The oppressive atmosphere before a storm and the tragic fate of a tormented young woman form the indivisible elements of "Katia Kabanova". The opera's action is set in a small Russian village around 1860 and represents the annihilation and subsequent suicide of Katerina Kabanova, a sensitive young woman married to a weak man and bullied by her mother-in-law, who is searching for liberation through love and ends her life consumed by remorse for her infidelity. The story's common denominator is the Volga river, a witness of the main character's hapless family relations and her frustrated passion, and in whose merciful waters she finally finds peace. The adaptation into the Czech language of Ostrovsky's tragic play "The Storm" allowed Janáček to create one of his most outstanding operas, in which the conciseness and intensity of the musical language are merged with the dramatic force of his libretto. This is the Teatro Madrid Production Recorded in December, 2008.

A young woman in love with a composer is forced by her mother to take a rich suitor. When the two lovers are reunited years later, happiness is theirs for the taking, but a tragedy happens that changes everything. Robert Carsen’s premiere of Destiny opened the 2020 edition of the Janáček Brno Festival (International Opera Award winner 2019). It comprises some of Janáček’s most magnificent music, which sways from the peaks of romantic rapture to the depths of desperation and back again.

Alban Berg explores the power that Eros and Thanatos, in their rawest forms, have over our lives: Lulu, a femme fatale, will do anything to get ahead in a man’s world, but she ends up being destroyed.

Live from La Scala Saturday 07 July 2007. In this live performance of Giuseppe Verdi's opera, Violetta, a courtesan much wooed by Parisian society, organises a grand party that is attended, amongst others, by the young Alfredo Germont. He confesses his feelings to Violetta, who is already suffering from consumption. She vacillates between genuine affection and a realistic assessment of her situation as a "fallen woman", which precludes any lasting relationship with a man.

Posthumously premiered in 1930, From the House of the Dead derives from Dostoevsky’s autobiographical 1862 novel that drew on his experience as a political prisoner in Siberia. Janáček focuses on Dostoevsky’s idea of the “spark of God” in every human being that has the potential to redeem even the most hardened criminal.

A deeply-moving tragedy, Il Tabarro is the first chapter, a one-act opera that follows two lovers confronted by a violent, cuckolded husband. In 2012 at the Puccini Plus Festival, the Opéra de Lyon presented Puccini’s Il trittico over the course of several evenings.Carefully structured and with an action-packed plot, this first installment comes to life in a magnificent staging by David Pountney.

The farce Gianni Schicchi is the triptych’s third and final chapter. In 2012 at the Puccini Plus Festival, the Opéra de Lyon presented Puccini’s Il trittico over the course of several evenings. The plot is set in Florence in the 13th century. The elderly Buoso Donati has just died and willed all of his worldly goods to the clergy. His panic-stricken family calls on Gianni Schicchi, who decides to impersonate the deceased man in order to dictate a new will to the notary. Malicious and strategic, Schicchi takes advantage of the situation to steal the old man’s belongings for himself. The triptych's final installment, this unconventional operatic masterpiece closes on the radiant smiles of its comedic lovers.

A horrifying tale, Suor Angelica is the triptych’s second chapter. In 2012 at the Puccini Plus Festival, the Opéra de Lyon presented Puccini’s Il trittico over the course of several evenings. The plot is set in an Italian convent at the end of the 17th century. In a conversation among the sisters, they confide their final wishes to each other. After telling her own wish, Sister Angelica is falsely accused of dreaming of becoming rich. Damned, her life takes a tragic turn that leads to her death. This brilliant Suor Angelica stars Csilla Boross and Natascha Petrinsky framed by David Pountney’s cold and heavenly staging that recalls the white marble of 17th century convents.

Andrea Chénier is a verismo opera in four acts by Umberto Giordano, set to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica, and first performed on 28 March 1896 at La Scala, Milan. The story is based loosely on the life of the French poet André Chénier (1762–1794), who was executed during the French Revolution.