Operas
The longing to overcome human boundaries lead the physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer to begin an experiment that formed a threat to the whole of humanity, and whose scientific results still do today. The question of the moral implications of the atomic bomb is raised in John Adams' opera, just as much as that of the influence on the private lives of the main characters. Dr. Atomic is the fifth work to result from almost twenty years of collaboration between the American composer and his fellow American director and Erasmus Prize-winner Peter Sellars.
Bonus features:
- Interview with Peter Sellars.
- Illustrated synopsis
Bonus features:
- Interview with Peter Sellars.
- Illustrated synopsis
Enjoy the world premiere of the full and original version of Merlin by Isaac Albeniz, over a century after he completed the work. Albeniz composed this 'Wagnerian' opera to an English libretto by his patron Francis Burdett Money-Coutts between 1898 and 1902. Many believed the score was lost, until the conductor Jose De Eusebio reconstructed it from various manuscript sources and publishers' proofs. For this stunning production director John Drew created a world of magic and fantasy, using evocative sets, and splendid lighting.
Bonus feature:
- Interviews with David Wilson-Johnson, Eva Marton and conductor Jose de Eusebio
Bonus feature:
- Interviews with David Wilson-Johnson, Eva Marton and conductor Jose de Eusebio
Domingo creates the magical illusion that Alfano wrote the role especially for him: Domingo de Bergerac" (review of the premiere in the Madrid daily ABC). Plácido Domingo's triumph in Valencia's stunningly futuristic theater El Palau de les Arts in February 2007 echoes the overwhelmingly positive reception he obtained at the Metropolitan Opera and the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in this role. A coproduction of the New York, London and Valencia houses, Franco Alfano's little-known 1936 opera Cyrano de Bergerac has been reawakened to life by the great Spanish tenor. Although Alfano (1875-1954) enjoyed a long and prolific career as an opera composer, he is known today above all for having completed Puccini's Turandot . His earlier works not surprisingly reflect Puccini's verismo style, but his later works - including Cyrano de Bergerac - are clearly inspired by Debussy, Ravel and Strauss. Opulent scoring and colorful orchestral effects elegantly underscore the tragic story based on Rostand's famous drama of 1897, which achieved international celebrity in the Oscar-nominated 1990 film adaptation with Gérard Depardieu. Alfano's work faithfully relates the story of the large-nosed soldier poet who pines for the beautiful Roxane and writes her glowing love letters in the...
Thunderous applause and loud cries of "bravo" greeted the premiere of Ludwig van Beethoven's Fidelio at the inaugural performance of the first opera season in Valencia's new Palau de les Arts on 25 October 2006. Attending the stellar performance in architect Santiago Calatrava's breathtaking theater complex was Queen Sofía of Spain, who added to the glamour of the event. With this spectacular production directed by Pierluigi Pier'Alli, Valencia has put itself back on the map of the international opera world.
Calatrava's sweeping structure recalls the organic forms of Catalonia's "Modernisme" style. Hints of Gaudì and traces of Gothic arches and nave-like spaces project a feeling of openness and freedom. Not surprisingly, Fidelio was chosen to inaugurate the theater's main concert hall - an opera about freedom set in Spain, and in which the contrast between the darkness of Florestan's dungeon and the light of justice and love embodied by Leonore is both heard in the music and seen on the stage.
The production by noted Italian director Pierluigi Pier'Alli does full justice to the opera's concept with an imaginative treatment of light, projections and digital wizardry. Pier'Alli himself says that his concept "becomes increasingly symbolic and abstract" as the work...
Calatrava's sweeping structure recalls the organic forms of Catalonia's "Modernisme" style. Hints of Gaudì and traces of Gothic arches and nave-like spaces project a feeling of openness and freedom. Not surprisingly, Fidelio was chosen to inaugurate the theater's main concert hall - an opera about freedom set in Spain, and in which the contrast between the darkness of Florestan's dungeon and the light of justice and love embodied by Leonore is both heard in the music and seen on the stage.
The production by noted Italian director Pierluigi Pier'Alli does full justice to the opera's concept with an imaginative treatment of light, projections and digital wizardry. Pier'Alli himself says that his concept "becomes increasingly symbolic and abstract" as the work...
"Those in search of a thoroughly teutonic Fidelio should speed to Covent Garden. The new production, comes via the Theatre de la Monnaie in Brussels. It moves swiftly and surely, is powerfully cast and is conducted with fine muscular authority by Christoph von Dohnányi"
- The Times
- The Times
Translucence, transparency – warmth are the qualities identified by Bernard Haitink as necessary for an ideal sound performance of Beethoven's only opera, and all are present in this fantastic recording of Katharina Thalbach's new production for Opernhaus Zurich. Haitink conducts the Zurich Opera Orchestra in a magnificent performance in which Leonore Overture No. 3 provides an interlude between the two scenes of the second act, following a tradition started by Gustav Mahler. German soprano Melanie Diener, in the role of Leonore, leads a brilliant cast including Alfred Muff as Rocco, Roberto Sacca as Florestan, Sandra Trattnigg as Marzelline and Christoph Strehl as Jaquino.
