opera

When it comes to operas by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, works like “Eugene Onegin,” “The Queen of Spades,” and even “Mazeppa” may come to mind first. However, on this week’s opera (1/12 3:00 p.m.), we’ll be hearing an 1887 tragedy entitled “The Enchantress” where the heroine is one of those poor people who’s just in the wrong place at the wrong time, and because of the misplaced ire of another woman, is one of several people who dies.

We’re staying in Beijing for another production from the National Center for the Performing Arts on this week’s Sunday Opera (11/24 3:00 p.m.). This week, it’s an original commission combining Chinese and Western musical idioms in a story based on a popular folksong from the early 20th Century by composer Zhang Quianyi entitled “Lan Huahua” which follows the unfortunate story of a resilient young woman in feudal China from a bizarrely arranged marriage through to her tragic end.

This week’s Sunday Opera (11/17 3:00 p.m.) is the beginning of another series from Beijing’s National Center for the Performing Arts that features Vincenzo Bellini’s “La Sonnambula.”

We’ve got an American opera based on an American original on this week’s Sunday Opera (11/10 3:00 p.m.) with “The Shining,” based on the novel by Stephen King with music and libretto by Paul Moravec and Mark Campbell.

The Aix-en-Provence Festival is the source for our next Sunday Opera (10/27 3:00 p.m.) with their production of Mozart’s “La clemenza di Tito.”

We’re off to Liege for this week’s Sunday Opera (9/1 3:00 p.m.) and the Opera Royal de Wallonie production of Antonin Dvorak’s “Rusalka.” This opera about the second most famous water nymph will be followed by more music of Dvorak including his "almost lost" Symphony No, 2.

We're back in Paris this week for the Orchestre National de Paris' production of "Damnation of Faust" by Hector Berlioz. After the opera, we'll hear two more works by Berlioz, his autobiographical Symphonie Fantastique as well as its "sequel" "Lelio, or The Return to Life."

We're heading off to the Paris Opera for Marc Antoine Charpentier's tragic revenge opera "Medee" featuring Lea Desandre in the title role. We'll follow the opera with the ballet suite "The Sea" by Nikos Skalkottas.

We're concluding our time at the Royal Opera House with Strauss' revenge tragedy "Elektra" with Ausrine Stundyte in the title role. After the opera, we'll have two more Strauss works: "Ein Heldenleben" and the ballet score, "Schlagobers."

This week's opera comes from London's Royal Opera House and features the first opera in Wagner's "Ring Cycle," "Das Rheingold" featuring Christopher Purves as Alberich and Christopher Maltman as Wotan. The opera, performed in one 150 minute act, will be followed by more music featuring "northern" heroes (and an anti-hero) from Uumo Kalmi, Jean Sibelius, and Edvard Grieg,.