Salzburg Festival: Maria Stuarda

Though Mary and Elizabeth both had a claim to the throne of England, it was, of course, the latter who prevailed — and Donizetti's opera picks up near the end of their rivalry on the eve of Mary's execution, tracing a vivid psychological portrait of both and featuring a fiery (fictional) encounter between the two queens. The second of Donizetti's "Tudor Queens" trilogy that also includes Anna Bolena and Roberto Devereux, Maria Stuarda's colorful history was marked by scandal, censorship, revision, and obscurity before it reemerged as a perennial favorite with Joan Sutherland's seminal 1971 turn in the title role. 

This staging by Ulrich Rasche, with Antonello Manacorda conducting the Vienna Philharmonic and a superb cast that also includes Bekhzod Davronov as Mary's defender Leicester, shows Maria Stuarda at its bel canto best.