Feature: FREE ONLINE OPERA AND SONG MAY 15-22 on Home Computer Screens

Los Angeles Opera always has interesting items online that help opera lovers keep up with their favorite art. Since the cancellation of Claude Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande, Music Director James Conlon has written a blog telling readers why it needs to be played and heard by audiences everywhere. The blog also gives us a clip from David McVicar's production at Scottish Opera. Theirs is the production that was to come to us in LA.

https://www.laopera.org/discover/blog/james-conlon-on-pelleas-et-melisande/

https://www.laopera.org/discover/laoathome/living-room-recitals/

https://www.laopera.org/discover/laoathome/living-room-recitals/lucas-meachem/

Baritone Lucas Meachem sings an LA Living Room Recital with pianist Irina Meachem. Their program includes: Copeland's At the River and Boatman's Dance, Schumann's Ich Grolle Nicht, (I don't hold a grudge) and Stille Tränen (Silent Tears), Schubert's An Die Musik, (To Music), Pierrot's aria "Mein Sehnen, mein Wähnen" ("My yearning, my delusion"), from Korngold's Die Tote Stadt, as well as Rogers' Soliliquy and "You'll Never Walk Alone" from Carousel.

Readers might like to know that the Los Angeles Opera Costume Shop has been busy all month making masks for the community. Supervisors mail patterns and cloth to the address of each stitcher who works at home. All together, the group turns out up to 1500 masks per week for organizations that need them.

From Los Angeles we travel vicariously to New York where there is a different work presented each night by the Metropolitan Opera. Here's the line-up:

https://www.metopera.org/user-information/nightly-met-opera-streams/

Friday, May 15, Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor from 1982-Sutherland, Kraus, Elvira, Plishka; Bonynge; Wallmann;

Saturday, May 16, Verdi's Rigoletto from 2013-Damrau, Beczała, Lučić; Mariotti; Mayer.

Sunday, May 17, Verdi's Nabucco from 2017-Monastyrska, Barton, Thomas, Domingo, Belosselski; Levine; Moshinsky;

Monday, May 18, Mozart's Idomeneo from 2017-Sierra, Heever, Coote, Polenzani; Levine; Ponnelle;

Tuesday, May 19, Wagner's Lohengrin from 1986-Marton, Rysanek, Hofmann, Macurdy; Levine; Everding;

Wednesday, May 20, Verdi's Un Ballo in Maschera from 2012-Radvanovsky, Kim, Blythe, Álvarez, Hvorostovsky; Luisi; Alden;

Thursday, May 21, Puccini's Turandot from 2019-Goerke, Buratto, Eyvazov, Morris; Nézet-Séguin; Zeffirelli;

Friday, May 22, Mozart's Don Giovanni from 1978-Sutherland, Morris, Bacquier; Bonynge; Graf/Taverna.

Next, we fly across the pond to Brussels, Belgium, where the 1100-seat 19th century main opera house is called La Monnaie. It means the mint, a place that makes coins, but I suggest saluting it with a dash or two of crème de menthe over chocolate ice cream.

https://www.lamonnaie.be/en/sections/388-mm-channel

La Monnaie offers several selections . I chose Verdi's Macbeth.

https://www.lamonnaie.be/en/streaming/1697-macbeth#

Conductor Paolo Carignani leads the orchestra in Olivier Fredj's modern production of Macbeth. The cast includes: Scott Hendricks in the title role, Béatrice Uria Monzon as Lady Macbeth and Andrew Richards as Macduff.

Let's sample the Dresden Semperoper's weekend offering for May 15-17: Richard Wagner's Lohengrin. Conducted by Christian Thielemann and directed by Christine Mielitz, the cast includes: Anna Netrebko, Piotr Beczała, Tomasz Konieczny, and Evelyn Herlitzius. For May 22-24, the opera will be Verdi's Otello conducted by Christian Thielemann and directed by Vincent Boussard.

https://www.semperoper.de/en/.

Would you like to try some English Trifle as our magic carpet floats peacefully above the rough seas of the English Channel and glides into London? A traditional trifle is made with sponge cake, custard, jelly, whipped cream, and berries, but substitutions and omissions are often allowed. If you like, you can even pour a bit of sherry over the top. At Covent Garden the Royal Opera offers a sweet and poignant rendition of Verdi's La Traviata conducted by Antonio Pappano, and staged by Richard Eyre. Their cast includes: Renée Fleming, Joseph Calleja, and Thomas Hampson.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wiGeh2c8LI&t=858s

Now let's take a virtual trip into the English countryside. Garsington Opera is a summer festival held in Wormsley Park, Buckinghamshire, the home of the Getty family. The opera is performed in a 600-seat fabric temporary building that is reconstructed each year. For virtual visitors they offer Bedrich Smetana's The Bartered Bride conducted by Jan Van Steen and directed by Paul Curran. The cast includes Natalie Romaniw, Brendan Gunnel and Joshua Bloom.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBHSzJoDNC4

From England, we're off to Posnan, Poland, for authentic pierogies (potato-and-cheese-stuffed dumplings). After a filling meal, we are ready to watch The National Theatre's energetic online performance of Moniusko's tuneful opera, Halka.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRs5_59ggcE

Next week I want to visit some of the opera companies we listed in April to see what they will be offering for June.