WCPE offers 2 wonderful opportunities each week to hear the best in opera... Thursday nights at 7pm, and Saturday afternoons at 1:30 (when the Met is in season.)

The WCPE Opera House has been a regular Thursday night feature at WCPE since April of 1980. On Saturday afternoons during the Met season, tune in for live broadcasts from the Metropolitan Opera.

WCPE Opera House Schedule for Spring 2008:

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3/6 —Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro The Right of Kings draws a battle line between royalty and servant in one of Mozart’s most beloved operas. Carol Vaness, Nuccia Focile, Suzanne Mentzer Alistair Miles and Alessandro Corbelli star in this ensemble cast on the Telarc label.

3/13 — Hegge’s Dead Man Walking This contemporary operatic adaptation of Sister Helen Prejean’s novel and movie comes to stunning realization in this 2000 world premiere live recording from the San Francisco Opera on the Erato label. Susan Graham, Frederica von Stade and John Packard star.

3/20 — Puccini’s Madama Butterfly East meets West in this exotic, heart-rending love story. Mirella Freni and Placido Domingo star.

3/27 — Pledge Drive Opera Highlights Hear selections from our grand opera Thank-You gift DVD set: Puccini’s Turandot, Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde and Verdi’s Otello.

4/3 — Pledge Drive Opera Highlights We’ll sample selections from an EMI Classics thankyou gift CD set: Opera Collection I, a treasuretrove of arias. Don’t miss the best of the best!

4/10 —Puccini’s Tosca Take the leap with a woman dedicated to life, art and love midst the stage of political turmoil that dominates her world. The cast features Mirella Freni and Placido Domingo on the Deutsche Grammophon label.

4/17 — Poulenc’s Le Voix Humaine & Les Mamelles de Tiresias Two one-acts double the operatic pleasure. The first portrays a nightmarish phone call, and the second offers a raucous tribute to motherhood. Barbara Bonney and Julia Migenes star on the Philips label.

4/24 — Mascagni/Leoncavallo L’amico Fritz/ I Pagliacci A new twist on two treasured one act operas. Luciano Pavarotti and Mirella Freni star in this “tour de force” double bill on EMI and London recordings.

5/1 — Donizetti’s Anna Bolena Al Ruocchio returns to the airwaves with this archival recording from the London Records label. The cast features Dame Joan Sutherland, Samuel Ramey, Jerry Hadley and Suzanne Mentzer.

5/8 — Verdi’s La Traviata The one who has strayed is in fact the shining substance of nobility as love wrestles with family honor to its tragic and consumptive end. Ileana Cotrubas, Placido Domingo and Sherrill Milnes star on this Deutsche Grammophon recording.

5/15 — Monteverdi L’incoronazione di Poppea Fortune and Virtue are silenced by Love in this early Baroque drama of political power and love. Baroque specialist Richard Hickox leads a cast including Arleen Auger, Della Jones, Sarah Leonard and Gregory Reinhart on the Musical Heritage Society label.

5/22 — Donizetti’s Lucia Di Lammermoor You’ll go mad over this recording of a Bel Canto classic featuring Beverly Sills, Carlo Bergonzi, Pietro Cappucilli and Justino Diaz on this Westminster Legacy series recording.

5/29 — Rossini’s L’Italiana in Algeri Once again we return to the archival programs of Al Ruocchio for this harem scarem romp through Persian loveland. This Erato recording from 1981 features Samuel Ramey, Marilyn Horne and Kathleen Battle.

Find out more at the Met Opera Information Center.

Find out more about the Metropolitan Opera.

Find study guides and more at the Metropolitan Opera Guild's Learning Center.

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