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Gluck's operatic reforms emphasized simpler, more straightforward musical forms which served to heighten the drama, especially in 'Iphigenia in Aulis.' It's the classic story of a young woman whose father summons her for a wedding, but instead offers her up as a human sacrifice.

Handel's operas are only just emerging from obscurity -- like the exiled king in Rodelinda, who fakes his own death and then makes an daring comeback in a maze of intrigue and blackmail.

The Pearl Fishers, which includes a lovely tenor/baritone duet, shows that there's more to Georges Bizet's music than 'Carmen'. This production comes from Covent Garden, where the opera hasn't been performed in 90 years.

Perhaps the ultimate bel canto classic, Bellini's masterpiece features a powerful story and one of the most challenging soprano roles in opera. This production is a rare chance to hear selections from Norma the opera performed on original instruments, by the excellent orchestra Europa Galante.

Can opera be passionate without shrieking mad scenes and overstuffed choruses? The answer is yes, and Claude Debussy's subtle, dreamy psychological thriller proves it, in a production from German Opera On Rhein.

This early opera by Francesco Cavalli revolves around a transgendered tryst involving the king of the gods. Though it's mostly about lust, there's a little true love thrown in, in this production from the Theatre des Champs Elysees in Paris.

William Bolcom's searing opera, based on a play by Arthur Miller, is a sometimes bleak yet always vivid drama set in the Italian-American community of Red Hook, Brooklyn, in the 1950s.

Hidden identities, secret bargains and dancing bears characterize this Czech comedy, in a production from the Prague National Opera.

Execution, extortion, and exploitation. No, it's not an episode of Showtime's Dexter. It's Puccini's operatic thriller Tosca, which takes a surprisingly realistic approach to the passage of dramatic time with scenes of physical and psychological torture.

Although populated with barnyard animals, the opera speaks volumes about human nature, though some of Janacek's most touching music.