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Un Ballo in Maschera

Selections From Un Ballo In Maschera

September 9, 2025

Verdi’s A Masked Ball has been both popular and in the standard operatic repertory since its premiere in 1859. The opera is virtually perfect; its composer was at the peak of his formidable powers. It has everything: great arias for high soprano, dramatic soprano, contralto, tenor, baritone, and wonderful ensemble pieces. Though I’ve written about […]

Tutto Verdi: Un Ballo in Maschera

June 26, 2016

Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera received a splendid run in October 2011 at Parma’s Teatro Regio. This DVD was taken from the performances listed below. I can’t help wondering why it took six shows to put the recording together, but the result is fine. Much of the credit for the success of this production belongs […]

Un Ballo in Maschera in Munich

March 20, 2016

The Bavarian State Opera is streaming its new production of Verdi’s Un Ballo in Mashera from its website until March 27. By European standards this is a pretty tame staging. The time was moved to around 1930. The place was neither colonial Massachusetts nor Sweden, but some indeterminate place in Operaland. In general, the staging looked […]

Un Ballo in Maschera in HD

December 9, 2012

Verdi’s great opera made its first appearance on the Met’s HD telecast series Saturday December 8, 2012. Un Ballo in Maschera has been in the standard operatic repertoire ever since it’s first performance in Rome in 1859. Ballo is clearly one of Verdi’s greatest achievements. Despite not having a tune that everyone recognizes, like Rigoletto’s La donna […]

Thoughts On The Puccini Sesquicentennial

December 20, 2008

Much of the July 2008 issue of Opera News is devoted to Giacomo Puccini who was born in 1858. Anybody who loves the composer’s operas, which is anyone who has ever heard them and who is not a terminal snob, will enjoy reading the articles analyzing various components of Puccini’s amazing ability with melody and […]