Five Best Operas for Beginners - The Operas You Should See First - Keep It Classical 

"No good opera plot can be sensible, for people do not sing when they are feeling sensible." - W. H. Auden

A word of caution on helping someone go to their first opera: don't underestimate them. My brother wanted to try opera and I thought Carmen would be a good choice. He was generally unimpressed, but a week later told me he watched "Akhnaten" on TV and loved it. I got him a ticket to the Met production and he is now a bit of an opera fan. I never would have guessed that Akhnaten could be an introduction, but his interest in ancient history and the creative staging appealed.

I would add that The Magic Flute is not only a good first opera for adults but hands down the best first opera for kids. I watched it for the first time when I was ten and my little brother was eight. We were well prepared by our parents, who listened to some of the highlight arias with us ahead of time, and read the synopsis to us so we wouldn't get lost if the subtitles went too fast. We both loved it and ran around the house singing pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pageno for weeks. The following year we named our new kitten Papageno and he became the best bird catcher. ;)

I’ve been a professional singer for the past 35 years and have sung all of the operas mentioned here, some of them many times, especially La Boheme. But if I had to name the best opera for beginners I would have to say Turandot. It’s short with spectacular music all throughout. I really recommend it.

You really can't go wrong with any of the 4 famous Puccini operas. Tosca, La Boheme, Madame Butterfly, and Turandot.

One thing I particularly like about this list is it covers the bases really well -- comedy and tragedy, fantasy and realism, the 3 most common languages (italian, german, french), several of the big-name composers, and a 105-year span of time (1791-1896) across opera's heyday of popularity. It seems safe to say that if a newcomer will like opera at all, they'll like at least one of these.

Agree with these choices. As a retired operatic singing/performer, now voice teacher ... these are excellent choices with simple explanations. Thank you. Sharing with new students to opera.

Fun fact: I share a birthday with Puccini.

The best opera for beginners is The Barber of Seville. Everyone should know it from the Bugs Bunny Elmer Fud cartoon. And the best part is that the best part of the opera is in the very beginning. So if you can't sit for a 2 or 3 hour opera, you can leave early (as many people do) and not miss the best part!

We just saw Mozart`s "Zauberflöte" in the Vienna opera. It was my first time visiting an opera and it was an amazing experience.

I just saw my first opera at the Met. I saw Aida and it was absolutely breathtaking!!

This is an excellent video! Thank you for making it. The singing was so good in the performances you included that I'm now on a mission to see these exact productions (provided they have english subtitles) and obtain their soundtracks.

Thank you so much, I’ve been hoping to find this kind of information for years, but didn’t know where to look. Brilliant, subscribed.

My first exposure to opera was "Rigoletto," which I saw when I was 16 years old. It took my breath away and made me an inveterate opera lover for life! That was 40 years ago, and over time I've developed a love for Baroque opera. I recently also discovered Philip Glass through his opera "Akhenaten," and was entranced. The journey never ends - there is a world of operatic delights out there!

Yes those are all good choices. I guess one simple way of approaching this might be to say 'not Wagner!' :) Although no doubt something before 'The Ring' might be a good option? In terms of the best Mozart choice, mine would be Don Giovanni, because in my view its the perfect combination of engaging story and beautiful music. You could argue Cosi fan Tutte has the most beautiful arias, but the story is so lame that it's not really a complete package in my view.

I always feel like L'elisir d'amore is underrated as a first opera--it's so funny and the plot is super accessible! Also, Rachel sings the pants off Kaufmann every time they collaborate and I love it.

My first was Aida. I took a friend to his first opera (La Gioconda) and not only created an opera fan but a fanatical lover of Eva Marton. Two other friends had Boris Godunov and Parsifal for their first: talk about kill or cure!!!! Very good choices.

