OPERA. NOW Episodes 1 – 6 Documentary Portugal 2026

Information on the Performance

• Work Title: OPERA. NOW Episodes 1 -6   
• Composer: various, see below  
• Libretto: N/A  
• Venue & Opera Company: various  
• Recorded: 2026
• Type: Other
• Singers:
• Conductor:   
• Orchestra:
• Stage Director:   
• Costume Designer:   

Information about the Recording

• Published by: medici.tv; mezzo, RTP2  
• TV Director: Vasco Mendonça  
• Date Published: 2026  
• Format: Streaming
• Quality Video: 4 Audio:4
• Subtitles: yessubs, ensubs, frsubs, essubs, othersubs  

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE

OPERA. NOW is a six-part documentary series presented by Vasco Mendonça, a contemporary composer looking to share his passion for opera with the world. Throughout each episode, discover iconic 21st-century operas through interviews with composers, stage directors, and singers…

Episode 1
In this first installment, meet two major figures of 21st-century opera, composer George Benjamin and playwright Martin Crimp, and explore prominent works from their repertoire, including Into the Little Hill, Lessons in Love and Violence, Written on Skin, and Picture a Day Like This.

Episode 2
In this second installment, dive into the unique world of Innocence, a one-of-a-kind, multilingual opera created for the 2012 Aix-en-Provence Festival by composer Kaija Saariaho and librettist Sofi Oksanen. Explore two parallel stories linked by a character that doesn’t even step foot on stage…

Episode 3
Irish writer and playwright Samuel Beckett wrote his French-language play Fin de partie in 1957, and Endgame — the English version — soon after. Over half a century later, Hungarian composer György Kurtág adapted the play into a one-act opera with the full name Samuel Beckett: Fin de partie: scènes et monologues (Samuel Beckett: Endgame: scenes and monologues). On stage, four of the characters from the original play engage in an obscure dialogue: is this a strange daily ritual or is a tragedy unfolding before our eyes? Immerse yourself in this third episode of OPERA. NOW to find out more…

Episode 4
In this fourth episode, follow South Korean composer Unsuk Chin down the rabbit hole and rediscover an English literary classic in her brilliantly imaginative opera Alice in Wonderland, a veritable feast for the eyes and ears!

Episode 5
Before becoming a successful animated film (Disney’s Frozen and Lev Atamanov’s 1957 film of the original name), The Snow Queen was one of Hans Christian Andersen’s well-known fairytales. This fifth episode of OPERA. NOW focuses on its opera adaptation by Danish composer Hans Abrahamsen, who turned the tale into a splendid poem about memories and childhood…

Episode 6

In the last episode of the series, discover three visually striking operas: Sarah Nemtsov’s Ophelia, Michel van der Aa’s Upload, and Philip Venables’s Denis & Katya, in a fascinating documentary that opens the doorway to the future of modern opera…
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