Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

In this week’s OCS, Houston Public Media's St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly discuss Arabella, the last of Strauss' six collaborations with librettist Hugo von Hofmannsthal. Listen to the Met Opera broadcast of Arabella Saturday at noon on Houston Public Media Classical 91.7. Set in mid-19th-century Vienna, Arabella is the story of two sisters (or a sister and brother!) and how a fortuneteller's predictions play out for their impoverished family.

Arabella is the story of the loves of two sisters (one of whom is a boy!). It’s this Saturday's noon Met Opera broadcast. Look for the complete Opera Cheat Sheet Friday on houstonpublicmedia.org, and on SoundCloud and iTunes.

This weekend is a big one for Houston Grand Opera; the company is debuting its first ever Ring Cycle!  Over the course of four seasons, beginning this year, HGO will present the four epic operas that make up Richard Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung), one work each year. Written over the course of twenty-six years, these operas are loosely based on characters from Norse and Germanic legend. The four works,... Read More

In this Opera Cheat Sheet, Houston Public Media’s Arts & Culture Director, St.John Flynn and opera expert Eric Skelly give a quick overview of Umberto Giordano’s verismo masterpiece, Andrea Chénier. Set against the backdrop of the French Revolution, it’s the story of the ill-fated love between the poet Chénier and Maddalena, daughter of an aristocratic family attacked by the revolutionaries. You can hear the Met Opera broadcast of Andrea Chénier Saturday at noon on Houston... Read More

Hear a preview for this week's Opera Cheat Sheet, a quick, fun intro to Umberto Giordano's Andrea Chénier which is this Saturday's noon Met Opera broadcast. Look for the complete OCS Friday on houstonpublicmedia.org.

In this week’s Opera Cheat Sheet, Houston Public Media’s Arts & Culture director, St.John Flynn, and opera expert Eric Skelly, discuss Puccini’s greatest opera, La Bohème, the story of the tragic love between the young seamstress, Mimi, and the poet Rodolfo, set among the bohemian surroundings of the Latin Quarter in 19th-century Paris. You can hear the Metropolitan Opera's production of La Bohème Saturday at noon on Classical 91.7 and online at classical917.org.

In this week’s OCS, Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric discuss Vincenzo Bellini’s bel canto masterpiece, La Sonnambula. Set in a Swiss village in the early nineteenth century, it’s the story of Amina whose habit of sleepwalking has scared the villagers, who believe there’s a phantom haunting their hamlet, and risks destroying her relationship with her fiancé Elvino. The Metropolitan Opera’s production of La Sonnambula airs Saturday, March 29th, at noon on Houston Public... Read More

In this week’s OCS, Houston Public Media’s Arts & Culture Director St.John Flynn, and opera expert, Eric Skelley, discuss Massenet's Werther. Based on the revolutionary and iconic novel by Goethe, Werther tells the story of the sensitive poet Werther and the lovely Charlotte who meet and fall madly in love. But Werther's rapture soon dissolves into suicidal desolation when Charlotte follows the wishes of her dying mother and marries another man. The Metropolitan Opera’s new... Read More

In this week’s Opera Cheat Sheet, Classical 91.7’s program director, St.John Flynn, and opera expert Eric Skelly, discuss Borodin’s Prince Igor, a tale of love, war and national pride based on a medieval epic poem.  Prince Igor and his son go off to fight the nomadic Polovtsi but are captured by the mighty Khan Konchak. You can hear the Met Opera performance of Prince Igor Saturday at noon here on Houston Public Media Classical 91.7, online... Read More

In this week’s Opera Cheat Sheet, Classical 91.7’s program director, St.John Flynn, and opera expert Eric Skelly, discuss R. Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier, a comedy that harkens back to Vienna during the reign of the Empress Maria Theresa, and to the comic operas of Mozart.  The Marschallin laments that she must give up her young lover, Octavian, who has fallen in love with Sophie, a girl his own age, who is betrothed to the oafish buffoon... Read More

In this week’s Opera Cheat Sheet, Classical 91.7’s program director, St.John Flynn, and opera expert Eric Skelly, discuss Strauss’ Die Frau ohne Schatten, a magical story of a half-mortal Empress who must find a shadow to avoid having to leave her husband and her life on earth to return to the spirit world.  You can hear the Met Opera performance of Die Frau ohne Schatten Saturday at noon here on Classical 91.7 and online at... Read More

