John Corigliano The Ghosts of Versailles opera to libretto by William M. Hoffman. Directed 2019 by Jay Lesenger at the Royal Opera of Versailles. Stars singers Teresa Perrotta (Marie Antoinette), Jonathan Bryan (Beaumarchais), Kayla Siembieda (Susanna), Ben Schaefer (Figaro), Brian Wallin (Count Almaviva), Joanna Latini (Countess Rosina), Peter Morgan (Louis XVI), Christian Sanders (Bégearss), Emily Misch (Florestine), and Spencer Britten (Léon), all from the Glimmerglass Young Artists program, as well as dancers from the Glimmerglass Festival. Joseph Colaneri conducts the Chorus of the Glimmerglass Festival and the Orchestre de l’Opéra Royal. Directed for TV by Olivier Simmonet. Sung in English. Title includes a Blu-ray disc, a DVD, and a CD. Released 2021, Blu-ray disc has 5.1 Dolby Digital sound. Grade: NA

After 7 years in composition, this opera premiered at the Met in 1991. It has since been produced in various forms a handful of times. Previous recordings of this consist of a VHS, a Laserdisc, and a 2-SACD audio album. (The show may be available via Met Opera on Demand, and there is a weak YouTube video of the Met show.) If this title is any good at all, it could be the only modern recording that you can buy.

Ghosts of Versailles is a comedy designed to provide a field day for (1) opera experts, (2) opera trivia fanatics, and (3) graduate students in history. Will this have appeal to the rest of us? Well, this recording will likely be the best way for the rest of us to find out . . .

Mozart La flûte enchantée opera to a libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. This is a French-language version of Die Zauberflöte. Directed 2020 by Cécile Roussat and Julien Lubek at the Château de Versailles. Stars Florie Valiquette (Pamina), Mathias Vidal (Tamino), Marc Scoffoni (Papageno), Lisa Mostin (The Queen of the Night), Tomislav Lavoie (Sarastro), Pauline Feracci (Papagena), Olivier Trommenschlager (Monostatos), Suzanne Jerosme (First Lady), Marie Gautrot (Second Lady), Mélodie Ruvio (Third Lady), Matthieu Lecroart (The Speaker), Matthieu Chapuis (First Priest, Man in Armor), and Jean-Christophe Lancièce (Second Priest, Man in Armor). Also features acrobats Antoine Hélou, Alex Sander Dos Santos, Sayaka Kasuya, Mathieu Hibon, Iris Garabedian, and Elvis Pisicchio as well as children Tanina Laoues, Emma De La Selle, and Garance Laporte Duriez. Hervé Niquet conducts Le Concert Spirituel. Set and lighting design by Cécile Roussat and Julien Lubek; costume design by Sylvie Skinazi; stage set assistant was Élodie Moet. Sung in French. Please note that the title also includes a DVD and CD version along with the Blu-ray. Released 2021, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA

It appears this production has played in several French-language opera houses in recent years in an attempt to translate the German singspiel (which was immediately popular with the German-speaking public of Mozart’s time) into something immediately accessible to French-speaking audiences today . . .