So as my local track-count closes near 30,000 songs I realized I’ve never really “gotten” opera, never really gave it a chance. But now that the equipment is there, I was wondering if someone has any good live-performances to recommend to someone looking to cut their teeth on the genre?
Anything that truly stands above the rest, kinda like the Hans Zimmer’s Live In Prague-of-opera?
I’d say Rossini’s Barber of Seville. It has some of the most famous arias, and you’ll probably recognize a bunch of the melodies.
Verdi is tough to beat. La Traviata and Rigoletto are both reasonable points of entry.
Sometimes it can be nice to start with an orchestral suite based on the opera so you can get familiar with the basic themes first.