Both Opera groups chanced across an obscure opera recently.

Opera Appreciation 1 and 2, studied and listened to an opera that most people have never heard of, let alone seen on stage or added to their private collections.

That opera was Francesco Cilea "Adriana Lecouvreur" first staged in 1902.
It is a "Verismo" opera rather like Puccini "Madam Butterfly" and "Tosca" featuring real-life passion,
murder, agonising death, suicide. Caruso sang in the first performance in America at the New York Metropolitan opera. The opera sank into obscurity for a long period, hence its being little known today, but was revived in 1963 in New York when the well-known tenor Placido Domingo sang in his first performance at the New York Metropolitan Opera along with Renata Tebaldi , famous for her rivalry with Maria Callas.
Placido Domingo will be familiar to many as one of the big three tenors who sang "Nessun Dorma" at the football World Cup, introducing millions of football hooligans to the world of opera. Joan
Sutherland later sang the soprano role.
Recently, 2010 Jonas Kaufman, a top tenor internationally today, sang the tenor role in "Adriana
Lecouvreur" and has recorded it.
If you like the sound of robust opera, give it a try.