As a child my parents would bring me and my sisters to see operas all the time, to the point where we always hated it because (obviously we were fucking children) we didn’t understand the music. However, I am so grateful now, it’s insane how those few years of exposure shape so much later on. The first opera I saw that I genuinely remember and loved was Porgy and Bess. Also the first time I ever cried at a live performance of anything was a year ago seeing Cavalleria Rusticana. Shame there’s so much stigma around opera only being for snobs. So many people don’t even realise what they’re missing out on

These videos are such great resource material for me as a Music Teacher hoping to teach kids to love and appreciate all kinds of music. The kids love the content and I am learning quite a lot too! Thank you!

I know it's not really an opera, but my first experience was Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail (The Abduction from the Seraglio) as a kid, and I loved it, and kept singing songs from it. I think it can be a good idea to move gradually from musicals through singspiel to opera. After that it was la Traviata with Andrea Rost, and it was beautiful, but I think I needed the gradual introduction. I haven't seen Carmen as a real opera yet, but turned into a skating film, Carmen On Ice with Katarina Witt, Brian Boitano and Brian Orser (world champions, Olympic champions and silver medalist), three of the greatest skaters of their time). It was a passionate performance and brought the music closer to me, as it was connected to my favourite sport.

Wonderful. Thank you for sharing!

I am giving this video a thumbs up solely for introducing me to Hubert Zapiór. My first opera was Il Trovatore, and I don't think it gets enough appreciation. I bought the cd just for the Anvil Chorus, and discovered Stride la vampa and Di quella pira (curse my baritone range, taunting me with that aria).

Very encouraging, thank you!

I saw this vid and wondered if you would recommend the same 5 that I would...and you did, exactly!

My first was Rigoletto with Rena ta Scotto in the role of Gilda in 1966 when she such a glorious lyric voice. Your selections are certainly rational and reasonable. I little story about Jonas Kaufman here. I have a very good friend who over the years had listened to me rave about various operas I had seen and the great singers. Although she liked classical music, she never understood my opera passion. One time I visited her, I had a Kaufman CD in the car radio and had forgotten to turn it off. When I started the car the CD started playing and she said "take to Borders so I can buy my own copy of that.

Thanks for doing this!

Another good opera for beginners would be Strauss' die Fledermaus. A bit of a cheat because it's an operetta - still a simple, funny plot with great music.

I love opera. On both sides of the pond. In my university days I became friends with My Hero, who not only sang the National Anthem, but also worked at the sandwich shop called my hero, and also was third place in the Metropolitan Opera contest. He put me in several of his student plays, and encouraged me to try to get a stage voice. Haha, I still love him. Here in the Old Country, I met another opera singeer, and though we didn't see each other as much, I still considered him to be a close friend. And I bought tickets to the local opera, Die Fledermaus, and we had horrible seats in a horrible theater. But we were right next to the stage. My date was impressed that during the opera he winked at me!! I love opera. La Traviata was my first, probably is my favorite, but Aida is not bad either.

Thank you for bringing this information to the world, its really informative for Africa study of Western opera because of inability to reach interactive and simplified information like this other than literatures.

I’d say Elisir is another good one. My school played parts of it for kids and they loved it!

Rigoleto was my first opera and I loved it, completely over the top and hilarious even though its a tragedy

Many thanks for the understanding

I had my first introduction to Opera a couple of days ago: Dvorak’s Jacobin. It was so lovely.

Thank you for presenting your choices of opera for beginners. I love them. I particularly like the Bird Catcher’s (Vogelfänger) song in the Magic Flute. I am trying to learn to sing it in German!

Nice video. I have watched all of them except Il Barbiere di Siviglia. I agree though, great choices!

I always said, La Boheme would be a great introduction to experience opera!

I tend to think of the Magic Flute as more of a fantasy-comedy which may be more accessible to those newer to Opera as well. It's a bit silly, but that's a good thing to me.

My first opera was Roberto Devereux with Beverly Sills! Although I came from a musical family, and play piano myself, I thought opera was just a bunch of women screaming in Italian! After seeing Sills, I suddenly thought it was magical. I’ve since seen 300+ live performances around the world and, back in the day, I saw all the names we associate as the greats of that era. Some deserved the title, some didn’t. When my kids were young, we saw Magic Flute and Hansel at the Met. They were very impressed then, but they wouldn’t dream of seeing an opera now. I agree about Boheme. And I love the subversive color scheme of your books!

