A great way to get familiar with operas is to listen to complete recordings of operas on CD. Most come with booklets containing the libretto in the original langauge with an English translation next to it.
This way you know exactly what the characters are singing about.
Also, try DVDs, most of which come with English substitles.
Make sure any complete opera CDs you get have the libretto and translation.
Get the classic La Boheme wirh Luciano Pavarotti ,Mirella Freni and Karajan conducting on Decca, for example. That's great place to start.
Also try Tosca, Madama Butterfly and Turandot ,also by Puccini.
Verdi operas to try are La Traviata, Rigoletto ,Il Trovatore and Aida for starters.
Bizet's Carmen, and Cavalleria Rusticana by Pietro Mascagni, and Pagliacci by Ruggero Leoncavallo, and Mzart's Don Giovanni and Le Nozze di Figaro are also good for starters.
Recordings of these operas with Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, Mirella Freni, Regine Crespin, Maria Callas ,Carlo Bergonzi, Renata Tebaldi,
Montserrat Caballe, Sherrill Milnes, Kiri Te Kanawa, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Renee Fleming, etc would be fine.
Good luck ! You'll never regret becoming an opera fan !
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