Destiny

1989 recording of the San Francisco Opera production of Mefistofele: Boito's retelling of Goethe's Faust

Director Robert Carsen and his creative team flood the stage with summer blossoms, drifts of autumn leaves, winter snows and thunderous spring storms. The cast of 140 are attired in elegant costumes inspired by late 1940s Dior. This mythical tale of a young queen, Alphise, determined to abdicate rather than contemplate an enforced marriage to a descendant of Boreas, is nothing less than highly-charged.

1995 recorded performance of Charles Gounod's Faust at the Grand Théâtre de Genève, with conductor John Nelson.

Oedipus is the son of Laius. Unknowingly, he killed his father, married his mother, and fathered four children, who are his siblings. A work by Sophocles, directed by Robert Carsen, dramaturgy by Ian Burton, translation by Francesco Morosi. The show was revived as part of the 57th season of the INDA Foundation at the Greek Theater in Syracuse.

Music Director James Levine conducts his first new Met production after a two-year absence: Robert Carsen’s hit staging of Verdi’s great human comedy. Ambrogio Maestri is an ideal Falstaff, leading an extraordinary ensemble cast of veteran and up-and-coming Met stars, including Angela Meade (Alice), Stephanie Blythe (Mistress Quickly), Franco Vasallo (Ford), and Jennifer Johnson Cano (Meg). Lisette Oropesa and Paolo Fanale are the young lovers, Nannetta and Fenton.

Opera superstar Cecilia Bartoli offers her first operatic release on DVD in 12 years, and also her first opera in English. Bartoli stars as Semele (a role usually taken by a soprano) in Handel s late opera, which features such well-known arias as Endless pleasure, endless love, Myself I shall adore, and Oh sleep, why dost though leave me? Robert Carsen s stylish modern dress production hints at parallels with the problematic relationship between the late Princess Diana and the British Royal Family. Recorded live at the Zurich Opera House in January, 2007.

Blind and wandering, Oedipus arrives in Colonus, near Athens, supported by Antigone and then also by Ismene. Everyone avoided him, but now everyone seeks him, because the city that will have his tomb will be invincible, according to the oracles. Oedipus drives everyone away and, accompanied by the Athenian king Theseus, sets off towards death. Directed by Robert Carsen.

In his new production, Robert Carsen places the action at the end of the Habsburg Empire, underscoring the opera’s subtext of class and conflict against a rich backdrop of gilt and red damask

A dream cast assembles for Strauss’s grand Viennese comedy. Soprano Lise Davidsen is the aging Marschallin, opposite mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard as her lover Octavian and soprano Erin Morley as Sophie, the beautiful younger woman who steals his heart. Bass Günther Groissböck returns as the churlish Baron Ochs, and baritone Markus Brück is Sophie’s wealthy father, Faninal. Maestro Simone Young takes the Met podium to oversee Robert Carsen’s fin-de-siècle staging.

A production of Lully's 1686 tragédie lyrique masterpiece directed by William Christie at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées from 2008.

Baritone Michael Volle stars as the caddish knight Falstaff, gleefully tormented by a trio of clever women who deliver his comeuppance, in Verdi’s glorious Shakespearean comedy. Maestro Daniele Rustioni takes the podium to oversee a brilliant ensemble cast that features sopranos Hera Hyesang Park and Ailyn Pérez, mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnson Cano, contralto Marie-Nicole Lemieux, tenor Bogdan Volkov, and baritone Christopher Maltman.

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.

Opera by George Frideric Handel filmed on March 29, 2016 at the Theater in Vienna, Austria.

The story of the star crossed love between Manon Lescaut and Des Grieux.