Learning Opera

Opera is the fastest growing of all the performing arts, attracting audiences of all ages who are enthralled by the gorgeous music, vivid drama, and magnificent production values. If you've decided that the time has finally come to learn about opera and discover for yourself what it is about opera that sends your normally reserved friends into states of ecstatic abandon, this is the book for you.

When a bunch of interstellar scavengers approach Earth intending to abduct a few dozen humans and sell them into slavery in the darkest, they make the mistake of picking on Steve Stuart and his friends, ex-military veterans all. Unprepared for humans who can actually fight, unaware of the true capabilities of their stolen starships, the scavengers rapidly lose control of the ship - and their lives.

Fifty years ago, a human covert operations team—The Firelighters—raided Belosi, a world held in bondage by the alien Tichck, and rescued thousands of Belosi from slavery, taking them into space to form the core of a future liberation force. Since then, a cloud of secrecy has descended over Belos, with no word of the fate of the trapped Belosi allowed to escape the system. Now, with the Tokomak War over and the Galactics in disarray, the Solar Union intends to honor its promises to the exiled Belosi, by supporting their fleet in a bid to reclaim their stolen homeworld.

Ned discovers a hard truth about his past but will it also endanger the future of the universe? After reconnecting with an old acquaintance, Hank’s AI companion is on the hunt for more information and it just might bring them closer than ever to Twain. But the old Enemy AI has a few tricks up his sleeve. And while they pursue the villain, the crew also find themselves in the crosshairs. Having angered a shadowy sect, the hunters become the hunted.

In the wake of Earth's collapse into chaos, Captain Hoshiko Stuart made the mistake of speaking her mind - and was exiled six months from Sol to a naval base in an unexplored and uncontacted sector. Placed in command of a single squadron of starships, she expected nothing but boredom. But when she discovers an alien race threatening to exterminate all other races within the sector, Hoshiko and her squadron are drawn into a war to stop them.

Fifty years after Steve Stuart and his friends captured an alien starship, the Solar Union is a thriving interstellar power while Earth is increasingly backward and falling into barbarism. For two youngsters from Earth, the Solar Union offers the only chance they will ever have to make something of their lives.

Humanity has won a great victory, shattering the alien fleet that would have destroyed the Solar Union and exterminated the human race. But the war is not yet over. The Tokomak still have a huge fleet and an immense industrial base, large enough to crush the human race once and for all if they have time to bring it into action. The war may still be lost.

In the wake of the Solar Union’s stunning victory over the Tokomak - the masters of the galactic community - humanity has been invited to send a diplomatic mission to the Kingdom of Harmonious Order, one of the oldest and most significant races in known space. It is an opportunity that cannot be missed, a chance to forge ties with a powerful ally. And so a lone starship is dispatched to the galactic core to open discussions. But when that starship runs into a deadly trap, she and her crew must battle their way home before they are merely the first casualties in a renewed war.

The strong races rule the galaxy, doing as they please. The weak are enslaved or driven from their homeworlds or simply exterminated by the ruling powers. The Solar Union's only hope of survival is to master GalTech and improve upon it before the Galactics realize the human race is no longer trapped on a primitive world, at the mercy of any spacefaring race who stumbles across it. But GalTech keeps its secrets close, and time is not on humanity's side.

The Tokomak, the unquestioned masters of the galaxy, have dispatched a massive fleet to crush the Solar Union - and the fledgling Galactic Alliance - before the human race and its alien allies can tear the galactic order asunder. Hundreds of thousands of starships under the command of an alien tactical genius, bent on exterminating the entire human race...the darkest hour is truly at hand.

New opera enthusiasts and seasoned aficionados alike will delight in Dale Harris' witty and insightful analyses of La Traviata, Carmen, The Magic Flute, and La Boheme. The notable music critic, whose lectures at the Metropolitan used to be sell-out events, examines these operas in terms of libretto, plot, music, performance history, and cultural background, amply illustrated with musical examples.

