Movies: Betsy Norden

What happened to Figaro and his friends after the events told in Rossini’s and Mozart’s operas? One possible sequel is told in John Corigliano’s “grand opera buffa” The Ghosts of Versailles—an uproariously funny and deeply moving work inspired by Bea...

Don Carlo (1980) Metropolitan Opera. Verdi / italian. King Philip's court is plagued by rebels, family squabbles and intrigue. The Spanish Inquisition tries to exert its influence. The tension finally ignites at the King's coronation, where heretics ...

In this legendary production, director John Dexter and designer David Reppa brilliantly captured the stark drama of Poulenc’s only full-length opera, which tells the story of a group of nuns caught in the maelstrom of the French Revolution. Maria Ewi...

The opera's dramatic structure frames and enhances the characters. Scenes of magnificence regularly alternate with scenes of darkness and squalor. From sumptuous interiors, we move to a dark street, a lonely inn. The secondary figures are astutely co...

Ghiaurov, Freni, and Bumbry were great voices in their time, and they are still effective here -- good enough musicians to put over the quite heavy vocal and expressive demands of their roles. Louis Quilico was never quite in that league, and he soun...