Debussy Pelléas et Mélisande opera to libretto by Maurice Maeterlinck. Directed 2016 by Benjamin Lazar (with assistance from Elizabeth Calleo and Katrina Sörensen Palm) at the Malmö Opera. Stars Marc Mauillon (Pelléas), Jenny Daviet (Mélisande), Laurent Alvaro (Golaud), Stephen Bronk (Arkel), Emma Lyrén (Geneviève), Julie Mathevet (Yniold), and Stefano Olcese (Doctor/Shepherd). Maxime Pascal conducts the Malmö Opera Orchestra and Chorus (Chorus Master André Kellinghaus). Stage design by Adeline Caron; costume design by Alain Blanchot; make-up by Mathilde Benmoussa; lighting by Mael Iger. Directed for TV by Corentin Leconte; produced by Xavier Dubois. Sung in French. Released 2017, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: B

Debussy Pelléas et Mélisande opera to libretto by the composer after the play by Maurice Maeterlinck. Directed 2016 by Dmitri Tcherniakov at the Opernhaus Zürich. Stars Brindley Sherratt (Arkel), Jacques Imbrailo (Pelléas), Kyle Ketelsen (Golaud), Damien Göritz (Yniold), Charles Dekeyser (A doctor), Corrine Winters (Mélisande), Yvonne Naef (Geneviève), and Reinhard Mayr (Pelléas’s Father). Alain Altinoglu conducts the Philharmonia Zürich, Zusatzchor Opernhaus Zürich, and the Sopralti Der Oper Zürich (Chorus Master Jürg Hämmerli). (The “Sopralti” is an all female choir of sopranos and altos.) Set design by Dmitri Tcherniakov; costume design by Elena Zaytseva; lighting design by Gleb Filshtinksy; video design by Tieni Burkhalter; dramaturgy by Beate Breidenbach. Directed for TV by Andy Sommer; produced by François Duplat. Sung in French. Released 2019, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: F+

Janáček From the House of the Dead (Czech: Z mrtvého domu, German: Aus einem Totenhaus, French: De la maison des morts) opera to a libretto by the composer after the Dostoevsky novel Notes from the House of the Dead. Directed 2018 by Frank Castorf at the Nationaltheater in Munich. Stars Peter Rose (Aleksandr Petrovič Gorjančikov), Evgeniya Sotnikova (Aljeja), Aleš Briscein (Luka Kuzmič [Filka Morozov]), Charles Workman (Skuratov), Bo Skovhus (Šiškov), Christian Rieger (Prison Governor), Manuel Günther (Nikita), Tim Kuypers (Small Prisoner), Ulrich Reß (Old Prisoner), Boris Prýgl (Cook), Peter Lobert (Pope), Johannes Kammler (Čekunov), Kevin Conners (Šapkin), Alexander Milev (Blacksmith), Matthew Grills (Kedril), Niamh O’Sullivan (A Prostitute), Callum Thorpe (Don Juan/Brahmane), Dean Power (Čerevin/A Voice), Galeano Salas (Drunk Prisoner), and Long Long (Guard). Simone Young conducts the Bayerisches Staatsorchester and the Chorus of the Bayrische Staatsoper (Chorus Master Sören Eckhoff). Set design by Aleksandar Denić; costume design by Adriana Braga Peretzki; lighting design by Rainer Casper; video design by Andreas Deinert, Jens Crull, and Stefanie Nirschl; dramaturgy by Miron Hakenbeck. Directed for TV by Andy Sommer; produced by François Duplat. Sung in Czech. Released 2020, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA

Schönberg Moses und Aron opera to libretto by the composer. Directed 2015 by Romeo Castellucci at the Paris Opera House (Bastille). Stars Thomas Johannes Mayer (Moses), John Graham-Hall (Aron), Julie Davis (Ein junges Mädchen or Young Girl), Catherine Wyn-Rogers (Eine Kranke or An Invalid Woman), Nicky Spence (Ein Junger Mann or A Young Man), Michael Pflumm (der nackte Jüngling or The Naked Youth), Chae Wook Lim (Ein Mann or A Man), Christopher Purves (Ein anderer Mann/Ephraimit or Another Man/Ephraimit), Ralf Lukas (Ein Priester or A Priest), Julie Davies, Maren Favela, Valentina Kutzarova, and Elena Suvorova (Vier Nackte Jungfrauen or Four Naked Virgins), Shin Jae Kim, Olivier Ayault, Jian-Hong Zhao (Drei Älteste or Three Elders), as well as Béatrice Malleret, Isabelle Wnorowska-Pluchart, Marie-Cécile Chevassus, John Bernard, Chae Wook Lim, and Julien Joguet (Sechs Solostimmen or Six Solo Voices). Philippe Jordan conducts (1) the Orchestre et Chœurs de l'Opéra national de Paris and (2) Maîtrise des Hauts-de-Seine or Chœurs d'enfants de l'Opéra national de Paris (Chorus Master José Luis Basso and Deputy Chorus Master Alessandro di Stefano). Sets, costumes, and lighting by Romeo Castellucci; choreography by Cindy Van Acker;  artistic collaboration by Silvia Costa; dramaturgy by Piersandra Di Matteo and Christian Longchamp. Directed for TV by François-René Martin; produced by François Duplat and Laurent Métivier. Sung in German. Video recorded in 2.20 format in order to meet the Director’s visual wishes while avoiding problems with sub-title readability. Words projected onto a scrim on the opera stage were in French. Released 2017, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: A with ‽ warning

Traviata: Vous méritez un avenir meilleur (English: Traviata: You Deserve a Better Future) opera by Benjamin Lazar, Florent Hubert, and Judith Chemla after Verdi’s La Traviata and Dumas’ La Dama aux camélias. Directed 2018 by Benjamin Lazar at the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord in Paris, France. Stars Judith Chemla (Violetta Valéry), Damien Bigourdan (Alfredo Germont), Jérôme Billy (Giorgio Germont), Élise Chauvin (Flora Bervoix et Anina), Florent Baffi (The Doctor), and Benjamin Locher (Baron Douphol). Also features musicians Marie Salvat (Violin), Myrtille Hetzel (Cello), Axelle Ciofolo de Peretti (Clarinet), Renaud Charles (Flute), Bruno Le Bris (Contrabassa), Gabriel Levasseur (Accordian), Sébastien Llado (Trombone), and Benjamin Locher (Horn). Arrangements and Musical Direction by Florent Hubert and Paul Escobar; vocal coach was Alphonse Cemin. Sets by Adeline Caron; costumes by Julia Brochier; lighting design by Maël Iger; make-up and hairdressing by Mathilde Benmoussa; assistant to stage director was Juliette Séjourné. Sung in Italian with English and French subtitles. Directed for TV by Corentin Leconte; produced by Xavier Dubois Released 2019, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA

Kurt Weill Street Scene opera to libretto by Elmer Rice and Langston Hughes. Directed 2018 by John Fulljames (with Associate Director Lucy Bradley) at the Teatro Real de Madrid. Stars Paulo Szot (Frank Maurrant), Patricia Racette (Anna Maurrant), Mary Bevan (Rose Maurrant), Joel Prieto (Sam Kaplan), Lucy Schaufer (Emma Jones), Jeni Bern (Greta Fiorentino), Michael J. Scott (Lippo Fiorentino), Tyler Clarke (Daniel Buchanan), Marta Fontanals-Simmons (Jennie Heldebrand), Eric Greene (Henry Davis), Richard Burkhard (Harry Easter), Sarah-Marie Maxwell (Mae Jones), and Dominic Lamb (Dick McGann).

Tchaikovsky Eugene Onegin opera to libretto by the composer and K. Shilovsky based on the verse novel by Alexander Pushkin. Directed 2008 by Dmitri Tcherniakov at the Paris Opera. Stars Mariusz Kwiecien (Eugene Onegin), Makvala Kasrashvili (Madame Larina), Tatiana Monogarova (Tatiana), Margarita Mamsirova (Olga), Emma Sarkisyan (The Nurse), Andrey Dunaev (Lenski), Anatolij Kotscherga (Prince Gremin), and Valery Gilmanov (Zaretski). Also stars the Bolshoi Theatre Soloists. Alexander Vedernikov conducts the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra and Chorus (Chorus Master Valery Borisov). Set design by Dmitri Tcherniakov; costume design by Maria Danilova; lighting design by Gleb Filshtinsky. Directed for TV by Chloé Perlemuter; produced by François Duplat. Released 2019, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA