Washington National Opera Insights

Enjoy an hour-long preview of musical highlights from Washington National Opera’s new production.

Members of the Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program perform musical highlights from WNO’s forthcoming productions of Puccini’s Manon Lescaut and Bellini’s Norma.

Enjoy an hour-long free preview of musical highlights from the upcoming WNO mainstage production by members of the Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program.

Enjoy an hour-long free preview of musical highlights from the upcoming WNO mainstage production by members of the Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program.

Enjoy a preview of musical highlights from Washington National Opera’s new production of Verdi’s Nabucco (D.C. Premiere) in addition to Massenet’s Werther, featuring members of the Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program.

WNO presents an hour-long preview of musical highlights from Mozart’s Così, featuring members of the Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program. Part of The Music of Budapest, Prague, and Vienna.

Enjoy a discussion and excerpts from Puccini’s Turandot, in which suitor Calaf risks certain death answering three impossible riddles in the quest for the hand of Princess Turandot.

Enjoy a discussion and excerpts from Wagner’s epic opera Siegfried, in which Wotan’s prophecy of a hero who forges a mighty sword and slays the dragon Fafner comes to pass.

WNO Insight Lecture Series presents Benjamin Britten’s classic tale of murder, suspicion, and oppression as a village mob goes on a manhunt for vengeance.

Enjoy a discussion about and excerpts from Donizetti’s tale of vengeance.

Enjoy a discussion about and excerpts from Bizet’s passionate and seductive masterpiece Carmen.

A double lecture on Verdi's La Traviata, a story of love and loss, and Bizet's The Pearl Fishers, centered on a priestess’s prayers of protection.

Enjoy discussion and excerpts from Richard Strauss’s Elektra, the tale of a young woman who will stop at nothing to avenge her father’s death.

Enjoy discussion and excerpts from Handel’s rarely performed work Tamerlano. The opera is the tale of the Tatar conqueror, whose enslavement of the Ottoman emperor, Bajazet, and fluctuating marital intentions lead to conspiracy and suicide.

WNO Insight Lecture Series presents Verdi’s Rigoletto, the story of the Duke of Mantua's jaded jester whose beloved daughter, Gilda, is abducted.

WNO Insight Lecture Series presents Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman in which misfortune, greed, and fidelity collide in this storm-battered tale of one man’s quest for life-saving love.

The WNO Insights Lecture Series presents William Bolcom’s opera based on Arthur Miller’s classic A View from the Bridge, which follows the story of a longshoreman who struggles in 1950s America.

WNO Insights Lecture Series presents Mozart’s Don Giovanni, a tragicomedy about the famous womanizer who is given one last chance to repent his philandering ways.

The Washington National Opera Insight Lecture Series presents Puccini’s classic La Bohème, following the stories of a circle of young artists who long for a deeper connection to society.

The WNO discusses and performs excerpts from Verdi’s dramatic opera based on Shakespeare’s classic tale of power, greed, and revenge. Part of Shakespeare in Washington.

The WNO discusses and performs excerpts from Jenufa, Janácek’s Czech masterpiece that is a drama of betrayal and revenge.

The WNO presents discussion and excerpts from La Fille du Regiment, Gaetano Donizetti’s tale of Marie—an orphaned army brat and the regiment’s lovable mascot—and her ardent lover, who is more than her match. The WNO offers discussion and excerpts from this work.

The second of the four operas that make up Richard Wagner’s monumental Ring cycle, Die Walküre contains some of the composer's most brilliant moments, including the "Ride of the Valkyries" and the "Magic Fire Music." The WNO offers discussion and excerpts from this work.

Members of the Washington National Opera discuss and perform excerpts from Puccini’s classic opera. Called both a tender love story and a commentary on imperialism, Madama Butterfly tells the story of Lieutenant B.F. Pinkerton and Cio-Cio-San, whose name means “butterfly.”

The WNO Insight Lecture Series discusses and performs excerpts from Nicholas Maw’s Sophie’s Choice, based William Styron’s heart-wrenching novel. The opera is about a Polish immigrant and former prisoner in Auschwitz who now lives in post–World War II Brooklyn with her two lovers, Nathan and Stingo.

The WNO Insight Lecture Series discusses and performs excerpts from two works: Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle, a dark tale about a woman on the verge of discovering her husband’s terrifying secret, and Puccini’s only comic opera, Gianni Schicchi, which features farce, fraud, and a deathbed scene played for laughs.