Bonus features :
- Illustrated synopsis
Bonus features :
- Illustrated synopsis
The reigning queen of bel canto, Edita Gruberova has laid the cornerstone for a new Norma legend in her first stage performance of this virtuoso role. The premiere of Vincenzo Bellini's opera at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich marked a resounding new triumph in the singer's career. Sharing the stage with Gruberova were Zoran Todorovich, Roberto Scandiuzzi, Sonia Ganassi and other renowned soloists, along with the chorus of the Bavarian State Opera. Friedrich Haider conducted the production directed by Jurgen Rose. Emmy Award winner Brian Large directed the HDTV recording made in late January and early February 2006.
Edita Gruberova fulfilled all expectations, and in view of her great predecessors Callas, Caballe and Sutherland, these expectations were clearly very high. The expressive intensity of the one, the velvet timbre of the second, the brilliance of the third – Gruberova united all the strengths of the prima donnas of the past in her interpretation of a Norma that has already become a new high point in the history of this role. Gruberova captures her audiences not only through her stupendous technique, but also through her command of an incredibly large palette of subtle nuances. With her voice alone, she infuses her role with a rich spectrum of feelings...
Edita Gruberova fulfilled all expectations, and in view of her great predecessors Callas, Caballe and Sutherland, these expectations were clearly very high. The expressive intensity of the one, the velvet timbre of the second, the brilliance of the third – Gruberova united all the strengths of the prima donnas of the past in her interpretation of a Norma that has already become a new high point in the history of this role. Gruberova captures her audiences not only through her stupendous technique, but also through her command of an incredibly large palette of subtle nuances. With her voice alone, she infuses her role with a rich spectrum of feelings...
In Guy Joosten's ingenious production of Bellini's masterpiece, Norma is about more than just beautiful singing. It becomes a layered, timeless drama in which Norma is the archetypal successful woman struggling to retain her dominant but vulnerable position. Hasmik Papian's lyrical and intense interpretation of the title role accentuates the striking similarity between a Druid high priestess and a modern opera diva. Conductor Julian Reynolds guides the brilliant cast, choir and Netherlands Chamber Orchestra to great heights, providing a refreshing new take on the chef d'oeuvre of bel canto.
Bonus features :
- Introduction to Norma , including interviews with principal members of the cast and artistic team.
- Illustrated Synopsis
Bonus features :
- Introduction to Norma , including interviews with principal members of the cast and artistic team.
- Illustrated Synopsis
Bellini, unlike many of his colleagues - among them Donizetti - did not have to endure the disappointments and difficulties of rising from the ranks. His Bianca e Gernando , in 1826, was well received at Naples's Teatro San Carlo, and one year later, at the age of twenty-six, the composer triumphed at Milan's La Scala with Il Pirata . Norma is not only the high point of Bellini's artistic parabola but also the quintessence of Italian belcanto.
This video was recorded at the Massimo Bellini theatre of Catania, native town of the great Sicilian composer, and features, in the title role, the famous Greek soprano Dimitra Theodossiou, one of today’s best interpreters of Norma.
This video was recorded at the Massimo Bellini theatre of Catania, native town of the great Sicilian composer, and features, in the title role, the famous Greek soprano Dimitra Theodossiou, one of today’s best interpreters of Norma.
"A mix of futurism a la Metropolis, fantasy a la Batman and quotes from Piranesi's Carceri, juxtaposed in the form of photo montages, enhanced with... robots, a helicopter, a shark and the winged vehicle of a pop star Pope," effuses critic Marianne Zelger-Vogt (Neue Zurcher Zeitung). The object of her rapture is not a Broadway musical but a French opera written in the 1830s, Hector Berlioz's Benvenuto Cellini . The absence of the work in the operatic repertoire is certainly due in part to its musical excesses: the work is so complex, richly detailed and prolifically imaginative that Berlioz's contemporaries considered it unplayable and unsingable.
This is resoundingly proven false in the 2007 Salzburg Festival production of director Philipp Stolzl, conductor Valery Gergiev (The wild man of music) and a high-caliber cast accompanied by the Vienna Philharmonic and its chorus. Stolzl, above all, has poured his experience as director of music videos, commercials and films into this project, termed "science fiction for Grand Opera" (Suddeutsche Zeitung), "breathtaking" (Der Standard), and "spectacularly successful" (F.A.Z.)
Berlioz hips the action forward by disguising his hero, the celebrated goldsmith and sculptor Benvenuto Cellini (1500-1571), as a monk and having him...
This is resoundingly proven false in the 2007 Salzburg Festival production of director Philipp Stolzl, conductor Valery Gergiev (The wild man of music) and a high-caliber cast accompanied by the Vienna Philharmonic and its chorus. Stolzl, above all, has poured his experience as director of music videos, commercials and films into this project, termed "science fiction for Grand Opera" (Suddeutsche Zeitung), "breathtaking" (Der Standard), and "spectacularly successful" (F.A.Z.)
