Shakespeare operas
Bringing Shakespeare’s Macbeth to Operatic Heights
Washington National Opera’s Artistic Director Francesca Zambello interviews director, Brenna Corner, about Verdi’s opera inspired by Macbeth.
Adapting Shakespeare's 'Antony and Cleopatra' for opera
Get an insider’s look at adapting a Shakespeare play for opera with this blog post by the dramaturg and libretto consultant for the new John Adams opera of “Antony and Cleopatra.”
John Adams Gives Antony and Cleopatra the Operatic Treatment
Adams talks with host Barbara Bogaev about how he turned a five-act play into a two-act opera—which scenes got the hook, new lines written in the style of the Bard, and what Shakespeare may have thought of the play’s characters.
Q&A: Allan Clayton on playing Hamlet in Brett Dean's opera
Hamlet sings! A new opera version of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” is onstage now at the Metropolitan Opera, with tenor Allan Clayton resuming the title role that he played for the opera’s world premiere at the Glyndebourne Festival.
Brett Dean and Matthew Jocelyn on Their Hamlet Opera
Shakespeare Unlimited: Episode 191 A new opera version of Hamlet is onstage at New York’s Metropolitan Opera through June 9. Composer Brett Dean and librettist Matthew Jocelyn talk with host Barbara Bogaev about adapting the texts of the earliest editions…
Venus and Adonis: The classical myth that inspired Shakespeare's epic poem and John Blow's 17th-century opera
What many consider to be the earliest known English opera shares its mythological subject with Shakespeare’s most popular published work during his lifetime: the epic poem Venus and Adonis. Here we see great artists from different centuries using different art…
Shakespeare and opera: Jealousy and tragedy in Verdi's Otello
Leah Crocetto (Desdemona) and Russell Thomas (Otello) in WNO’s Otello. Photo by Scott Suchman. I find it fascinating that Verdi’s last two operas were both inspired by Shakespeare: Otello (1887) and Falstaff (1893), yet they are very different in story,…
Verdi's Macbeth: "The opera without a love affair!"
“L’opera senza amore!” That was the Italians’ reaction to Verdi’s Macbeth when it premiered in Florence in 1847. Despite its immediate success and subsequent popularity, an opera that involved no great love affair struck audiences as an oddity.
Shakespeare and Opera, with Colleen Fay
It’s not easy to turn a Shakespeare play into an opera, says Colleen Fay. Too many words, too many characters, and too many plots. But sometimes, when it all comes together, a great opera can bring the essence of Shakespeare’s stories sharply into focus.
Charles Gounod: The tragedy of Romeo and Juliet in four beautiful duets
Charles Gounod’s 19th-century opera “Roméo et Juliette” is a love story of heartbreaking tragedy, punctuated by four masterful duets. Matthew Shilvock of San Francisco Opera explains why the work is such a masterpiece.
A feast of Falstaff: Sir John in opera
There’s no other character from Shakespeare who has charmed the imaginations of opera composers and librettists more than Sir John Falstaff.
Shakespeare and opera: Verdi, Rossini, and other composers inspired by the plays
Shakespeare and opera is a winning combination, with the plays providing compelling dramatic material and a ‘name’ that would help sell tickets.