The WNO Insight Lecture Series presents excerpts and discussion about the comic opera L’Italiana in Algeri, by Gioacchino Rossini. The Turkish Bey Mustafà, bored with his submissive harem, wants an Italian girl and orders the Captain of the Corsairs to find one.

The WNO Insight Lecture Series presents excerpts and discussion about Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito. Vitellia, daughter of the deposed Emperor Vitellio, wants the current ruler assassinated because he does not return her love. Instead, he has chosen as consort Berenice, daughter of the King of Judea.

The WNO Insight Lecture Series presents excerpts and discussion about Gaetano Donizetti and Felice Romani’s L’Elisir d’Amore (“The Elixir of Love”), which follows the story of Nemorino, who is head-over-heels in love with the beautiful Adina.

The WNO Insight Lecture Series presents excerpts and discussion about the first of the four operas comprising Richard Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen.

Enjoy a discussion and excerpts from the WNO’s production of George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess. The story follows disabled beggar Porgy’s love for the beautiful but troubled Bess.

Enjoy a discussion and excerpts from three different operas as part of the Washington National Opera’s production Trilogy: Domingo and Guests in Three Acts, which features Act II of Fedora, Act IV of Otello, and Act III of The Merry Widow.

Discover the history behind French oppression over Sicily through a discussion about Giuseppe Verdi’s I Vespri Siciliani, the heroic tale of revolutionaries planning to rebel.

WNO Insights Lecture Series presents Saint-Saëns’ epic masterpiece, Samson et Dalila.

WNO Insights Lecture Series presents Puccini’s Tosca, the story of Baron Scarpia who, driven by politics and passion, spins a web of deceit that puts Cavaradossi in his power and Tosca at his mercy.

WNO Insights Lecture Series presents Mozart's The Magic Flute, an operatic fairy tale for all ages.

WNO Insights Lecture Series presents Tchaikovsky's The Maid of Orleans about Joan of Arc, a passionate crusader who finds love in the arms of an enemy.

WNO Insight Lecture Series presents Democracy: An American Comedy, the Washington National Opera’s first commissioned work of the new millennium, which offers a contemporary look at an age-old dilemma—how can love and power coexist.

WNO Insight Lecture Series presents the Spanish zarzuela, Luisa Fernanda: Set in the revolutionary atmosphere of mid-19th century Spain, Luisa Fernanda must choose between her sense of duty and her heart’s true calling.

WNO Insight Lecture Series presents Giuseppe Verdi’s Il Trovatore, the explosive tale of war, love, and madness. Seeking revenge for her mother’s death at the stake, the gypsy Azucena kidnaps a child, but makes a fateful mistake. Years later, unaware that they are long-lost brothers, the Count di Luna and Manrico, the rebel troubadour whom Azucena has raised as her own son, meet as political archenemies and rivals for the love of Leonora.

WNO Insight Lecture Series presents Andrea Chénier, Umberto Giordano’s ironic take on the French Revolution, with the idealistic young poet Chénier, the aristocratic Maddalena and the former servant Carlo Gérard.

WNO Insight Lecture Series presents Benjamin Britten’s masterpiece Billy Budd, adapted from the Herman Melville story of the conflict between justice and duty on the mutinous H.M.S. Indomitable.

Washington National Opera Insight Lecture Series offers musical illustrations and excerpts from Andre Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire.

Washington National Opera Insight Lecture Series offers musical illustrations and excerpts from Verdi’s La Traviata, the story of Violetta, a consumptive courtesan who falls in love with Alfredo.

Washington National Opera Insight Lecture Series offers musical illustrations and excerpts from Manon Lescaut, Puccini’s first important operatic success.

Washington National Opera Insight Lecture Series offers musical illustrations and excerpts from Gioachino Rossini’s La Cenerentola, the story of Cenerentola or “Cinderella.”

The Washington Opera Insight Lecture Series offers musical illustrations and excerpts from Wagner’s Die Walküre, the second part of the epic Ring cycle, in which the desires of mortals, giants, heroes, and gods collide to disastrous ends.

The Washington Opera Insight Lecture Series offers musical illustrations and excerpts from Norma, by Vincenzo Bellini, the bel canto drama about a druid high priestess during the era of Roman occupation.

The Washington Opera Insight Series: This lecture/performance series introduces audiences to the operas performed by The Washington Opera in 2003-2004. Join Michelle Krisel and artists from The Washington Opera's Young Artist Program of the Americas to experience Johann Strauss' Die Fledermaus.