'El Niño' by John Adams: The Nativity in Verse and Music

John Adams, Pulitzer Prize-winner and arguably America's best-known living composer, describes El Niño as, “my way of trying to understand what is meant by a miracle."This sweeping setting of the Christmas story is both freshly contemporary and filled with ancient traditions, including medieval carolers, Latin American poets, and an ethereal children's chorus. As the New York Times put it, "El Niño bears so many gifts that the senses stagger under the load."

Grand Opera's Ultimate Spectacle: 'La Juive'

Halévy's masterpiece broke the bank in 19th-century Paris

A Subtle Sequel: Rossini's 'The Turk in Italy'

Rossini takes his own hit comedy and turns it inside out

Treacherous Beauty, in Bellini's 'Norma'

A 'bel canto' classic boasting one of opera's most challenging roles

A Classic Updated: Enescu's All-Embracing 'Oedipe'

An atmospheric Romanian masterpiece, 20 years in the making

Verdi's 'Il Trovatore': Profound or Preposterous?

A potboiler that's also a one-opera hit parade

Catching an International Wave: Rossini's 'The Lady of the Lake'

Italian opera gets a taste of the Scottish highlands

A Baroque Variety Hour: Rameau's 'Les Indes Galantes'

A special effects blockbuster from 18th-century France

In 'Tosca,' Puccini Presents the Villain's Villain

Exploitation, extortion and execution, in an opera of enduring beauty

Piety, Passion and Madness, in 'I Puritani'

Bellini gives French audiences a lesson in Italian lyricism

Epic Introduction: Wagner's 'Das Rheingold'

Wagner's concise drama gets his immense Ring off to a flying start

Rossini's 'Semiramide,' a Doting Mother in a Dire Situation

A Sprawling Opera with a Highly Personal Theme

Romantic Reversal: Mozart's 'Così fan tutte'

In this queasy comedy, love is a less than splendored thing

Bitter Immortality, in Janacek's 'Makropulos Case'

In this cautionary tale, a long life brings few rewards

Rescued from Obscurity: Franco Faccio's Intriguing 'Hamlet'

An Italian take on Shakespeare, from the era of Verdi