First stop: Italia

Opera Road Trip is Operavision's new two-year podcast series, a journey through the 17 countries that currently partner with OperaVision, discovering their operatic history and current relationship with the artform, and meeting along the way young talents finding their voice and seasoned professionals who have devoted their lives to the stage, discovering the diverse paths that have led them to opera and the enduring belief in its relevance, past, present, and future.

Opera Road Trip's first episode is, dutifully, dedicated to opera in Italy. We hear from Danila Grassi, a young conductor making her way in what in Italy is still a male-dominated world; from author, critic and librettist Alberto Mattioli and from the CEO of the Rome Opera house (Teatro dell'Opera di Roma) Francesco Giambrone about the current state of opera in the country of its birth, political influence and what seems to be working in the search for new audiences.

Opera Road Trip is hosted by Sebastian F. Schwarz whose curriculum as an opera manager includes positions at Theater an der Wien, Glyndebourne, Teatro Regio Torino, Festival della Valle d'Itria, Hamburgische Staatsoper and Wexford Festival Opera. He is Vice-president of the International Richard Strauss Society, member of the board of the European Musical Theatre Academy and co-founder of the Cesti Competition for Baroque Opera. On OperaVision you can hear him speak about Korngold's Violanta: https://operavision.eu/de/partner/teatro-regio-torino

or read his article about Metastasio: https://operavision.eu/feature/metastasio-28-opera-librettos-and-still-counting

All episodes: https://operavision.eu/podcast

Music extracts:

Introduction: Fidelio (Beethoven): Overture, op. 72

L'Orfeo (Monteverdi): La Musica, Claire Lees; Orfeo, Ed Lyon, Garsington Opera

Le Convenienze ed inconvenienze teatrali (Donizetti): Paolo Bordogna, Wexford Festival Opera

Tosca (Puccini): Te Deum, Roberto Frontali, Teatro dell'Opera di Roma

OperaVision is a freeview opera streaming platform, supported by the European Union's Creative Europe programme.

Watch live streams as the performances themselves unfold in the opera house. Enjoy a variety of shows - including opera, operetta, musical theatre, dance, ballet and concerts. Opera connaisseur or curious newcomer, there is something for everyone on OperaVision.