Nabucco, Giuseppe Verdi's third opera, was his first, unqualified hit. It features an emotional chorus so closely linked to Verdi that it was spontaneously performed by the immense crowd at Verdi's funeral, some 60 years after the opera was written.

Carl Maria von Weber's bold and influential opera Euryanthe is led by conductor Kazushi Ono, in a spectacular performance by La Monnaie, from the Palace of Fine Arts in Brussels.

In Verdi's The Force of Destiny, the inevitability of fate inspires great music, a complex but compelling story, and a controversial production from Vienna, complete with gun toting cowgirls.

Rossini's 'William Tell Overture' is more famous as the Lone Ranger's theme music than in the opera house. But the opera itself more than lives up to its inspiring curtain raiser.