Opera After Dark

This week's unknown opera is a quintessential example of the French Grand Opera style. In addition to being perhaps the only opera in which the title character doesn't sing, La Muette de Portici is credited for igniting political riots that ultimately led to the forming of the country of Belgium. Crazy, right?!

Nothing says "the world's best art form" like the title of Charles Gounod's unknown opera "La nonne sanglante" or "The Bloody Nun." Yes, the opera is about as outrageous as you might expect, but it has some beautiful orchestration. We think it might be a little more palatable to today's audience as opposed to the disgruntled opera goers in its original run in 1854.

Best known for his Faust and Romeo et Juliette, Charles Gounod almost joined the priesthood early in life, ending his composing career before it began. Luckily, he went in the completely opposite direction becoming a serial adulterer! This is of course what we will be focusing on in today's episode.

To celebrate episode number 50 (!!!) on Opera After Dark, we give you...OPERA: THE ORIGIN STORY. It all started with a group of Italian dudes(before Italy was actually country - but they all lived in Florence) in the late 1500s who had this theory that all ancient Greek dramas were sung instead of spoken... (...no really, this IS where it all begins...)

Happy Holidays from Opera After Dark! In this special episode, we are bringing you the classical pieces that always get us in the holiday spirit. And it wouldn't be the holidays without the tragic embarrassment of one of our hosts. You'll get it by the end...

And here is part two of our epic Star Wars Opera fantasy casting! Much like follow up episodes in the actual Star Wars saga, it's not nearly as good as the original, and it seems like someone was drunk during the creation. Enjoy!

We all knew this was coming, and now it is finally here! Opera After Dark is outrageously excited to present our Star Wars Opera Fantasy Castings. Yes, we have gone into a dream world where a Star Wars Opera exists, and cast all of our favorite characters with famous opera singers. Things definitely got interesting....and sloppy, but also interesting.

In this episode, we talk about Poulenc's early opera "Les mamelles de Tirésias"... which translates to... "The Breasts of Tiresias." Which, as you can imagine, is ripe for Opera After Dark commentary!

Today we bring you another unknown opera by Alfredo Catalani, a contemporary of Puccini (he would be so pissed if he heard us say that). If you don't love this opera for its odd fusion of German and Italian themes, i.e. "Giuseppe Hagenbach", there is always the favorite soprano aria that has been performed by all the greats. Enjoy!

In this episode, we deliberately diverge from the world of opera and vocal music to talk about some of the greatest instrumental music ever composed. You know, those symphonies that check all our boxes. Our orchestral jams. Along the way, you will learn so many things about us... like the music that Elspeth always requests and then sings along to after a few glasses of wine, and you will also see what happens when Kyle actually has to prepare something.

This week we bring you another random and obscure opera, this time about King Arthur and his homie Merlin. Created by little-known composer Isaac Albeniz and the lesser-known Baron/librettist Francis Money-Coutts, it took over 100 years for this opera to actually be performed.

In this episode we talk about a composer that tried to usher in the apocalypse, but then died in the most random and unintimidating way. Listen in as we try to keep it together long enough to get through the life of this forgotten composer.

Happy Halloween to all of our listeners! To celebrate this most cherished holiday, the OAD team recorded a special episode to discuss our favorite scary and "Halloweeny" moments in opera. So grab a Bloody Mary and enjoy these wonderfully creepy operatic moments!

When it comes to classical music composers, a surprising number have had run ins with the law. Although occasionally for random and whimsical reasons, find out which of your favorite composers spent some time in the clink!

The third and final installment of OAD's current run of opera's badass women features Dame Ethel Smyth, who for over 100 years was the only female composer to have a work performed at the Met! Her badass-ness goes far beyond her compositions, and lead her into some interesting places like prison and the bedroom of a literary giant.

Our next installment of OAD's Bad Ass Women series features none other than the first woman to ever compose an opera: Francesca Caccini. It's time to get your baroque on as you learn about this composer that was, in a way, the "Beyonce of her time."

Today we introduce you to another badass lady of the classical canon: Barbara Strozzi! Incredibly prolific composer (much more prolific than most of her male contemporaries), famous singer of her time, wrote stunning and interesting music, published her music LONG before it was socially acceptable for women to do so.... basically kicking ass and taking names in 17th century Florence.

This week we take on another ridiculous and unknown opera plot in Ralph Vaughan William's The Poisoned Kiss. The fairytale libretto features an epic revenge plot and many other stock elements we love, including a trio ridiculously named Hob, Gob, and Lob. Sound familiar?

Today we dive into the glorious DINORAH by Meyerbeer - and we are joined by a guest who, we think, is the only soprano to have ever sung the title role in the past several decades on this continent, the wonderful Laura Strickling! The plot includes a goat, a mad scene, a run away groom, and so much more... this is an episode not to be missed!

As the 2017-2018 opera season is getting under way, we talk about what productions and casts around the world are getting us really excited for the coming year. We're joined by soprano Laura Strickling, and as you can imagine, this one is a little all over the place....literally.