Anna Paquin cries at the opera to the Barcarolle from Tales of Hoffmann (Renée Fleming and Susan Graham)
One of the most striking uses of opera in television appears in HBO’s The Leftovers.
I’m cheating by choosing TV over a movie, but I can’t not pick the Hamlet episode of Gilligan’s Island.
It’s a total fraud, but I have always loved Maytime‘s “Csaritza” a fake “MGM” opera based on themes from Tchaikovsky‘s 5th symphony.
A brutal, chilling, gory final scene leading to a triumphant and goose bumps inducing final moments.
“Ebben, ne andro lontana” sung by Wihelmenia Wiggins Fernandez in Diva is a gorgeous woman in a beautiful dress singing a wonderful area in a legitimate concert venue. Great singing in my favorite French film.
Watching Fitzcarraldo at a very young age obviously turned me into a baby opera queen.
Max Ophuls, one of the greatest film directors, made masterpieces in French, German, English and Italian, as well as an amusing comedy in Dutch; he also clearly loved opera.
The terzettino from Così fan tutte makes an unexpected and unforgettable appearance in John Schlesinger‘s 1971 Sunday Bloody Sunday.
As opera and operetta “had a moment” in major Hollywood motion pictures starring the likes of Lawrence Tibbett, Jeannette MacDonald, and Nelson Eddy during the Great Depression, it made perfect sense that a canny showman like Mae West would want a piece of the action.
Visconti’s masterpiece and one of the great filmed sequences of opera.
After seeing The Fifth Element I wanted to see Inva Mula live, which I did (Nanetta, two years after the movie) and she certainly did not disappoint!
One of the most moving scenes in film, accompanied by Callas‘s iconic singing.
Sofia Coppola‘s cult classic Marie Antoinette is best known for blending a whimsically baroque visuals with a post-punk score.
As a beginning freshman in college at CSU Long Beach, I was cast in my first opera – the chorus for L’Elisir d’amore ( performed in English as “The Elixir of Love”).
This early performance of Anna Bolena’s final scene is just one of the most poised and magical pieces of bel canto singing I’ve ever heard. It must have been extraordinary to hear her at the outset of her career.
Pavarotti in his prime – He makes this so-familiar aria new and glowing.
Sigh! I think most of you realized I would pick this one. Got that “Donizetti and Bellini Heroines” from the Record Club of America when I was in my teens and playing it to death.
This to me is everything that makes Donizetti the great dramatist of the bel canto era.
The brave and beautiful Maartje Offers – best known from the potted Ring – lends her charismatic voice to Donizetti here.
Maybe this is an obvious choice, but this is the sort of performance that every opera queen dreams of attending: an unknown work being performed by a cast of largely unknown singers.
Assuming someone else will pick Leyla Gencer‘s legendary “Vil bastarda”, I’ll go with another clip featuring robust audience participation.
The Greatest Thing Ever (AKA Lisette Oropesa) in a stunning mad scene from Lucia di Lammermoor with the excellent Artur Rucinski and Roberto Tagliavini in an extremely effective production by David Alden at the Teatro Real in Madrid.
For me, Donizetti’s operas are all about the mad scenes.
Tell us: What was the best of 2025?
Parterre Box concludes the thrilling first year of Talk of the Town by inviting your lightning rod opinions on several more categories of operatic argumentation.
