La bohème is an opera in four acts composed by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger. The world premiere performance of La bohème was in Turin on February 1, 1896 at the Teatro Regio, conducted by the young Arturo Toscanini; its U.S. premiere took place the next year, 1897, in Los Angeles. Since then, La bohème has become part of the standard Italian opera repertory and is one of the most frequently performed operas worldwide.

In 1946, fifty years after the opera's premiere, Toscanini conducted a performance of it on radio with the NBC Symphony Orchestra. This performance was eventually released on records and on Compact Disc. It is the only recording of a Puccini opera by its original conductor.

Mirella Freni – Mimi

Rodolfo – Luciano Pavarotti

Musetta – Elizabeth Harwood

Marcello – Rolando Panerai

Schaunard – Gianni Maffeo

Colline – Nicolai Ghiaurov

The Berlin Philharmonic

Herbert von Karajan

London Records - 1973

Amahl and the Night Visitors is an opera in one act by Gian Carlo Menotti with an original English libretto by the composer. It was commissioned by NBC and first performed by the NBC Opera Theatre on December 24, 1951 in New York City at NBC studio 8H in Rockefeller Center, where it was broadcast live on television from that venue as the debut production of the Hallmark Hall of Fame. It was the first opera specifically composed for television in America.

Amahl – Chet Allen

Mother – Rosemary Kuhlmann

The Three Kings

Kaspar – Andres McKinley

Melchoir – David Aiken

Balthazar – Leon Lishner

Thomas Schippers

Recorded on RCA 1952