Additional Resources
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WASHINGTON NATIONAL OPERA "INSIGHTS SERIES"
About the Artist
The Opera Insights lecture series combines dynamic discussions with artists and opera experts along with musical illustrations to offer an insider’s view of the Washington National Opera season. Chosen for their unique perspective on each opera, renowned artists, historians, and writers illuminate and explain – along with the participation of artists performing in that production – some of the complexities of the WNO's productions.
Past Performances
May 13, 2009
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.
April 13, 2009
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.
March 19, 2009
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.
October 24, 2008
Enjoy a discussion about and excerpts from Donizetti’s tale of vengeance.
October 22, 2008
Enjoy a discussion about and excerpts from Bizet’s passionate and seductive masterpiece Carmen.
August 26, 2008
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.
May 8, 2008
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.
April 28, 2008
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.
March 24, 2008
WNO Insight Lecture Series presents Verdi’s Rigoletto, the story of the Duke of Mantua's jaded jester whose beloved daughter, Gilda, is abducted.
March 11, 2008
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.
October 29, 2007
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.
October 24, 2007
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.
September 4, 2007
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.
May 15, 2007
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.
May 3, 2007
The WNO discusses and performs excerpts from Jenufa, Janácek’s Czech masterpiece that is a drama of betrayal and revenge.
March 28, 2007
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.
March 26, 2007
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.
November 1, 2006
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.”
September 25, 2006
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.
September 10, 2006
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.
May 16, 2006
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.
May 9, 2006
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.
March 28, 2006
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.
March 23, 2006
The WNO Insight Lecture Series presents excerpts and discussion about the first of the four operas comprising Richard Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen.
October 28, 2005
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.
September 28, 2005
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. TRILOGY: DOMINGO AND GUESTS IN THREE ACTS
September 12, 2005
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. I VESPRI SICILIANI
May 12, 2005
WNO Insights Lecture Series presents Saint-Saëns’ epic masterpiece, Samson et Dalila.
May 3, 2005
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.
March 29, 2005
WNO Insights Lecture Series presents Mozart's The Magic Flute, an operatic fairy tale for all ages.
March 24, 2005
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.
January 25, 2005
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.
November 4, 2004
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.
October 21, 2004
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.
September 10, 2004
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.
September 7, 2004
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.
May 18, 2004
Washington National Opera Insight Lecture Series offers musical illustrations and excerpts from Andre Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire.
May 14, 2004
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.
April 13, 2004
Washington National Opera Insight Lecture Series offers musical illustrations and excerpts from Manon Lescaut, Puccini’s first important operatic success.
April 7, 2004
Washington National Opera Insight Lecture Series offers musical illustrations and excerpts from Gioachino Rossini’s La Cenerentola, the story of Cenerentola or “Cinderella.”
November 12, 2003
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.
October 14, 2003
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.
August 27, 2003
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.
