aftercurtain.
Loading navigation…

Operas

Upcoming shows

3280 shows

Clear filters

At the Boar’s Head

Opera · 1925

At the Boar’s Head Inn in Eastcheap, Falstaff recounts a robbery to Prince Hal and Poins, who reveal that they themselves took the stolen money. Hal rehearses his response to the King with Falstaff, then disguises himself with Poins to observe Falstaff and Doll Tearsheet. News of civil war and a summons to court draw Hal away. Pistol and Doll quarrel, and Falstaff and his companions prepare to leave for war; the Hostess sends Doll out to meet Falstaff once more.

Attila

Opera · 1846

After Attila destroys Aquileia, Odabella asks for a sword so she can avenge her father, whom Attila killed. Roman general Ezio proposes dividing the empire, while Foresto and survivors arrive in the lagoon and plan a new city. Odabella and Foresto reunite. Attila dreams that Pope Leo warns him not to march on Rome. Foresto later plots to poison Attila, but Odabella intervenes. When the Romans ambush the Huns, Odabella stabs Attila with the sword he gave her, and the conspirators declare their people avenged.

Aureliano in Palmira

Opera · 1813

Queen Zenobia and her lover, Prince Arsace, prepare to defend Palmyra from the Roman army led by Aureliano. After the Persians are defeated, Arsace is captured. Aureliano offers to free him if he abandons Zenobia, but Arsace refuses. When the Romans conquer Palmyra, Aureliano offers Zenobia rule beside him, and she refuses as well. Arsace escapes with help from Oraspe and sets out to free her, but both are captured again. Moved by their devotion, Aureliano releases the couple on condition that they swear allegiance to Rome; they accept and are restored to rule Palmyra.

Beatrice di Tenda

Opera · 1833

Duke Filippo envies the influence his wife Beatrice holds over his subjects and pursues Agnese, who mistakenly believes Orombello loves her. When Beatrice and Orombello are discovered together, they are accused of adultery and tortured; Orombello recants his confession and Beatrice forgives him. Agnese confesses her role in the false accusation, but Filippo signs their death warrants when a rebellion threatens, and Beatrice faces execution with dignity.

Beatrix Cenci

Opera · 1971

Count Francesco Cenci celebrates the death of his sons with a masked ball, while his daughter Beatrix and second wife Lucrecia fear him. Beatrix asks Orsino to deliver a plea to the Pope, but he destroys her letter and falsely says the Pope refused. After the guests leave, Cenci rapes Beatrix. Later, Beatrix and her brother Giacomo arrange for assassins to kill their father, with Lucrecia giving him a sleeping potion. When the body is discovered, Beatrix is arrested, tortured, and executed.

Belisario

Opera · 1836

After Belisario returns victorious to Byzantium, his wife Antonina falsely accuses him of treason, and Emperor Justinian imprisons and blinds him. Belisario’s daughter Irene guides him out of prison. The captive Alamiro, whom Belisario had adopted, is revealed to be his long-lost son. When Alamiro joins an enemy army against Byzantium, Belisario persuades him to withdraw. Belisario leads the Byzantine forces to victory but is mortally wounded; Justinian promises to care for his children.

Benvenuto Cellini

Opera · 1838

In Rome during Carnival, sculptor Benvenuto Cellini plans to elope with Teresa, daughter of the Pope’s treasurer, while his rival Fieramosca makes a competing attempt to abduct her. During a Carnival performance, Cellini fatally stabs Fieramosca’s accomplice Pompeo and escapes arrest in the darkness. The Pope gives Cellini one night to cast a bronze Perseus statue, promising to pardon him and allow his marriage to Teresa if he succeeds. Cellini rallies his workers, melts down metal from his studio, completes the statue, and wins the Pope’s pardon and Teresa’s hand.

