This is Opera
An exploration of opera in unconventional ways attempting to attract not just existing opera fans, but also those less familiar with the art form. The host guides the viewer to the places of origin of each opera, and explores the culture, history—and modern and current trends and how they apply to opera.
- Created By
- First Aired on
Mar 08, 2015
- Popularity: 4.6358
- 6 votes
- Networks
- (ES)
- Status: Ended
Show Ended
2 seaons till Dec 27, 2015
Last episode: Opera Is Life
Seasons & episodes
Total 2 seasons, 30 episodes
Season 1
Aired
Episode 1Carmen50 min
In the first episode, Ramón Gener talks of the cultural setting of "Carmen" by Georges Bizet-the most frequently staged and the most popular French opera of all time. In relation to the opera, filming takes place in locations such as Seville and Paris where the viewer is "transported" back to 1875 at Paris's National Theatre for Comic Opera, and the scandal it caused at the time.
Episode 2Turandot50 min
In this episode which is based out of two European cities, Milan and Munich, Gener looks into the opera of Turandot- a love story set in Imperial China. The host then explores the idea of how this opera represents much more than a simple love story. It's the story of an absolute success, but also a failure.
Episode 3The Barber of Seville50 min
"The Barber of Seville" is the quintessential comic opera and irrefutable proof that opera is not just drama and tragedy, but also pure entertainment. In this episode, Ramón Gener explains the essential "ingredients" in Rossini's music: staccato, crescendo, patter song, the fifth interval and coloratura.
Episode 4La Bohème50 min
At the height of his career, Puccini wrote this song to life, friendship and love. To illustrate it, Gener travels to bohemian Paris and enters some of its most characteristic locales such as the century-old book shop Shakespeare & Co. and Au Lapin Agile Cabaret, along with visiting a rehearsal of La Bohème at the Paris Opera House.
Episode 5Parsifal50 min
"Parsifal" was Richard Wagner's last opera. Its story centers on the search for the Holy Grail, although it's actually a spiritual voyage into the protagonist. To learn more about the Holy Grail, Gener travels to three different locations: Montségur, Valencia, and Montserrat Monastery.
