Opera After Dark

This week's unknown opera is a quintessential example of the French Grand Opera style. In addition to being perhaps the only opera in which the title character doesn't sing, La Muette de Portici is credited for igniting political riots that ultimately led to the forming of the country of Belgium. Crazy, right?!

Nothing says "the world's best art form" like the title of Charles Gounod's unknown opera "La nonne sanglante" or "The Bloody Nun." Yes, the opera is about as outrageous as you might expect, but it has some beautiful orchestration. We think it might be a little more palatable to today's audience as opposed to the disgruntled opera goers in its original run in 1854.

Best known for his Faust and Romeo et Juliette, Charles Gounod almost joined the priesthood early in life, ending his composing career before it began. Luckily, he went in the completely opposite direction becoming a serial adulterer! This is of course what we will be focusing on in today's episode.

To celebrate episode number 50 (!!!) on Opera After Dark, we give you...OPERA: THE ORIGIN STORY. It all started with a group of Italian dudes(before Italy was actually country - but they all lived in Florence) in the late 1500s who had this theory that all ancient Greek dramas were sung instead of spoken... (...no really, this IS where it all begins...)

Happy Holidays from Opera After Dark! In this special episode, we are bringing you the classical pieces that always get us in the holiday spirit. And it wouldn't be the holidays without the tragic embarrassment of one of our hosts. You'll get it by the end...

And here is part two of our epic Star Wars Opera fantasy casting! Much like follow up episodes in the actual Star Wars saga, it's not nearly as good as the original, and it seems like someone was drunk during the creation. Enjoy!

We all knew this was coming, and now it is finally here! Opera After Dark is outrageously excited to present our Star Wars Opera Fantasy Castings. Yes, we have gone into a dream world where a Star Wars Opera exists, and cast all of our favorite characters with famous opera singers. Things definitely got interesting....and sloppy, but also interesting.

In this episode, we talk about Poulenc's early opera "Les mamelles de Tirésias"... which translates to... "The Breasts of Tiresias." Which, as you can imagine, is ripe for Opera After Dark commentary!

Today we bring you another unknown opera by Alfredo Catalani, a contemporary of Puccini (he would be so pissed if he heard us say that). If you don't love this opera for its odd fusion of German and Italian themes, i.e. "Giuseppe Hagenbach", there is always the favorite soprano aria that has been performed by all the greats. Enjoy!

In this episode, we deliberately diverge from the world of opera and vocal music to talk about some of the greatest instrumental music ever composed. You know, those symphonies that check all our boxes. Our orchestral jams. Along the way, you will learn so many things about us... like the music that Elspeth always requests and then sings along to after a few glasses of wine, and you will also see what happens when Kyle actually has to prepare something.