The first four I agree with. Magic Flute is a better choice than most of the rest of the Mozart operas because it has dialogue instead of recitativo. For that reason, I'd take Paggliacci over Barber. It's also shorter, and as a bonus, it ends with a murder.😻 My parents' first date was Tristan. My mother had never seen an opera before. Can you imagine that?😳

My 5 operas for beginners. 1. Carmen 2. Turandot 3. La Traviata 4. Madama Butterfly 5. Cavalleria Rusticana

Kudos for this. Good job for those us (like me) trying to learn about opera. La Boehme is the easiest for us. Real people, no dragons, demons, executions, curses, spells or poison. Just four guys, like we all may know, and the women in their lives. Kudos also for the Roy-G-Biv bookshelf arrangement.

My first opera was Pagliacci. Still love more it more then many other.

Thanks! Great video and good advice although I've rarely managed to get any of my friends or partners into opera. I think I'd have added Cavalleria Rusticana or Pagliacci instead of the Rossini but that's just me. Brevity is probably an advantage for beginners and the Barber of Seville is really a bit long, even for me.

Great choices! I guessed what the operas might be before I started the video, and I thought you'd pick Rigoletto over Traviata. But yup, these are solid picks.

Good selection. By purest chance, I'm going to see The Barber of Seville AND La bohème AND Handel's Julius Caesar - on 3 consecutive days next June 2024 in St. Louis. Was just there for Così fan tutte and Joplin's Treemonisha. Fantastic venue - not a bad seat in the house that I could see. I know this is a controversial subject, but they also do all of their operas in English, which is useful for a beginner. I especially look forward to seeing these after your recommendations! 😎

I think Donizetti’s Daughters of the Regiment is a great beginner opera! Great video!

Hey I remember you you were in my school today Mike Davis and I wrote on my paper that I love that you have a RU-vid channel

I watched Carmen when i was 14 (my mom was a big fan of Pavarotti) and i loved it so much i made design for all the costumes

When I decided to give opera a try I googled to find the shortest opera I could find so that if I found I didn't like it I'd at least know that the experience wouldn't last too long. I settled on the 1995 film adaptation of Purcell's 'Dido and Aeneas' with Maria Ewing and Karl Daymond. It runs for just under an hour and it's in English...perfect! I found I actually enjoyed the experience...Dido's Lament towards the end still counts as one of the most hauntingly beautiful pieces of music I've ever heard. From there I felt confident enough to try longer operas and discovered Verdi's 'La Traviata' and Wagner's 'Lohengrin', my two favourite operas even to this day. My recommended operas for beginners depends on how much time a beginner is prepared to dedicate to giving opera a try. If they're intimidated by the average 2 and a half to 3 and a half hours duration of most operas then I'd recommend 'Dido and Aeneas'. If the beginner is more adventurous then I'd recommend 'La Traviata'' and 'Tosca' as introductions to Italian opera, 'Carmen' as an introduction to French opera and 'Lohengrin' as an introduction to German opera.

I would also include Gershwin's Porgy and Bess. It's sung in English, it's usually a 2 act opera, and most people know "Summertime" and "Bess, you is my woman now." It's the greatest American opera of all time.

good first choices for beginners

yes i agree but the one the gets me all the time is madam butterfly, puccini was a genius. im a spaniard and love all italian operas is because i understand some words but its the music , italians have such compassion in their music.

Smetana's Bartered Bride could be added to the list. Recently this was performed in Munich in German translation as a high speed comedy and the audience was enthusiastic.

