If you’re looking for a ghost, a witch… or perhaps a devil to sell your soul to — the opera is a great place to start!
From the classics of the repertoire to the operas fresh off the page, spookiness abounds! Here are five of our favorite spooky operas to put you in the perfect Halloween mood:
The Exterminating Angel
Thomas Adès
Based on the surrealist film by Buñuel, glamorous dinner party guests are aghast to discover they cannot leave at the end of the night. Cannibalism, a big booming orchestra + an ondes Martenot, a live herd of sheep, and an ensemble cast singing into the stratosphere — this opera is not to be missed by those who love a thrill!
Fall of the House of Usher
Claude Debussy
Although never finished, we swoon over the piercing themes in Debussy’s setting of this Edgar Allen Poe classic!
Owen Wingrave
Benjamin Britten
Commissioned for a television special on the BBC, this ghostly opera is rarely performed. Britten’s operas are filled with hauntings — this is the only one which centers contentious themes of Pacifism within a military family, a subject dear to Britten’s life-long values.
Bluebeard’s Castle
Béla Bartók
One of our favorite’s! Just watch out for that 5th door!!!!
Macbeth
Giuseppe Verdi
The opera follows the Shakespeare closely — one of our favorite differences is that the three witches are played by a large female chorus of witches, singing in three-part harmony. They are divided in three groups, and every group sings as a single witch, using "I" and not "we”. Spoooooooky!!!
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