Thursday The 12th
Fairy Tale in Opera: Yekaterina Smolina (soprano), Ilya Usullu (bass), Pavel Didenko (baritone), Olga Sidorenko (mezzo-soprano) and Nikolai Kartsev (tenor) perform opera arias and duets. Dom Shalyapina. 7 p.m.
MT PICK Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk District (Ledi Makbet Mtsenskogo Uyezda): original version of Shostakovich's opera based on Nikolai Leskov's story. Staged by Dmitry Bertman. Helikon Opera. 7 p.m.
FRENCH Les Contes d'Hoffmann (Skazki Gofmana): Offenbach's opera based on E.T.A. Hoffmann's stories about his three loves. Performed in French. Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theater. 7 p.m.
Friday The 13th
MT PICK Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk District (see Thurs. listing). Helikon Opera. 7 p.m.
ITALIAN Rigoletto: Verdi's opera based on Victor Hugo's play "Le Roi s'amuse." Performed in Italian with Russian subtitles. Novaya Opera. 7 p.m.
Saturday The 14th
Boris Godunov: Mussorgsky's opera based on Pushkin's tragedy about Tsar Godunov. Directed by Ivan Popovski. Galina Vishnevskaya Opera Center. 7 p.m.
MT PICK Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk District (see Thurs. listing). Helikon Opera. 7 p.m.
Sunday The 15th
MT PICK Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk District (see Thurs. listing). Helikon Opera. 7 p.m.
NEW FRENCH GERMAN Tannhauser: Wagner's opera based on the two German legends of Tannhauser and the song contest at Wartburg. The story centers on the struggle between sacred and profane love, and redemption through love. Performed in German and French with Russian subtitles. Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theater. 6:30 p.m.
NEW The Queen of Spades (Pikovaya Dama): Yury Alexandrov stages Tchaikovsky's opera about an officer obsessed with winning at cards to become rich. Novaya Opera. 7 p.m.
The Tsar's Bride (Tsarskaya Nevesta): The concert version of Rimsky-Korsakov's opera performed by the Moscow Conservatory Opera Theater. Conservatory Great Hall. 7 p.m.
Vladimir Tverskoi (bass) performs opera arias. Tchaikovsky Cultural Center. 5 p.m.
Tuesday The 17th
ITALIAN Don Carlo: The Milan version of Verdi's opera as staged by British director Adrian Noble. Bolshoi Theater Main Stage. 7 p.m.
Wednesday The 18th
ITALIAN Don Carlo (see Tues. listing). Bolshoi Theater Main Stage. 7 p.m.
Iolanta: Pyotr Tchaikovsky's lyric opera about a blind princess as staged by Gennady Shaposhnikov. Novaya Opera. 7 p.m.
Moscow Cello Quartet and young cellists perform Popper, Kuznetsov and Davydov. Glinka Museum. 7 p.m.
NEW Ruslan and Lyudmila: Mikhail Glinka's opera based on Pushkin's verse tale about a prince and his young bride kidnapped by an evil magician. Directed by Mikhail Polishchuk. Galina Vishnevskaya Opera Center. 7 p.m.
The Merry Widow (Vesyolaya Vdova): Franz Lehar's operetta about the attempts of a baron to obtain a widow's fortune for his impoverished country of Pontevedria. Performed in Russian. Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theater. 7 p.m.
and Beyond…
ITALIAN Don Carlo (see Tues. listing). Bolshoi Theater Main Stage. Dec. 19, 20, 21 at 7 p.m., Dec. 22 at 6 p.m.
ITALIAN L'Italiana in Algeri (Italianka v Alzhire): Rossini's operatic drama staged by Yevgeny Pisarev. Performed in Italian with Russian subtitles. Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theater. Dec. 19 and 21, 7 p.m.
NEW Asteroid 62: premiere of Dmitry Kurlyandsky's opera based on texts by poet Dimitris Yalamas. Moskvich Cultural Center. Dec. 20, 6 and 9 p.m.
GERMAN Die Fledermaus (Letuchaya Mysh): Original version of Johann Strauss' operetta about a neglected wife's clever plan to regain her philandering husband's attention. Performed in German and Russian. Helikon Opera. Dec. 20, 21, 22, 25, 26, 27, 28 and 29, 7 p.m.
ITALIAN Il Trovatore (Trubadur): Verdi's tragic opera, set in 16th-century Spain, about the search for a boy, mistakenly thought to have been murdered in infancy, which leads to a duel in love between two unknowing brothers decades later. Directed by Marco Gandini. Performed in Italian with Russian subtitles Novaya Opera. Dec. 20, 7 p.m.
NEW The World on the Moon (Lunny Mir): an opera buffa by Joseph Haydn with a libretto by Carlo Goldoni. Performed in Russian. Pokrovsky Chamber Musical Theater. Dec. 20 at 7 p.m., Dec. 21 and 22 at 6 p.m.
GERMAN The Gypsy Baron (Tsygansky Baron): the costumed concert version of Johann Strauss' operetta performed by the Vienna Opera soloists and choir and the Johann Strauss Orchestra. Conservatory Great Hall. Dec. 22 and 23, 7 p.m.
NEW GERMAN Tristan and Isolde: Wagner's opera based on Gottfried von Strassburg's Middle High German courtly romance. Directed by Nicola Raab. Performed in German with Russian subtitles. Novaya Opera. Dec. 22, 6 p.m.
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