Berlioz hips the action forward by disguising his hero, the celebrated goldsmith and sculptor Benvenuto Cellini (1500-1571), as a monk and having him...
Tom Cairns' cinematic film of Bernstein's chamber opera features a young and vibrant cast, set in the Fifties. This biting satire on American suburban married life stars Stephanie Novacek as Dinah and Karl Daymond as Sam, facing a serious communication breakdown - he is obsessed with his achievements in work and sport: she seeks escapism via therapy and the magical world of the latest movie release, Trouble in Tahiti . Inspired by jazz and American musical comedy, the score is a path-breaking fusion of lyric art with popular entertainment.
Bonus features:
- Introduction to Trouble in Tahiti
- Not Particularly Romantic - Humphrey Burton, Bernstein's biographer, comments on the composer's life and the significance of Trouble in Tahiti.
- A Very Testing Piece - Conductor Paul Daniel on the performance and background of the opera
Bonus features:
- Introduction to Trouble in Tahiti
- Not Particularly Romantic - Humphrey Burton, Bernstein's biographer, comments on the composer's life and the significance of Trouble in Tahiti.
- A Very Testing Piece - Conductor Paul Daniel on the performance and background of the opera
This world premiere of a gripping new work by composer Harrison Birtwistle and librettist David Harsent, commissioned by The Royal Opera, brings the monstrous, Greek mythological character to the stage. The Minotaur, part man, part beast, trapped in his labyrinth and constrained by his bloodthirsty role there, longs to discover his true identity and his own voice. Athens must pay a blood sacrifice to Crete and among the innocents is Theseus, who has come to challenge the violent Minotaur, but who also attracts the attention of Ariadne, half-sister and keeper of the monster; it is with her help he succeeds.
Bonus features:
- Documentary - Myth is Universal .
- Illustrated synopsis.
Bonus features:
- Documentary - Myth is Universal .
- Illustrated synopsis.
Director David McVicar describes Carmen as "the first ever musical", and his new production, with Anne Sofie von Otter in the title role, restores the original opéra comique as Bizet wrote it, stripping away subsequent re-workings which turned it into a grand opera. Philippe Jordan makes his Glyndebourne debut with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Glyndebourne Chorus and a cast that includes Marcus Haddock, Laurent Naouri and Lisa Milne.
Bonus features:
- Costume design
- How to fight on stage
- Illustrated synopsis
- The cast and their characters
- Choreographing Carmen
- The Gardens of Glyndebourne
Bonus features:
- Costume design
- How to fight on stage
- Illustrated synopsis
- The cast and their characters
- Choreographing Carmen
- The Gardens of Glyndebourne
The libretto, by Henri Meilac and Ludovic Halévy, is based on a novella by Prosper Mérimée. The first performance of Carmen on 3 March 1875, produced such a hostile reaction that Bizet left Paris physically and psychologically ill, and died only three months later on 3 June 1875, following two serious heart attacks. The massive scandal of the premiere may have been partially the result of Bizet's attempt to reform the Opéra Comique genre, yet it must still be said that Carmen is operatic history's most famous example of a failure being corrected by the passage of time: Carmen is now one of the most frequently performed operas in the world.
The major Spanish actress and producer Nuria Espert was brought in for the production at London's Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in 1991, while the authentic Flamenco choreography comes from Cristina Hoyos and is danced by, among others, Juan Ortego. For the musical side of this successful production Zubin Mehta had top vocalists at his disposal to perform the roles of Carmen, Don José and Escamillo.
The major Spanish actress and producer Nuria Espert was brought in for the production at London's Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in 1991, while the authentic Flamenco choreography comes from Cristina Hoyos and is danced by, among others, Juan Ortego. For the musical side of this successful production Zubin Mehta had top vocalists at his disposal to perform the roles of Carmen, Don José and Escamillo.
If Herbert von Karajan continues to be a looming presence in today's classical music world, then it is not only because of his more than 800 records and CDs, but also because of the many hours of video recordings which he produced over the course of many years. He began preserving his performances on film back in 1965 with La Boheme . His Carmen is based on his 1966 production for the Salzburg Festival with Grace Bumbry – one of the greatest interpreters of the title role in our time -, Jon Vickers, Mirella Freni and Justino Diaz in the lead roles. Perhaps the most popular opera in the world today, Carmen began its life as a failure when it was premiered in Paris in 1875. Tchaikovsky, however, who was in Paris at the time, prophesied that the opera would be a global success in only ten years. It took a little longer, but his prophecy did come true... and with works such as the Habanera , the Toreador Song , the Seguidilla and the Flower Song , how could the prophecy not come true?