In this week’s Opera Cheat Sheet, Classical 91.7’s program director, St.John Flynn, and opera expert Eric Skelly, discuss Dvo?ák’s 1901 fairy tale drama Rusalka.  The beautiful water nymph Rusalka falls in love with a prince and is prepared to give up her life in order to gain a human soul and feel the emotion of love.  You can hear the Met Opera performance of Rusalka Saturday at noon here on Classical 91.7 and online at... Read More

In this week’s Opera Cheat Sheet, Classical 91.7’s program director, St.John Flynn, and opera expert Eric Skelly, discuss Puccini’s 1904 drama Madama Butterfly.  Based on the play “Madame Butterfly” by David Belasco, and set in Nagasaki, Japan, in the early years of the twentieth century, it’s the story of the young, trusting Japanese girl, Cio-Cio-San and her fateful love for the American naval lieutenant B. F. Pinkerton.  You can hear the Met Opera performance of... Read More

In this week’s Opera Cheat Sheet, Classical 91.7’s program director St.John Flynn and opera expert Eric Skelly discuss Donizetti’s 1832 popular (number 13 on the Operabase list of the most-performed operas worldwide in the five seasons between 2008 and 2013!) comic opera L’Elisir d’Amore, the story of Adina and Nemorino and the love they come to share thanks to a bottle of cheap wine!  You can hear the Metropolitan Opera's production of L’Elisir d’Amore Saturday... Read More

This week, Classical 91.7 program director, St.John Flynn, and opera expert, Eric Skelly, discuss Tchaikovsky’s great Eugene Onegin.  Based on the Alexander Pushkin verse novel of the same name, it’s the story of a man brought down by his selfishness and arrogance. You can hear the Met Opera broadcast of Eugene Onegin Saturday at noon on Classical 91.7 and online at classical917.org. Love our shows? Show us by donating a few bucks here: bit.ly/UQweya. Donations... Read More

This week Classical 91.7 Program Director St.John Flynn and resident opera expert Eric Skelly discuss Johann Strauss’ operetta Die Fledermaus, a paean to champagne and the enjoyment of the pleasures of the moment in 19th-century Vienna.  What happens when Gabriel von Eisenstein goes off to Prince Orlofsky's ball rather than to jail?   Die Fledermaus is this week’s Metropolitan Opera broadcast, Saturday at noon on Classical 91.7 and online at classical917.org.  

This week Classical 91.7 Program Director St.John Flynn and resident opera expert Eric Skelly discuss Mozart's beloved The Magic Flute, a Singspiel, based on Enlightenment philosophy, that can be seen as an allegory on the benefits of “enlightened absolutism.”  The dangerous Queen of the Night is pitted against Sarastro, the enlightened sovereign, who rules according to principles based on reason, wisdom, and nature, striving ultimately to make "the Earth a heavenly kingdom, and mortals like... Read More

In this week’s Opera Cheat Sheet, Classical 91.7’s program director St.John Flynn and opera expert Eric Skelly discuss Puccini’s Tosca.  Based on the play La Tosca by French playwright Victorien Sardou, this melodrama is set in Rome in June 1800, with the Kingdom of Naples's control of Rome threatened by Napoleon's invasion of Italy, and it tells a story about the intersection of love, art and politics in the life of singer Floria Tosca.  You... Read More

In this week’s Opera Cheat Sheet, Classical 91.7’s program director St.John Flynn and opera expert Eric Skelly discuss Verdi’s searing 1851 tragedy Rigoletto, the story of Gilda, the beautiful young girl sacrificed on the altar of her father’s malevolence.  You can hear the Met Opera production of Rigoletto Saturday at noon on Classical 91.7 and online at classical917.org.

This week, Classical 91.7's program director, St.John Flynn, and opera expert, Eric Skelly, discuss Wagner’s achingly beautiful Tristan und Isolde, arguably opera’s greatest love story and, at around 4 hours, probably its longest!  Thwarted love, love potions, duty, betrayal, apotheosis…it’s all here set to lush, profound music. You can hear Houston Grand Opera's production of Tristan und Isolde Saturday at noon on Classical 91.7 and online at classical917.org.