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Mozart: Overture to The Marriage of Figaro
Orchestra
Figaro and his bride-to-be, Susanna, will spend the opera using their wits to defend her against the attacks of their lustful master, Count Almaviva. The overture establishes the atmosphere of frantic plotting and counter-plotting that drives forward Mozart and Da Ponte’s great comedy, whose sub-title is The Crazy Day.
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Bizet: March of the Toreadors
Chorus and orchestra
At the end of the opera the beautiful, amoral gypsy Carmen will be stabbed to death by her jealous lover, Don Jose, outside the Plaza de Toros in Seville. As the tragic climax approaches, an excited crowd greets the procession of Toreros, including Carmen’s new lover, the great bullfighter Escamillo.
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Bizet: Au fond du temple saint from The Pearl Fishers
Tenor and bass
In ancient Ceylon two pearl fishers, Nadir and Zurga, remember how once they both fell in love with the beautiful priestess Leila in the golden temple of Brahma. At first this threatened their friendship, but they conquered their jealousy and can now swear again to be friends until death.
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Purcell: Dido's Lament and Final chorus from Dido and Aeneas
Soprano and chorus
Abandoned by her lover Aeneas, Dido’s last act as Queen of Carthage is to command her sister to remember her without grieving for her fate. The chorus prays for cupids to scatter roses on her tomb and keep watch over it for ever.
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Tchaikovsky: Waltz Scene from Eugene Onegin
Tenor, bass and chorus
While the provincial gentry dance to an irresistible waltz, the sophisticated Onegin is irritated to hear some old ladies gossiping that he is a drunkard and a Freemason. He takes revenge on his friend Lensky, who brought him to the ball, by flirting with Lensky’s fiancée Olga - a decision that will soon lead to tragedy.
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Dvorak: Song to the Moon from Rusalka
Soprano
The heroine of this romantic fairy-tale is the daughter of the Water Goblin, but she has fallen in love with a human prince. Here she begs the Moon to tell her where her beloved is, and reveal to the prince that she longs for him and is waiting for him in the moonlight.
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Mussorgsky: Coronation Scene from Boris Godunov
Bass and chorus
As he emerges from the great cathedral of St Basil the Blessed in his magnificent coronation robes, Boris is hailed by the people as a figure of blazing glory and power. But Boris is a haunted man: it is rumoured that he murdered the young Tsarevich in order to seize the throne, and he prays for God’s forgiveness.
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Wagner: Procession and chorale from Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg
Chorus
In a meadow outside 16th century Nuremberg the citizens have gathered for the song-contest whose winner will marry the beautiful Eva. As the Guild of Mastersingers arrive the people greet the dawn and hail their beloved Hans Sachs, the cobbler-poet who embodies the city’s traditions of poetry and music.
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Mascagni: Easter Hymn from Cavalleria Rusticana
Chorus
Sicilian villagers sing to Jesus and the Blessed Virgin as they gather for church on Easter morning, but among them is a tragic figure, Santuzza, who gave herself lovingly to Turiddu and has been abandoned by him. She feels excluded from the church, but raises her voice with the others, calling on the forgiving Lord who has risen on this day.
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Puccini: Che gelida manina (Your tiny hand is frozen) from La Boheme
Tenor
On Christmas Eve in the Latin Quarter the young poet Rodolfo has just met his frail, beautiful neighbour, Mimi, and as they search for her door key in the dark he accidentally touches her icy hand. As he warms it in his own, he tells her about his carefree life: if dreams and poems were cash, he would be a millionaire. Now love has taken the place of dreams, so will she in turn tell him all about herself?
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Puccini: O mio babbino caro (O my beloved Daddy) from Gianni Schicchi
Soprano
Lauretta loves her boyfriend Rinuccio, and longs to go and buy the wedding ring in Porta Rossa, but they will be too poor if her father, the Florentine trickster Gianni Schicchi, does not help. She will jump into the Arno from the Ponte Vecchio unless “darling Daddy” takes pity on them!
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Verdi: Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves from Nabucco
Chorus
Exiled in Babylon, the people of Israel send their thoughts flying on golden wings to the beloved homeland that they have lost but will never forget. |
