Sunday Night at the Opera

Sunday nights, take a trip to the opera house, without leaving the comfort of your own house. Grab a bowl of popcorn and settle in, as your host Chris Voss brings you a different fantastic opera recording each week.

"Sunday Night at the Opera" is no longer on air. This is a program archive. For the current WCRB schedule, click here.

Beethoven's "Leonore:" The Original Masterpiece

By • Aug 27, 2017
Composer Ludwig van Beethoven
Wikimedia Commons

Beethoven only wrote one opera, "Fidelio..." or so the story goes. The full story behind Beethoven's opera is more complex. This week on Sunday Night at the Opera, join Chris Voss for that story, and the opera that became "Fidelio" - the original Beethoven opera masterpiece, "Leonore."

A Musical Novel: Charpentier's "Louise"

Baritone José Van Dam
Nomi Baumgarti

The great José Van Dam joins an outstanding cast - including Beverly Sills and Nicolai Gedda - in the first opera of the 20th century to be featured at Paris's famed Opéra-Comique: Gustave Charpentier's "Louise."

Thomas Hampson in Rossini's "The Barber of Seville"

Baritone Thomas Hampson
Dario Acosta

This week on Sunday Night at the Opera, we feature the great baritone Thomas Hampson in Rossini's comic masterpiece, "The Barber of Seville."

Mozart's "La Clemenza di Tito"

By • Jul 31, 2017
Marco Borggreve

The legendary clemency of the Roman Emperor Titus gets a spectacular operatic treatment as Mark Padmore joins René Jacobs for Mozart's final opera, La Clemenza di Tito.

Double Bill: Threepenny Opera & Pagliacci

Kurt Weill
courtesy Milken Archives

This week, two operas: Kurt Weill's satirical "opera for beggars," The Threepenny Opera, and Leoncavallo's dramatic sad-clown tale, Pagliacci​.

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