I always recommend people start with the light comedies - Mozart, Rossini, Donizetti…. Then move toward the Romantic and late Romantic composers. I disagree that Mozart is bad for beginners. They need to know only two things: recitative and aria. That is all. Le Nozze is the quintessential beginner’s opera. Every aria is a hit, the libretto is pure genius, and it contains everything: romance, comedy, and tragedy. My grandmother, a dyed-in-the-wool Wagnerite, started me with Der Ring des Nibelungen. Not an easy start. But I’m glad that she did.

Mimi of _La Boheme_ is one of the most passive heroines of an opera. I prefer Floria Tosca from _Tosca_ . _La Cenerentola_ by Rossini is a good opera for beginners because most people know the story of Cinderella, so they don't have to spend time trying to figure out the plot of _Cenerentola_ .

Going to see my first live opera tonight at the ROH - Madama Butterfly :)

Thank you

wonderful choices. Might have added Cavalleria Rusticana. Lush, breathtaking music. And also, Gianni schicci for fun and of course that wonderful aria.

I think Puccini n Rossini are friendly for beginners. I love both of them and Donizetti also 😄

I was 12 when I saw my first opera. It was at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta, and the top half of the swan was not even visible, as it was the Met's production and the Fox stage had less than half the vertical height of the Met's! Yes, my first opera was Lohengrin, probably the least likely to be placed on the beginner's opera list! Fortunately for me, music was already my passion and I had no problem identifying with Wagner's bombastic (so-called) style. The two operas I've always recommended for beginners, especially children, were selected based on the very transparent connection of music expression with the story's emotion content, as well as lots of catchy tunes, action, and familiar stories. My two are Humperdink's "Hansel and Gretel" and one of yours, "The Magic Flute." Well, the Magic Flute may not be that familiar a story, but after its catchy overture it does immediately start with dramatic action that is certain to grab a child's attention: a monster chase! After these two to lure in new opera fans, I would gladly follow the rest of your list.

The Vivaldi operas are also full of energy and lovely, but I can definitely see why you chose these for your top 5!

The first Opera I Saw LIVE was Don Giovanni and it was a Nice experience.

You had me at "villain"

My first was COSI FAN TUTTE. SImple plot, three men, three women, every character has one aria.

Thanks

Great choices, all great operas. Other options: Il trovatore, L'italiana in Algeri, L'elisir d'amore.

Other strong point for Zauberflöte and Carmen as Opera for beginners is that they have spoken dialogue (For Carmen only if you're watching Bizet's original version)

My first ever opera, if you don't count the hundreds of times I've listened to just the overture by itself(in which case The Marriage of Figaro would technically be my first even though for over a decade, it was just the overture I was hearing), was not by any of the composers on this list. And, it wasn't even by a composer I had much exposure to. It was so long that I had to split up the opera into a few listening sessions. I'm sure that I pretty much gave the composer away with that last one, but in case I didn't, it is Wagner, specifically Das Rheingold. And then, no opera exposure for many years afterwards. Then, one time, somebody recommended me Fidelio because they knew that 1) I wanted to listen to more opera and 2) that I really love Beethoven's music. This was back in 2020. And, I loved how dramatic the opera was, like, I was expecting like Beethoven's Fifth Symphony level drama and Fidelio was like next level from that. But in my opinion, it had no real memorable melodies to speak of, not the overture, not the arias. And then came a spurt of opera listening soon afterwards. Well, I say spurt, but it was like 1 listening session of 1 full opera a month for 3 months. And these operas were all somewhat familiar to me, especially their overtures, which I have heard since I was a little kid just starting to get into classical music and really falling in love with it. Especially one particular composer, who I still very much love today and who brings me this sense of childhood nostalgia. I bet you probably already guessed that I'm talking about Mozart based on the childhood love of classical and the sense of nostalgia. But yeah, in 2021, I had a Mozart opera spurt. January, The Magic Flute. February, The Marriage of Figaro. March, Don Giovanni. I loved all of them, though I think I'd have to say The Marriage of Figaro if I had to pick the Mozart opera I loved the most. It's the one I had more overture exposure for. Like, I had been hearing the overture to The Marriage of Figaro for much longer than either the overture to The Magic Flute or the overture to Don Giovanni. And it's the one where I immediately had a melody from it stuck in my head after the opera was over. That didn't happen with The Magic Flute or Don Giovanni, I didn't like hum an aria or whatever after those 2 operas were over. But with The Marriage of Figaro, I had the Non piu andrai aria stuck in my head after the whole opera was over. And, I just found everything in The Marriage of Figaro so catchy that I didn't even notice the fact that it was 3 hours long, I was just enjoying the music and the acting.

