini's La Boheme! With Mirella Freni (Mimi), Elizabeth Harwood (Musetta), Luciano Pavarotti (Rodolfo), Rolando Panerai (Marcello) and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Herbert von Karajan.

Full-length recording of Faust! Fun fact: Faust was the first opera to ever be played at the Met. Starring Victoria de los Angeles (Marguerite), Nicolai Gedda (Faust), and Boris Christoff (Méphistophélès) with supporting soloists; chorus and orchestra of the théâtre national de opera conducted by André Cluytens.

Lovely highlights recording with the lovely Anna Moffo! Has favorites like the preludes to acts 1 and 2 and "Sempre libera." Starring Anna Moffo (Violetta), Richard Tucker (Alfredo), and Robert Merrill (Germont), with the Chorus and Orchestra of the Rome Opera House conducted by Fernando Previtali.

The original cast recording of La voix humaine by Poulenc (based on Jean Cocteau's play of the same name) starring Denise Duval (Elle) and l'Orchestre du Théâtre national de l'Opéra-comique conductor Georges Prêtre.

Agnes Baltsa (Carmen), Katia Ricciarelli (Micaëla), José Carreras (Don José), José van Dam (Escamillo), and the Berliner Philharmoniker conducted by Herbert von Karajan.

Trouble in Tahiti is a modern classic. Leonard Bernstein himself conducts this specific recording! Starring Nancy Williams (Dinah), Julian Patrick (Sam), Antonia Butler (Trio member 1), Michael Clarke (Trio member 2), Mark Brown (Trio member 3), and the Columbia Wind Ensemble.

Weber's most well-known opera! With Gundula Janowitz (Agathe), Edith Mathis (Ännchen), Peter Schreier (Max), Theo Adam (Kaspar), and the Staatskapelle Dresden conducted by Carlos Kleiber.

A super fun recording of L’elisir d’amore with Kathleen Battle (Adina), Dawn Upshaw (Gianetta), Luciano Pavarotti (Nemorino), Enzo Dara (Dr. Dulcamara), Leo Nucci (Belcore), and the Metropolitan Opera Chorus and Orchestra conducted by James Levine. Fun fact: While being one of Donizetti’s most popular operas, L’elisir d’amore was written in 6 weeks!

Purcell's classic with Emma Kirkby (Dido), Judith Nelson (Belinda), Aeneas (David Thomas), Judith Rees (Second Woman), Jantina Noorman (Sorceress), and the Taverner Choir and Taverner Players conducted by Andrew Parrott.

Parodying the story that set off the Trojan War, this Offenbach romp is bound to make you laugh your socks off! Felicity Lott (Hélène), Yann Beuron (Pâris), Michel Sénéchal (Ménélas), and Laurent Naouri (Agamemnon); with Les Musiciens du Louvre-Grenoble, the Chœur des Musiciens du Louvre conducted by Marc Minkowski.

Based on Victor Hugo's Le roi s'amuse, Rigoletto is a classic tragedy with some wonderful tunes. Hear favorites like "La donna è mobile" and "Caro nome." Beverly Sills (Gilda), Sherrill Milnes (Rigoletto), Alfredo Kraus (Duke of Mantua), Mignon Dunn (Maddalena), and Samuel Ramey (Sparafucile); with the Ambrosian Opera Chorus and Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Julius Rudel.

A more modern highlights album of La traviata. Tiziana Fabbricini (Violetta), Roberto Alagna (Alfredo Germont), and Paolo Coni (Giorgio Germont); with the Coro & Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala conducted by Ricardo Muti.

Complex and thought-provoking opera, a little bit less known but definitely worth a listen. René Kollo (Paul), Carol Neblett (Marietta/The apparition of Marie), Gabriele Fuchs (Juliette), Rose Wagermann (Brigitta), and Hermann Prey (Fritz); with the Bavarian Radio Chorus and the Munich Radio Orchestra conducted by Erich Leinsdorf.

Eleanor Steber (Vanessa), Rosalind Elias (Erika), Regina Resnik (The Old Baroness), Nicolai Gedda (Anatol), and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra & Chorus conducted by Dimitri Mitropoulos.

Frederica von Stade is lovely in this tragedy based on the Goethe novel. José Carreras (Werther), Frederica von Stade (Charlotte), Thomas Allen (Albert), and Isobel Buchanan (Sophie); with the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden conducted by Sir Colin Davis.