Bertha

Opera · 1973

Queen Bertha of Oslo leads her garrison in repelling barbarians, then orders a teacher executed for questioning whether her subjects are themselves barbarians. After peace returns, Bertha declares war on Scotland and dismisses a council member who objects to her wars. She has two young lovers shot for meeting in her garden. As Bertha ages and grows more mad, she gives Norway to the barbarians so she can reconquer it. She regains the throne, collapses, and dies; the people praise her as a great queen.

Betrothal in a Monastery

Opera · 1946

Don Jerome plans to marry his daughter Louisa to the wealthy fishmonger Mendoza, though Louisa loves Antonio. The Duenna helps Louisa escape by switching clothes with her, and Louisa borrows her friend Clara’s identity. Meanwhile, Clara has fled home and hopes to enter a convent. Confusions and mistaken identities lead Mendoza and Antonio to pursue the women they love, while Ferdinand searches for Clara. At the monastery the truth is revealed and three marriages are arranged; Don Jerome is surprised by the newlyweds at his feast.

Bianca e Falliero

Opera · 1819

To reconcile a feud between rival Venetian families, Contareno promises his daughter Bianca to Capellio. Bianca loves Falliero, who is believed to have died defending Venice. Falliero returns, and Bianca refuses to sign the marriage certificate. He flees when Contareno threatens him, but is captured and charged with treason after being found in the Spanish Embassy. Bianca pleads for him before the Council of Three, whose members include Contareno, Capellio and Loredano. Capellio is moved by her appeal and agrees that the lovers belong together.

Billy Budd

Opera · 1951

On board HMS Indomitable during the French Revolutionary Wars, the cheerful sailor Billy Budd attracts the attention and hostility of Master-at-Arms John Claggart. Claggart arranges a false accusation of mutiny. When Billy is confronted with the charge, his stammer prevents him from answering and he strikes Claggart, killing him. A court-martial sentences Billy to hang. He refuses to support a mutiny in his defense, is executed, and blesses Captain Vere, who later recalls his own failure to save Billy.

Blind Injustice

Opera · 2019

The opera follows six Ohioans who were wrongfully convicted and later exonerated, alongside the lawyers and law students working on their cases through the Ohio Innocence Project. Among them are Clarence Elkins, convicted of rape and murder after a weak identification; Nancy Smith, convicted of child-abuse charges; the East Cleveland Three, who served 20 years after convictions based on tainted evidence and misidentification; and Rickey Jackson, who served 39 years for a murder he did not commit. Their stories trace the alleged crimes, imprisonment, legal advocacy, and eventual release.

Blue

Opera · 2019

In Harlem, the Mother and her friends celebrate her pregnancy but fear the danger her son may face; the Father, a police officer, welcomes the child. Sixteen years later, their son is an artist and activist who clashes with the police and his father. After the Son is fatally shot at a protest, the Father struggles with grief and anger; the family and community gather for the funeral, and an epilogue imagines the Son reconciled with his parents and continuing his studies and peaceful activism.

Bluebeard’s Castle

Opera · 1918

Judith enters Bluebeard’s dark castle with him and insists that he open its seven locked doors. They reveal a torture chamber, an armory, a treasury, a garden, and Bluebeard’s vast kingdom; blood marks each of these. The sixth door reveals a lake of tears. Judith then demands that Bluebeard open the final door, which he says must remain shut. Behind it are his three former wives, alive and wearing crowns and jewels. Bluebeard names Judith his fourth wife, dresses her in their jewelry, and leads her away through the door. The castle fades into darkness, leaving him alone.

Bomarzo

Opera · 1967

The hunchbacked Duke Pier Francesco Orsini drinks a potion his astrologer says will grant him immortality. As the poison takes effect, he recalls episodes from his life: the death of his father and brothers, his troubled courtship and marriage to Julia Farnese, and his suspicion that she is betraying him with his brother Maerbale. He orders his slave Abul to kill Maerbale. The astrologer prepares the potion again as Bomarzo’s nephew Nicolás watches; Nicolás poisons it, and the Duke dies after drinking.