The Magic Flute is my first opera 😊

The 70's TV show "Gilligan's Island" had an episode where they transformed Shakespeare's "Hamlet" into a musical with the music from "Carmen".

Very good recommendations BUT, The Magic Flute DOES have a Great Plot but you have to know Kabbalah (Or at least about Tarot's Major Arcana) to get it

The first opera I saw was Madama Butterfly in in 1984 in Leningrad as St. Petersburg was then. From that time on i loved opera.

Diana Damrau's Queen of the The Night is, IMO, the greatest of all time.

My personal favorite is I pagliacci that’s a very solid one to start on too for plot and music

The first one I liked was Bartok’s Bluebeard’s Castle, It’s only a hour long & it’s dark. I then moved on to Les Troyens by Berlioz which is 4 hours.

I would agree with Die Zauberflöte and Bohémè for sure, but Hänsel und Gretel is another choice that sadly is left out (I believe it’s performed more than Zauberflöte in Germany). It’s fast, relaxing and familiar all at the same time. L’elisir definitely is another one that should be at least in the top 10 because it’s extremely funny and not that hard to follow. I’m surprised Rigoletto has not been mentioned simply because it’s plot is more or less simple, still Verdi, and very recognizable songs.

I tred to predict what your recommendations would be and came swiftly unstuck! I had ‘Figaro’ rather than ‘Zauberflöte’ (which is let down by acres of spoken dialogue, especially once the trials get underway), ‘La Bohème’, ‘La traviata’ and ‘Flying Dutchman’ (reasoning that if you have Verdi, you have to keep the Wagner faction happy) and, so it’s not all pre-20th century and to show opera isn’t all romance, ‘The turn of the screw’.

I would have included Die Fledermaus, simply for its sensual value and all that waltz music.

La primera ópera que de Richard Wajner vi completa (video) fue "Lohengrin" de Richard Wagner. Y he seguido viendo más y más. Gracias por compartir.

The first list that i agree with. Like to add two if performed well might be on this list. L'elisir d'amore by Donizetti has a really nice tempo, not unlike The magic flute, and it's quite funny aswell. Les contes d'hoffman because of the surreal story wich in the hands of a good director can be really special, and the hitparade. Kleinzack, le barcarole, Olympias aria, Antonias aria, the diamond aria and a lot more good music, fairly easy listening.

I agree with La Boheme, La Traviata and Barber of Seville, but not Magic Flute or Carmen, as much as I personally love both and concur that they have recognizable music. The problem I have found with both of them for first-time opera goers is that they are too long. I would substitute Tosca and Rigoletto. Just my opinion, but think both are more “manageable” for beginners. And while Barber is longish, it’s a comedy that just seems to move along more quickly.

My first opera was Carmen, fifty five years ago. The Barber of Seville is by Gioachino , not Gioachimo Rossini. I think That staging you showed was a poor choice for Barber. Gianni Schicchi by Puccini is another good first opera. It’s a short comedy with great music. Pair that up with Pagliacci. Easy plot to follow, also great music. If you really want to wow someone take them to the Mets Aida. I would also add Tosca and Rigoletto. Both have beautiful music and drama. Although at this point in my life after hundreds of performances I really enjoy Baroque operas and Wagner’s Ring cycle, that has 4 operas and 17 hours of glorious music.

