Opera on video (updated Dec/2021)

As this blog occasionally talks about opera, it has to be said that it talks about opera on video, which of course is not the same as live in the theater, but it is just a different way of delivering the opera genre to the masses.

Operas on video discs (DVD and BluRay)  are widely available.  Live performances are also offered in movie theaters by several of the top opera houses, like the Metropolitan Opera of New York, and the Royal Opera of London.



Online

Several large opera houses offer also high quality video of their performances on line, usually by paid subscription.

(Follow me in Twitter @DomingoMC to get occasional notices of free available opera video productions.)

OperaVision

A very good and free outlet for opera in the Internet is OperaVision, a project supported by the European Union. As of December 2021, there are twenty-nine opera houses participating in the project.

Please note that their excellent offerings  are made available in YouTube for a limited number of months after their live performances.

Website: https://operavision.eu/

Medici.TV

Medici.TV is a very comprehensive collection of high-quality video music concerts, opera, and ballet; it also has documentaries and a very valuable section of master classes by well-known musicians. It requires that you register with a valid e-mail address. At no charge, you can watch master classes, and a few concerts and operas that are transmitted live and then stay in replay for a limited number of weeks.  (Access to the full catalog requires a monthly or an annual paid subscription.)

Website: https://www.medici.tv/

France TV

France TV's video repository has a large selection of operas and classical concerts; access is free. Some offerings are not available worldwide.

Website: https://www.france.tv/spectacles-et-culture/opera-et-musique-classique/



Commercial and other on-line services

There is a limited but good supply of operas in on-demand services like Netflix and Amazon Prime.  Youtube also has a large number of operas, many of them in high-quality video and sound, and with subtitles.

Opera on video is an unofficial clearinghouse, consisting of a searchable and very large collection of links to operas available in the Internet. 







Domingo Martínez Castilla
Twitter: @DomingoMC