Bizet's passionate tale of the self-willed gypsy woman Carmen is certainly one of the most popular works in the history of opera. It shows how a cigar factory worker in Seville enchants and bewitches the men around her. Melodies like Carmen's legendary 'Habanera'or Escamillo's 'Toreador March' are well known tunes all over the world. The Opéra Comique in Paris commissioned George Bizet to write Carmen in 1872 and Bizet's music portrays the characters with care and reveals itself to both the most naïve and the most sophisticated listener. The wild-romantic Roman quarry of St. Margarethen provided the perfect backdrop for this live recording of one of the key works of the so-called 'Hispanismo'-style. The film captures a summer's evening in 2005 when thousands of spectators gathered at one of Europe's most important open-air festivals, visited by 220.000 opera lovers annually. This exciting production brought horses, pyrotechnical special effects and more than 400 participants onto the stage.
Arrigo Boito's treatment of the Faust legend is imaginative yet also faithful to Goethe's original conception, and the score is memorable for its rich orchestral sounds, beautifully punctuated with lyrical passages and choral interludes.
Robert Carsen's sumptuous, post-modern production of Mefistofele is a gloriously decadent and theatrically stunning realisation, and the San Francisco Opera's performance has been unanimously acclaimed in both Paris and San Francisco.
Samuel Ramey, in the title role, has won both critical and overwhelming popular approval.
Robert Carsen's sumptuous, post-modern production of Mefistofele is a gloriously decadent and theatrically stunning realisation, and the San Francisco Opera's performance has been unanimously acclaimed in both Paris and San Francisco.
Samuel Ramey, in the title role, has won both critical and overwhelming popular approval.
Glyndebourne has a proud association with the operas of Benjamin Britten, however until 2010 had never staged Billy Budd . The all-male opera with a libretto co-written by EM Forster, is based on the battle between pure good and blind evil, and is set on a British man-'o-war ship.
Michael Grandage, Artistic Director of the Donmar Warehouse, chose this work to make his long-awaited operatic debut. Sir Mark Elder returned to conduct the production, marking the 100th opera production in his illustrious career.
Michael Grandage, Artistic Director of the Donmar Warehouse, chose this work to make his long-awaited operatic debut. Sir Mark Elder returned to conduct the production, marking the 100th opera production in his illustrious career.
Commissioned to celebrate the marriage of the Sun King, Louis XIV, and Marie Therese of Spain, the original production of Cavalli's Ercole Amante took two years to complete and, at the time, was the grandest show ever performed in Europe. DNO's contemporary, hilarious and surreal production, directed by David Alden, is a triumph of opera buffa, a riot of decoration and symbolism complemented by Constance Hoffman's exceptional costumes. Luca Pisaroni's Ercole is heroic and melodious in turn, Veronica Cangemi is a splendid Iole, and the Chorus of De Nederlandse Opera and Concerto Koln give a sublime performance under Ivor Bolton, a master of baroque music.
Bonus features:
- Illustrated synopsis.
- Cast gallery.
- Behind the scenes with Johanette Zomer.
- Behind the scenes with Luca Pisaroni.
- The making of Ercole Amante.
Bonus features:
- Illustrated synopsis.
- Cast gallery.
- Behind the scenes with Johanette Zomer.
- Behind the scenes with Luca Pisaroni.
- The making of Ercole Amante.
Ravel, Handel, Elgar, Stravinsky, a snippet of Puccini's Turandot, a bass-clarinet homage to George Gershwin, glissandi, hints of musicals, film music and Gilbert & Sullivan - Unsuk Chin is a master of stylistic parody, but also much more than that: she is clearly at home on every highway and byway of music history. Yet the musical house she constructs with the building blocks of the past and the present is definitely her own house, which she has designed and which self-assuredly proclaims her unmistakable individuality and style. It is a thoroughly modern house that welcomes everyone who loves music. "I did not want to write music that needs several pages of explanations to be understood," she says about her first opera, Alice in Wonderland.
Unsuk Chin, born in Seoul, Korea, in 1961, had always been fascinated by Lewis Carroll's fairy tale for children and adults. Director Achim Freyer, whose productions have been setting standards for decades, sees Chin's opera as a collection of "dream sequences," for which he has created imaginary spaces: with the help of pulleys, acrobats depict the magical characters of Alice's world and suggest the action through pantomime, and with the help of colorful masks and props. "Nightmare visions of the girl. Dream, reality, hyperreality...
Unsuk Chin, born in Seoul, Korea, in 1961, had always been fascinated by Lewis Carroll's fairy tale for children and adults. Director Achim Freyer, whose productions have been setting standards for decades, sees Chin's opera as a collection of "dream sequences," for which he has created imaginary spaces: with the help of pulleys, acrobats depict the magical characters of Alice's world and suggest the action through pantomime, and with the help of colorful masks and props. "Nightmare visions of the girl. Dream, reality, hyperreality...