Good choices though consider Rigoletto over La Traviata owing to more and better (almost but not melodrama if directed and acted sincerely) drama and more well known(more hummable? 😊) arias, duets and the ensembles

I think it's all a matter of taste. If my first opera had been The Magic Flute, I would never have gone to the opera again. A good friend of mine went with me to Jenufa - and it was actually his first opera. Another was absolutely amazed by Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk and then totally bored by Turandot. And neither of them likes La Bohème, but Tosca and especially Verdi's Rigoletto.

Die Zauberflote is a great choice for beginners, along with La Boheme and Turandot (Puccini), the Ring Cycle and The Flying Dutchman (Wagner), The Barber of Seville (Rossini), and some fun Russian operas for extra measure: Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov and Glinka's Ruslan & Lyudmila. I don't agree that Mozart's other operas would be inappropriate choices, and I actually think The Marriage of Figaro & Don Giovanni would be great beginner operas, the latter especially for its entertainment value. Although strongly disagree that Die Zauberflote doesn't have a great story - it's one of the few "plot-driven" operas, rather than character-driven, and the weird but engaging (and philosophical) plot is one of the things I've always liked about it. P.S. my first opera was "Das Rheingold."

For beginners Donizetti is a no brainer. Beautiful music that would appeal to anyone.

Watch the movie AMADEUS with Tom Hulce about Mozart. This movie explains classical music and opera perfectly. After watching this movie, I promise you, you will appreciate opera so much more. And of course it has a scene on the amazing Magic Flute / Queen of the Night aria!

Die Zauberflöte is one of my favorite

If you ask me, i'd recommend the earliest opera surviving, L'Euridice, also, I think going inmidiately after the most famous ones may not be a good thing for a complete beginner

I'm new and looking to try an opera.

I know you can't do two Mozart's but I would take Marriage of Figaro over Magic Flute. Mostly because , well, beautiful music and it is funny. Actually no. Can't choose, do both.

Couldn't agree more about Boheme, Carmen & The Barber, but for my Mozart I'd sub Il Seraglio for Magic Flute. And you've left out THE ABSOLUTE BEST 'first-time' opera, which is Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel! (I'd probably try to get Gluck's Orfeo in there somewhere, too - tho' Offenbach's take on the same story might possibly be more fun...) And if you're talking opera for beginners, what about G & S ??

For real beginners, I would choose at least one of about 60 minutes duration. It is my opinion; to watch and listen to something for two hours to discover if opera might be for them or not is too long, And while 60 minutes of any of the five you have chosen could easily persuade some, it might not for many others. So I would choose something like Cavaleria Rusticana by Mascagni, not a popularly known Composer, but this opera is high up in the performed repertoire, In fact the Cav and Pag (I Pagliacci) concerts of two operas of about one hour each and quite different in character offer some really great music and drama. One of the most famous operatic arias is "O mio babbino caro" that few are aware is from the opera, Gianni Schicchi by Puccini and usually only performed when combined with two other one hour operas (Il Trittico) as a full concert. But I am in general agreement with the five you chose - one cannot be all things to all men with subjective matter.

I recommand L'enfant et les sortilèges

For a child or adult, I'd suggest HANSL & GRETL or LA CENTAROLA.

It is strange no mentions Tosca, it has a feel of a more modern movie. There was some pretty bad singing in these examples, the only two decent singers was Rachel Willis-Sørensen and Diana Damrau.

This is a great video. I actually came here because I was trying to find out which operas are good for beginner artists. I'm writing a story where the protagonist is a soprano, but I only know the opera world from the perspective of a listener and I have no idea of which operas would work best for debut/early career. Can anybody give me some advice?

Aida, is a Wonderful first opera, the plot Is simple, the settings are magnificent so visually its breathtaking as the music and much of the music is familiar, any student who has graduated from school will immediately recognize the procession march, and as an aside, as a black listener of 12 years old, the interracial aspect of the story made me see realize that opera is not just for white audiences.

Shafiga Akhundova was a prominent Azerbaijani composer, the first professional female author of an opera in the East

I Agree 5 great opera's I Would have added Wagner's Fliegende Hollander and Skipped Rossini