Boris Godunov

Opera · 1874

In the 1872 revised version, crowds are prompted to urge Boris Godunov to take the throne, and he is crowned Tsar. At a monastery, novice Grigoriy learns of Tsarevich Dmitriy’s death and decides to impersonate him. Boris is troubled by guilt over the child’s murder, especially after Shuysky recounts the death and Pimen describes a miracle at Dmitriy’s grave. The Pretender gains support in Poland, where Marina Mniszech and the Jesuit Rangoni maneuver for power; Marina agrees to join the Pretender after he promises to march on Moscow. Boris dies after visions of the murdered child. In the final Kromi scene, rebels denounce Boris, celebrate Dmitriy’s advance and march toward Moscow, while the Holy Fool laments Russia’s fate. The 1869 original version has a different scene structure and omits the Polish act and Kromi scene; it ends with Boris’s death.

Boule-de-Neige

Opera · 1871

After a revolution, the Grand Khan appoints a white bear, Boule-de-Neige, ruler of a rebellious city, hoping to frighten its people into obedience. Bear trainer Olga discovers the animal was stolen from her and calms it; the bear’s decrees are actually written by Olga’s lover Kachmir, disguised in a bearskin. When officials uncover the ruse and conspire against the bear, Olga and Schamyl foil the plot; the bear escapes and causes chaos, and the Khan appoints Olga and Kachmir to rule together.

Brankovics György

Opera · 1874

In the first half of the 15th century, Serbian despot Brankovics is asked by Hunyadi to fight the invading Ottomans. His daughter Mara is secretly meeting the Ottoman grand vizier Murat. Brankovics first agrees to reject Ottoman envoys and fight, then accepts their peace offer, giving his two sons as hostages. Murat, secretly the sultan’s son, signs the treaty. After Hunyadi wins without him, Brankovics’s court urges him to break the pact, but he cannot risk his sons’ lives. Mara asks Murat to return her brothers, offering herself as guarantor; instead, the brothers are blinded. Mara leaves with Murat, and Brankovics vows revenge. He rejoins Hunyadi and attacks the Ottomans. Murat’s father dies, making him sultan, and he goes to battle. The Serbian forces win, but Brankovics is fatally wounded. He entrusts his children to Hunyadi and dies, realizing too late that Mara is present.

Briséïs

Opera · 1897

In ancient Corinth, Hylas pauses at the home of Briséïs and her sick mother, Thanastô, before seeking his fortune in Syria. Hylas and Briséïs swear to love each other beyond death. Thanastô prays for the salvation of the pagans around her, while Briséïs worries about Hylas and her mother. The Catechist promises Thanastô’s salvation if Briséïs follows him; bound by her mother’s vow to remain a bride of God, Briséïs goes with him. In the projected final acts, Hylas returns after a shipwreck, Briséïs kills herself and invites him to die with her, and he follows her into the grave.

Bátori Mária

Opera · 1840

In 12th-century Hungary, Prince István returns from battle. His father, King Kálmán, urges him to remarry, and two royal advisors reveal that he has a lover, Bátori Mária, and two sons with her. István goes to Mária’s estate and marries her. When he and Mária’s brother leave to hunt, the advisors persuade the king that Mária and her sons threaten the royal succession. The king questions her at her estate, but Mária exposes the advisors’ motives and her children plead for her. The king excuses her and leaves. The advisors and executioner then enter her chamber and stab her. István returns in time to say goodbye to her as she dies and vows revenge.

Béatrice et Bénédict

Opera · 1862

In Messina, Béatrice and Bénédict trade insults while Héro awaits the return of her fiancé Claudio. Don Pedro and Léonato trick Bénédict into believing Béatrice loves him, and Héro and Ursule similarly convince Béatrice that Bénédict is in love with her. At a masquerade celebrating Claudio and Héro’s wedding, Béatrice and Bénédict each struggle to hide their growing love. They finally declare their feelings and sign a second marriage contract.

Showing 265–384 of 3,280 shows

Load more shows