Lyric Family Favorites: October 30

The spookiest weekend of the year deserves a dark, twisted opera. In this scene from Lyric’s 2018/19 production of Elektra, the title character is euphoric, splashing in the blood of her detested mother and father. Her revenge realized, she falls exhausted to the ground, breathing her last. The rubble and decay that defines the set in this production helps set the scene perfectly as this electrifying story draws to a close.

Counterbalance the macabre with an upbeat podcast from composer Jake Heggie with Lyric favorite J’Nai Bridges, go behind the scenes of our new master class tapings with Sir Andrew Davis, check out next week’s opera streaming opportunities, and watch the latest episode of Breaking Down the Score.

Listen in each week for a new episode

In a new podcast, composer Jake Heggie (Dead Man Walking), speaks with great artists about the “high-wire act of life as an opera singer.” In a recent episode, mezzo-soprano and Ryan Opera Center alumna J’Nai Bridges talks about the basketball game that defined her commitment to singing, and more.

Listen louder

Behind the scenes of this special taping

In a new video series premiering later today, Lyric Music Director Sir Andrew Davis coaches members of the Ryan Opera Center Ensemble as they work through excerpts from Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro. Check out these behind-the-scenes photos, then watch the first episode before it premieres later today!

go behind the scenes

Get cozy on your couch with full-length operas

This week, enjoy Donizetti's heartbreaking Lucia di Lammermoor and Verdi's charged thriller, A Masked Ball, from San Francisco Opera, plus Pittsburgh Opera’s Così fan tutte and more in our weekly steaming guide.

Catch a stream

Part 5: Scena e Cavatina di Foresto

In this scene, a massive storm blows Foresto and a group of refugees from Aquila to the shores of Venice. In one of Maestro Mazzola’s favorite moments, the chorus—starting softly—thanks God for saving them, and builds, with the orchestra, to a fortissimo as the sun peeks over the horizon. In his first lines of the opera, Foresto worries about his fiance, Odabella, and promises to build a new city where his love and his people will be safe from Attila’s reach. With this message of hope, the Prologo comes to a close.

Tune in each week and be the first to see new episodes by subscribing to Lyric's channel on YouTube.

Life is for the living. Death is for the dead. Let life be like music. And death a note unsaid.

Langston Hughes