Il matrimonio segreto is Cimarosa's most famous opera buffa and it is one of the few comic operas to have maintained its place in the repertoire until today. At its first performance in 1792, Austrian emperor Leopold II is reputed to have liked this masterpiece so much that he ordered the musicians to play it again from the beginning! Michael Hampe's elegant, colourful production had already won international acclaim when staged in Paris, Stockholm and London - where it won the Olivier Award for Best Opera Production. His stage direction is sensitive to the music's flow and brings a welcome clarity to the many twists and deceptions in the plot. This recording comes live from the exquisite palace rococo theatre at the Schwetzingen Festival in 1986. The Drottningholm Court Theatre Orchestra, an outstanding orchestra for early music, is specialized in music of the 17th and 18th century - their authentic interpretation sounds extremely fresh and colourful, and the playing is always full of energy and contrasts.
During the 1920s Vladimir Deshevov (1889 – 1955) was regarded as one of the most promising younger Soviet composers. Darius Milhaud, who made his acquaintance in 1926 during a visit to Leningrad, praised him in the French press as a "genius" and "extremely original". However, subsequent attempts to make his compositions better known abroad were unsuccessful. In 1929 followed Dechevov's best-known composition: Ice and Steel . But such were the ideological tensions of this period that this avant-garde work soon disappeared from the public stage. Although Dechevov was one of the chief proponents of the left wing musical avant-garde in the 1920s and explicitly came out in favour of critical appropriation of elements from Western modernism, he was not subjected to direct ideological attacks during the Stalinist era. Neither, however, despite clearly moderating his compositional style, did he succeed in obtaining a prominent position in the conformist musical culture of socialist realism that held sway after 1932. It was only after the outbreak of the Second World War that he started once again to produce major works of his own: ballet music based on classical materials and patriotic tone poems. However, these did not prevent his name from increasingly being forgotten.
A night at the opera, with a comic jewel in the great tradition of the Neapolitan opera buffa: Donizetti’s elegant take on the genre, with the verve of baritone Simone Alaimo and the virtuosity of soprano Patrizia Ciofi. Close to sixty, wealthy fuddy-duddy Don Pasquale is maddened by the idea that when he dies, all his worldly goods will go to his nephew Ernesto, whom he regards as a simpleton: hasn’t the young man fallen for Norina, charming but without a penny to her name? So Don Pasquale decides to get married himself, and produce deserving heirs. Doctor Malatesta, a family friend, introduces him to his sister, Sofronia: submissive, virtuous and hardworking, she seems to be just what Don Pasquale wants. Alas, after the wedding, the new wife turns into an insufferable shrew and a flighty spendthrift.
A comic masterpiece, Don Pasquale stands out as the final flowering of the Neapolitan opera buffa from which Donizetti borrowed his characters: the old fool, the saucy soubrette, the “Dr Headache” who always chips in at the wrong moment, and the thwarted lovers who finally have their way. Yet here the composer also adds in all his elegance and subtlety, giving his main character a depth reminiscent of the novels of Balzac.
When he composed his...
A comic masterpiece, Don Pasquale stands out as the final flowering of the Neapolitan opera buffa from which Donizetti borrowed his characters: the old fool, the saucy soubrette, the “Dr Headache” who always chips in at the wrong moment, and the thwarted lovers who finally have their way. Yet here the composer also adds in all his elegance and subtlety, giving his main character a depth reminiscent of the novels of Balzac.
When he composed his...
Acclaimed Italian conductor Maurizio Benini makes his Glyndebourne debut in Donizetti's intoxicating and deeply touching opera, whose fast-moving comic story unfolds the romantic rivalry between penniless farmhand and bumptious soldier, both vying for the love of Adina. Will the bogus Dr. Dulcamara's potion, the elixir of love, help farmhand Nemorino win her heart? Peter Auty takes the role of Nemorino with Ekaterina Siurina as Adina.
Bonus features :
- Illustrated synopsis
Bonus features :
- Illustrated synopsis
After an absence of almost twenty years L'elisir d'amore is back at the Paris Opera in a crazy version by Laurent Pelly.
The plot is simple but effective: a shy, naive young peasant buys a love philtre from a quack – all he gets, in fact, is a flask of wine – in order to win the heart of the girl he is in love with; in the end, and with no help from the philtre, she will realise that she loves him too. Add to this a sparkling musical language and marvellously inspired melodies – including the legendary "Una Furtiva Lagrima" – and you have the authentic masterpiece Donizetti turned out in just two weeks.
Transposing the plot to the Italy of the 1950s, director Laurent Pelly offers us an absolute jewel, beautifully crafted and shot through with poetry.
The plot is simple but effective: a shy, naive young peasant buys a love philtre from a quack – all he gets, in fact, is a flask of wine – in order to win the heart of the girl he is in love with; in the end, and with no help from the philtre, she will realise that she loves him too. Add to this a sparkling musical language and marvellously inspired melodies – including the legendary "Una Furtiva Lagrima" – and you have the authentic masterpiece Donizetti turned out in just two weeks.
Transposing the plot to the Italy of the 1950s, director Laurent Pelly offers us an absolute jewel, beautifully crafted and shot through with poetry.
