The grand scale and magnificent acoustics of the Roman arena in Verona are ideally suited to the pageantry of Verdi's Egyptian opera, presented here in a staging that is true to the original 1913 production, framed by obelisks and sphinxes and filled with chorus and dancers. Chinese soprano Hui He has won international acclaim for her portrayal of the eponymous slave girl whose forbidden love for the war hero Radamés (Marco Berti, the experienced Verdi tenor) brings death to them both.

Passions run high as Manrico and the Count di Luna compete for the affections of Leonora. Little do they know, Manrico’s mother Azucena has been keeping a terrible secret for decades. Soon a curse from the past will rise up from the ashes with devastating implications for them all. Starring Rachel Willis-Sørensen, Yusif Eyvazov, Gregory Kunde, Ludovic Tézier and Jamie Barton, Adele Thomas’s energetic staging sets Verdi’s tale in a Hieronymus Bosch-inspired universe of medieval superstition. On the podium, Antonio Pappano conducts Verdi’s dramatic score, featuring the famous Anvil chorus.

In Italy, in Mantua and its surroundings, in the 16th century. Although newly in love, the Duke of Mantua extols infidelity. His court jester, Rigoletto, mocks the elderly Monterone, who has come to demand the return of his daughter, whom the Duke has seduced. Monterone casts a curse on Rigoletto. The hitman Sparafucile offers his services to the jester, as a man is lurking around the young woman he is protecting. Rigoletto reflects on his dual role as jester and tormented father, for this young woman—whom the courtiers believe he is hiding a romantic affair with—is in fact his own daughter, Gilda. “Rigoletto” is an Italian opera in three acts and four scenes by Giuseppe Verdi, with a libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, based on Victor Hugo’s 1832 play “Le roi s’amuse.” It premiered on March 11, 1851, at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice. From the “Tutto Verdi” box set of 27 Verdi operas. Recorded live at the Teatro Regio in Parma on October 16, 20, and 22, 2008.

Jacopo, son of Doge Francesco Foscari, was accused of murder and banished from Venice. Longing for his homeland, he writes to the Duke of Milan asking him to intercede with the city council. The letter is intercepted, and Jacopo is brought back to Venice to face further questioning. An opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi, with an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, based on a historical play by George Byron. Premiered on 3 November 1844. From the box set of 27 Verdi operas, ‘Tutto Verdi’. Recorded live at the Teatro Regio in Parma on 3, 6, 8, 11 and 19 May 2005.

I Lombardi alla prima crociata (The Lombards on the First Crusade) was Verdi’s fourth opera and received its first performance at La Scala, Milan, in February 1843. The grandiloquent subject matter is fleshed-out with broad-brushed musical and dramatic effects and lavish choral scenes created a correspondingly impressive impact. A great success in Milan, it spread to the rest of Europe within a matter of only a few years.

Around 1850, in Paris. At a soirée, Alfredo Germont, a young man from a respectable Provençal family, falls in love with Violetta Valéry, a courtesan. Deeply in love, Violetta gives up her profession and devotes herself entirely to Alfredo. However, Mr Germont senior, in the name of bourgeois respectability, persuades her to break up with his son. Violetta then writes a letter of separation to Alfredo without revealing the real reason for her decision. The fatal illness from which she was already suffering then flares up once more. A month later, Alfredo learns from his father that Violetta never stopped loving him... ‘La traviata’ is a 3 act opera by Giuseppe Verdi, with a libretto by Francesco Maria Piave based on the novel ‘The Lady of the Camellias’ by Alexandre Dumas, fils (1848) and its stage adaptation (1852). Premiered on 6 March 1853 at La Fenice in Venice. From the 27-opera Verdi box set “Tutto Verdi”. Recorded live at the Teatro Regio in Parma on 4 April 2012.

In an apparent idyll high in the Swiss Alps, a secluded village society prepares for the next wedding. Amina is to be the lucky one this time. The groom Elvino, however, soon turns his attention back to his former wife because Amina sleepwalks into the bed of a stranger who has just arrived. Count Rodolfo, son of the former lord of the manor and travelling incognito, cannot convince the villagers of his innocence nor that of Amina, until she sleepwalks again and the collective belief in the supernatural is put to the test.

Teatro Regio’s 2013 revival of their highly successful 2006 production of Verdi’s Don Carlo celebrates the 40th anniversary of the theatre’s reopening in 1973. With traditional staging and lavish costume design, the production garnered high acclaim in the national and international press, with GB Opera commending the ‘sumptuous’ setting and French online music magazine ResMusica praising director Hugo de Ana’s decision to revive the show ‘in all its splendour’. Shown here in the four-act version, Don Carlo is the fascinating tale of father-son power struggles, adultery and love that borders on incest. The cast – under the powerful baton of Gianandrea Noseda – is headed by renowned Mexican tenor Ramón Vargas, and also features Ludovic Tézier, who has been hailed as ‘one of the best Verdian singers of our time’

Live performance from Salzburg Festival Opera, August 2007. The story tells of Cellini's love for Teresa, daughter of the Papal Treasurer Balducci. His rival, the Papal Sculptor Fieramosca, overhears Cellini plotting to run away with Teresa during the carnival.

This adaptation of three tales by E.T.A. Hoffmann, with a sprinkling of Goethe’s Faust, portrays the German poet as both narrator and hero recounting his love affairs with Olympia, Antonia and Giuletta. Robert Carsen’s spectacular production highlights the melancholy genius of a man marked by life, with a coherence and dramatic sense remarkable for a work that leaves numerous questions unanswered. Under the baton of Philippe Jordan, Stéphanie d’Oustrac, Ermonela Jaho, Kate Aldrich, Yann Beuron and Ramón Vargas and Stefano Secco in the main role, interpret the legendary airs of this work whose brilliant mystery will continue to dazzle opera houses for countless years to come.