New opera enthusiasts and seasoned aficionados alike will delight in Dale Harris' witty and insightful analyses of The Barber of Seville, Madame Butterfly, Aida, and Lucia de Lammermoor. The notable music critic, whose lectures at the Metropolitan used to be sell-out events, examines these operas in terms of libretto, plot, music, performance history, and cultural background, amply illustrated with musical examples.

"De nen no tenia televisió. La música a través de la ràdio era la meitat del meu món, ja que l'altra el formava la literatura, devorar llibres. Moltes nits em quedava a escoltar les òperes que retransmetia Radio Nacional de España en directe. Quan el locutor descrivia el següent acte, la meva imaginació volava lliure." I això és el que ha volgut transmetre'ns Jordi Sierra i Fabra, el mestre de la literatura infantil i juvenil, a través de les pàgines d'aquesta atípica òpera.

It is 1880, in the Opera House in Paris. Everybody is talking about the Phantom of the Opera, the ghost that lives somewhere under the Opera House. The Phantom is a man in black clothes. He is a body without a head, he is a head without a body. He has a yellow face, he has no nose, he has black holes for eyes. Everybody is afraid of the Phantom – the singers, the dancers, the directors, the stage workers.

Ascoltando si impara!... Anche la letteratura, con il Prof. In questo audiolibro che fa parte della collana dedicata alla letteratura, ci avvicineremo alla vita e alle opere di Luigi Pirandello. Il Prof vi parla di Pirandello e delle sue opere più significative, dei suoi pensieri, i romanzi, e le celebri opere teatrali.

"Ascoltando... s'impara! Anche la letteratura, con il Prof! In questo audiobook, che fa parte della collana dedicata alla letteratura italiana, esploreremo il mondo di Italo Svevo. Il Prof. vi racconta Italo Svevo e i suoi romanzi più significativi: La coscienza di Zeno, Senilità, Una vita. Poi esplora anche le sue opere più o meno celebri, e vi parla della vita del grande scrittore italiano, della sua sfida creativa instancabile, proposta con un linguaggio conquistato a fatica, e pensato per essere compreso da tutti gli italiani.

Ascoltando si impara!... Anche la letteratura, con il Prof. In questo audiolibro che fa parte della collana dedicata alla letteratura, ci avvicineremo alla vita di Ugo Foscolo e alle sue opere più significative, compreso "Dei Sepolcri", introdotto da un'accurata spiegazione. Il carattere, la carriera, le relazioni personali del grande poeta, sono qui evidenziate e analizzate, e offrono una visione completa e per certi versi innovativa.

Ascoltando si impara!... Anche la letteratura, con il Prof. In questo AudioLibro, che fa parte della collana dedicata alla letteratura, ci avvicineremo alla vita di Giovanni Pascoli e alle sue opere più significative, più o meno note, introdotte da un'accurata spiegazione. Il carattere, la carriera, le relazioni personali del grande poeta, sono qui evidenziate e analizzate, e offrono una visione completa, e per certi versi innovativa, rispetto alla classica immagine scolastica del Pascoli del fanciullino.

Ascoltando si impara! Anche la letteratura, con il Prof. In questo AudioLibro, che fa parte della collana dedicata alla letteratura, ci avvicineremo alla vita di Giovanni Pascoli e alle sue opere più significative, più o meno note, introdotte da un'accurata spiegazione. Il carattere, la carriera, le relazioni personali del grande poeta, sono qui evidenziate e analizzate, e offrono una visione completa, e per certi versi innovativa, rispetto alla classica immagine scolastica del Pascoli del fanciullino.

Ascoltando... si impara! Anche la letteratura, con il Prof! Questo Audiobook, che fa parte della collana dedicata alla letteratura, è dedicato a Giacomo Leopardi. Il Prof. vi parla del grande poeta romantico e delle sue opere più significative: le celebri e immortali poesie, tra le quali "A Silvia" e "Il Passero solitario", i saggi politici, le traduzioni; e poi la sua vita trascorsa tra la ormai celebre casa paterna di Recanati e Milano, Firenze, Napoli.