Gaetano Donizetti may have achieved immortality with his comic operas Don Pasquale and L'Elisir d'amore, and won a lasting place in the hearts of coloratura sopranos everywhere with Maria Stuarda and Lucia di Lammermoor, but for sheer entertainment, his La Fille du Régiment can't be beat. Especially when it's served in such a saucy, light-footed way by director Laurent Pelly in this coproduction of the Vienna State Opera, London's Covent Garden and New York's Metropolitan Opera. The plot revolves around Marie, the "daughter of the regiment", who was found on the battlefield as a baby and raised by the soldiers as their daughter. She falls in love with the young Tyrolean Tonio, who joins the regiment in order to be near her. When the Marquise de Birkenfeld hears about Marie, she claims that she is her long-lost niece, whom she will turn into a lady... Her plans backfire, of course, as Marie will never abandon her Tonio and most certainly never become a lady! French soprano Natalie Dessay, not only a dazzling singer but also a gifted actress, effortlessly sweeps her castmates along in this turbulent buffo delight of an opera.
Her partner is Juan Diego Florez, one of the leading young tenors of our time. Clad in lederhosen, he cheerfully seduces Marie – and the...
Her partner is Juan Diego Florez, one of the leading young tenors of our time. Clad in lederhosen, he cheerfully seduces Marie – and the...
The phenomenal Edita Gruberova, the world's undisputed Queen of bel canto, proves once again why she deserves this title: following her tumultuously applauded concert debut as Lucrezia Borgia in Barcelona, her mesmerizing role debut in a staged version of this work took place at the Bavarian State Opera and was acclaimed just as enthusiastically, and rightly so. Her performance, noted Opera Magazine, "vindicated the Munich audience's near-idolization of her".
With Lucrezia Borgia, Gruberova follows up her recent triumphs in Roberto Devereux and Norma with another bel canto masterwork. Singing with "exquisite purity" (Opera Magazine), the soprano also beguiles with her physical presence. Stage director Christof Loy and two-time Emmy Award-winning video director Brian Large both focus on the plot's dramatic potential and Gruberova's talent for expressing it with every tone and gesture. The singer is excellently paired with young tenor Pavol Breslik as her son Gennaro. Breslik, a native of Slovakia like Gruberova, gives such a radiant interpretation of the tormented youth that he is now being hailed as "the most promising new voice among lyrical tenors" (Neue Zürcher Zeitung).
With Lucrezia Borgia, Gruberova follows up her recent triumphs in Roberto Devereux and Norma with another bel canto masterwork. Singing with "exquisite purity" (Opera Magazine), the soprano also beguiles with her physical presence. Stage director Christof Loy and two-time Emmy Award-winning video director Brian Large both focus on the plot's dramatic potential and Gruberova's talent for expressing it with every tone and gesture. The singer is excellently paired with young tenor Pavol Breslik as her son Gennaro. Breslik, a native of Slovakia like Gruberova, gives such a radiant interpretation of the tormented youth that he is now being hailed as "the most promising new voice among lyrical tenors" (Neue Zürcher Zeitung).
Based on Victor Hugo's most sensational play, Lucrece Borgia, a scandalous tale of murder, torture, incest, homosexuality, drunkenness and orgies, Donizetti's opera is one of the great masterpieces of Italian bel canto repertoire. While omitting some of its more excessive elements, the libretto by Felice Romani inspired Donizetti to compose superb arias, duets, ensembles and choruses, bringing each act to a stirring conclusion. Beautifully costumed and designed, brimming with high drama and pathos, this production stars in the infamous title role Greek diva Dimitra Theodossiou, praised for her stupendous acting and singing in Donizetti's Roberto Devereux.
In Donizetti's opera Maria Stuarda the roles of the doomed queen and her cousin, Elizabeth I, have been taken by some of the greatest divas, from Malibran to Gruberova and Tosi to Baltsa, each revelling in the high drama of their tragically linked fates. "Contributing greatly to the success of the work, the young Maestro Riccardo Frizza revealed himself as a deep and sensitive interpreter of this score, managing to capture all the nuances of Donizetti's music… Laura Polverelli portrayed with elegance and pride the character of Elizabeth, her furies, doubts and jealousies; Maria Pia Piscitelli was a wonderful Maria Stuarda, passionate, sorrowful, proud, dignified when sentenced to death, recalling her past sins yet conscious of her innocence" (MusiCulturA) .
With the release of this Maria Stuarda, recorded live in 2001, Dynamic makes an historic move, becoming the first Italian label to produce a DVD opera.
This very high quality production by Teatro Donizetti di Bergamo features, in the roles of the two queens, Carmela Remigio (Maria Stuarda) and Sonia Ganassi (Elisabetta), two great artists here making a fine display of their excellent vocal and acting skills. Francesco Esposito's direction and costumes and Italo Grassi's sets are very effective and superbly highlighted by the filming.
What makes this release even more interesting is the use of a new critical edition made by the renowned Swedish musicologist Anders Wiklund for Casa Ricordi.
Bonus features:
- Interviews with Carmela Remigio, Sonia Ganassi, Fabrizio Maria Carminati, Francesco Esposito, and Italo Grassi.
