This is Opera

"Carmen" by Georges Bizet-the most frequently staged and the most popular French opera of all time-is a story of love, passion and death. It is also the legend of the liberated and independent woman par excellence. That's why in this episode we analyze the role of the emancipated woman throughout history, travelling from Seville to Paris.

Two European cities, Milan and Munich, will be the unrivaled setting to tell a love story set in Imperial China. Yet, this opera is much more than a simple love story. It's the story of an absolute success, but also a failure. Through the wonderful music of Puccini, we'll understand why this huge success of Puccini's also became his great failure.

"The Barber of Seville" is the quintessential comic opera and irrefutable proof that opera is not just drama and tragedy, but also entertainment. In this show, we'll learn about the essential "ingredients" in Rossini's music: staccato, crescendo, patter song, the fifth interval and coloratura. We'll have the company of Carlos Chausson, Annalisa Stroppa and Joan Font among others.

At the height of his career, Puccini wrote this song to life, friendship and love. To illustrate it, we'll travel to bohemian Paris and enter some of its most characteristic locales such as the century-old bookshop Shakespeare & Co., , we'll have some fun at the Au Lapin Agile Cabaret and we'll talk to tenor Massimo Giordano.

"Parsifal" was Richard Wagner's last opera. Its story centers on the search for the Holy Grail, although it's actually a spiritual voyage into the protagonist. Because, what is the Holy Grail? We'll travel to three different locations to find this out. And because a kiss is so instrumental in the plot, we'll discover how powerful one can be and how it can change a life completely.

Our host defines this opera by Debussy as "beauty for beauty's sake", an impressionist work with a simple argument, but capable of arising intense emotions. To talk about love, impressionism and Debussy himself, we'll travel to two pivotal French cities to understand the concept of beauty in art. All this to illustrate the ethereal beauty of Claude Debussy's music.

In this episode we discover why bel canto is a favourite for opera lovers. Along with Ramon Gener, we will learn about gospel, watch the performance of "La fille du régiment" and witness the legendary high C from the chest as sung by Mexican tenor Javier Camarena. Despite bel canto being born in Italy, we'll discover why many of its operas are written in French and premiered there.

In this episode, we head to Bayreuth, the hometown of Richard Wagner, the composer of the most ambitious operatic saga in all of musical history: "The Ring of the Nibelung". This tetralogy is made up of four operas: we'll go through all of them. In this episode, Ramon Gener will immerese us in an unforgettable story about power and love.

Rome, the eternal city, is the setting for this show. It's also the city where the action in "Tosca" unfolds, a thriller with all the elements of a genre film. But "Tosca" is also a great romance. An Italian-style love story. And who knows more about love than the Italians?

Love. This is the main theme in Verdi's "La Traviata", based on "The Lady of the Camellias" by Alexandre Dumas, the son, and inspired by the famous courtesan Marie Duplessis. Paris, the city of love, will be the backdrop for this episode. Through its music and its plot, Verdi wanted to let it be known that there is only one important thing in our lives, to love and to be loved.

This time, we're heading to Cadaques on the Costa Brava to talk about a great love story, of a love beyond death: what Tristan and Isolde felt for one another. To do so, Ramon Gener will talk to anonymous people who have experienced great love stories like the protagonists of this legend, and who will act as a counterpoint to show us that love is more powerful than death.

Ramon Gener will delve into the world of the night, to get to know the techniques for hooking up used by today's Don Juans. Along with a famous DJ, they will carry through a curious musical experiment: covering an aria from Mozart's opera to make it danceable. The anthropologist Eudald Carbonell, will let us know why so many of these seducers need the conquest.

"Rigoletto" is not just the story of a curse. It's also a story of oppressors and the oppressed. Giuseppi Verdi wrote it at his forties, a critical age for every human being: a time of changes, of maturity, midlife. To bring to light this character and its symbols, Ramon Gener travels to the island of Menorca, to learn how Verdi places all his dreams and frustrations into Rigoletto.

In this episode, we will explore the story of Manon, a young Parisian woman who dreams of fame and money. One day, an attractive gentleman crosses her path, but he's not rich. This is the premise behind Massenet's opera based on the novel of the same name by Abad Prévost which will help us reflect upon the inner conflict between the head and the heart.

Over 24 hours, we'll roam the picturesque village of Aichach in the federal state of Bavaria in order to talk about one of romanticism's first operas, "The Freeshooter" by Karl Maria Von Weber. Aichach is where the main action in this opera written in 1820 takes place, an opera through which the author tried to convey his love for a country's roots, traditions, legends and culture.