Music-especially opera-opens up emotional and psychological dimensions that an action occurring more or less in real time cannot offer entirely on its own, since action doesn’t leave much room for reflection while it is happening. The marriage of film and opera has proven a successful artistic partnership from the beginnings of cinema to the present. More information on the San Francisco Opera website.Even if you know nothing about opera, if you like movies, sooner or later you are bound to come across operatic music as part of a soundtrack. Legendary bass Samuel Ramey, whose “superb” performance ( San Francisco Chronicle) in the title role of the Company's 2008 Boris Godunov won him critical praise, returns as Pope Leo I. Music Director Nicola Luisotti, a “superb Verdi conductor” ( Sunday Times, London), leads a world-class cast featuring bass Ferruccio Furlanetto, whose 'strong, dark, textured voice filled Verdi's lines with burnished sound and arching lyricism' ( The New York Times), in the title role exciting young Venezuelan soprano Lucrecia Garcia 'powerful, liquid tenor' Fabio Sartori (Associated Press) and “brilliant…magnificent” baritone Quinn Kelsey ( San Francisco Chronicle).

But to Giuseppe Verdi, he was a far more complex and compelling figure: a brave, ambitious warrior tormented by fierce internal doubts. The intense, conflicted anti-hero comes vividly alive in this “vibrant and engrossing musical drama” ( The New York Times). In the popular imagination, Attila the Hun was a ruthless barbarian.

The ruler of the Huns fully intends to invade fifth-century Italy until a fierce female captive enchants him with her valiant defiance.

Verdi opera fifth century