This very high quality production by Teatro Donizetti di Bergamo features, in the roles of the two queens, Carmela Remigio (Maria Stuarda) and Sonia Ganassi (Elisabetta), two great artists here making a fine display of their excellent vocal and acting skills. Francesco Esposito's direction and costumes and Italo Grassi's sets are very effective and superbly highlighted by the filming.
What makes this release even more interesting is the use of a new critical edition made by the renowned Swedish musicologist Anders Wiklund for Casa Ricordi.
Bonus features:
- Interviews with Carmela Remigio, Sonia Ganassi, Fabrizio Maria Carminati, Francesco Esposito, and Italo Grassi.
In recent years not only music festivals but also important opera theatres have turned their attention towards the neglected masterpieces of the lyrical repertoire. Thus also Venice's Teatro La Fenice, in a commendable effort, staged this Pia de' Tolomei by Donizetti, with some of the best singers available today for this type of repertoire. Initial response to this opera, which was performed for the first time in 1837, was ambiguous, so much so that Donizetti re-worked it as many as three times. The version here recorded is that of the critical edition recently published by Ricordi, with the tragic finale originally conceived by the composer. The listener will undoubtedly wonder, once more, at Donizetti's wealth of melodic inspiration, especially when it comes to the character of Pia, wonderfully interpreted here by Patrizia Ciofi.
London, 1601: love, desire and a death sentence at the English royal court – an ideal combination for an Italian grand opera, and Gaetano Donizetti's Roberto Devereux could hardly be grander or more fit for a queen, making it the ideal showcase for Edita Gruberova, and the prima donna assoluta of bel canto triumphs in this rarely performed work. In Christof Loy's production at Munich's National Theater, Gruberova sings the role of Queen Elizabeth I. Friedrich Haider conducts the chorus and orchestra of the Bavarian State Opera, and the recording is directed by Emmy award winner Brian Large. "Wavering between wounded pride, desperate love, moments of mildness and blind revenge she fashions a mad scene that takes the viewers' breath away. The furious coloraturas, the swelling tones, the outbursts, the nearly inaudible groans – everything fuses into an image of psychological desolation."
One of Donizetti's most emotionally raw operas, Roberto Devereux ossia Il conte di Essex was also the third to be loosely based on episodes in the life of Queen Elizabeth I. It deals with the love of Elizabeth and her favourite, the Earl of Essex, perhaps most tellingly expressed in the Act I duet, Nascondi, frena i palpiti, o misero mio core (Hide, hold back your palpitation, oh my wretched heart!). Elizabeth's subsequent abdication is, however, a matter of dramatic licence, yet provides a memorable operatic conclusion to this tragedy of love and jealousy as she despairs at the death of her lover – Quel sangue versato al ciel s'innalza (The blood that is spilt rises up to Heaven). Directed by Francesco Bellotto, this was the inaugural production of the Bergamo Music Festival 2006, featuring the Greek soprano and leading Donizetti specialist, Dimitra Theodossiou, and the young American baritone Andrew Schroeder, both in superb voice.
Opera North's enchanting staging of The Adventures of Pinocchio , Jonathan Dove's 21st opera, is a wittily inventive feast for the eyes and ears. A full-length, through-composed grand opera with 29 characters, a sizeable chorus and a profound symphonic score, it is overflowing with visual delights, and children will love it! A sublime achievement by Martin Duncan and team, this production shines a bright new light on Collodi's dream-like original story, full of charm, darkness and magic. The superb ensemble stars Victoria Simmonds in the title role, and the orchestra and chorus respond splendidly under David Parry's vibrant baton.
Bonus features:
- Illustrated Synopsis
- Thoughts on The Adventures of Pinocchio - Interviews with the composer, the librettist, the stage director, and the musical director
Bonus features:
- Illustrated Synopsis
- Thoughts on The Adventures of Pinocchio - Interviews with the composer, the librettist, the stage director, and the musical director
This centenary performance of Umberto Giordano's Marcella was prepared from the composer's manuscript, the score and parts having been destroyed during World War II. Recalling Verdi's La Traviata and Puccini's La Rondine , as well as Giordano's own Andrea Chenier and Fedora , Marcella is the story of a poor girl and a painter whose idyllic affair is shattered when events reveal that her true love is actually a prince incognito.
The preocupation of the composer of "minimal music", Philip Glass, with Indian music and his interest in Gandhi began in 1966 during his first visit to India where he met Ravi Shankar. Since then, the rhythmic figures of Indian music have exercised a significant influence on his music which has a strong meditative and almost hypnotic effect through the repetitive sequences of tones with minimal changes. Glass's work needs time to unfold its hypnotic effect and fascination. With his second opera Glass didn't want to draw a historic portrait of Mahatma Gandhi. Instead he used the example of Gandhi's work during the last years between 1893 and 1914 in South Africa to draw an outline of the current worldwide political and religious problems. In South Africa Gandhi formulated his theory of passive resistance and civil disobedience known as Satyagraha as a reaction to the government's discrimination against the Indian population evidenced by its denial of basic rights such as the right to vote.
Roberto Alagna as Orpheus in his brother David’s new version of the Gluck masterpiece. A major event recorded in Bologna.
Opting for the French-language version of Gluck's Orpheus , David Alagna was faced with the task of achieving an appropriately subtle adaptation. In a plot transposed to the present day, Eurydice dies in a car accident on the day of her wedding, and Orpheus's quest for his beloved is a dream beginning and ending at the cemetery. No happy ending in this interpretation, but a new approach to characterisation: Amore, sung by a baritone, becomes a funeral parlour employee and Orpheus's guide. And Orpheus, of course, loses his loved one forever by turning to look back.
The enormously talented Roberto Alagna throws himself body and soul into this production. His incredible vitality and flawless timbre and diction make him a great Orpheus. His partner, young Italian soprano Serena Gamberoni, is simply stunning as Euridice, while French baritone Marc Barrard is suitably terrifying as the guide to the Underworld. The orchestra of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna is conducted by Giampaolo Bisanti, who masterfully brings out all Gluck's poetry, romantic melancholy and depth.
Opting for the French-language version of Gluck's Orpheus , David Alagna was faced with the task of achieving an appropriately subtle adaptation. In a plot transposed to the present day, Eurydice dies in a car accident on the day of her wedding, and Orpheus's quest for his beloved is a dream beginning and ending at the cemetery. No happy ending in this interpretation, but a new approach to characterisation: Amore, sung by a baritone, becomes a funeral parlour employee and Orpheus's guide. And Orpheus, of course, loses his loved one forever by turning to look back.
The enormously talented Roberto Alagna throws himself body and soul into this production. His incredible vitality and flawless timbre and diction make him a great Orpheus. His partner, young Italian soprano Serena Gamberoni, is simply stunning as Euridice, while French baritone Marc Barrard is suitably terrifying as the guide to the Underworld. The orchestra of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna is conducted by Giampaolo Bisanti, who masterfully brings out all Gluck's poetry, romantic melancholy and depth.
Sir Charles Mackerras teases the romantic beauty from Gounod's score, which has been much admired and performed since its debut, at the Theatre Lyrique, Paris, in 1867. In this 1994 recording, the youthful Roberto Alagna as Romeo and Leontina Vaduva as the unattainable Juliette, lead an excellent cast in a touching portrayal of this story of impossible love, based on the play by William Shakespeare.
While Charles Gounod's Romeo et Juliette is less well-known than his Faust , it is blessed with four great show-stopping love duets that let its two title roles bask in lyrical luxury. In this Salzburg Festival production recorded at the Felsenreitschule, the titular heroes are the much acclaimed Mexican tenor Rolando Villazon and the young Georgian soprano Nino Machaidze – two singers and personalities with the makings of a new "dream couple".
"Villazon is "ideal" Romeo. His vocal cords seem to be grafted directly onto his heart" (Der Tagesspiegel) – a charming image that captures the singer's one-hundred-percent commitment to emotion, his hot-blooded stage artistry, and his ability to express erotic fulfillment, the blaze of passion, and the hopelessness of his fate with his voice alone. His Juliette, Nino Machaidze, unites captivating good looks with a bright, clear voice and an agile, youthful stage presence – a singer on her way to stardom!
Broadway director Bartlett Sher and his team succeed in evoking Shakespeare's Verona with a few evocative props, many fine costumes and much plot-driven action. In the eyes of many, however, the real discovery of the production is the young Montreal conductor Yannick Nezet-Seguin, who gives a vivid and...
"Villazon is "ideal" Romeo. His vocal cords seem to be grafted directly onto his heart" (Der Tagesspiegel) – a charming image that captures the singer's one-hundred-percent commitment to emotion, his hot-blooded stage artistry, and his ability to express erotic fulfillment, the blaze of passion, and the hopelessness of his fate with his voice alone. His Juliette, Nino Machaidze, unites captivating good looks with a bright, clear voice and an agile, youthful stage presence – a singer on her way to stardom!
Broadway director Bartlett Sher and his team succeed in evoking Shakespeare's Verona with a few evocative props, many fine costumes and much plot-driven action. In the eyes of many, however, the real discovery of the production is the young Montreal conductor Yannick Nezet-Seguin, who gives a vivid and...
Christopher Hogwood conducts the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and a distinguished cast including Danielle de Niese and Charles Workman in Wayne McGregor's new production of Handel's opera in which The Royal Opera and The Royal Ballet appear in a rare and beautifully crafted collaboration.
Bonus features :
- Illustrated synopsis
- Staging Acis and Galatea
Bonus features :
- Illustrated synopsis
- Staging Acis and Galatea
When one of Germany's most famous filmmakers and stimulating operatic directors focuses her creativity on a rarely performed Handel opera, the result is a "mixture of dancers and singers, comedy and pathos" (The Times). Admeto , one of Handel's most popular operas in his lifetime, was premiered in London in January 1727. Doris Dörrie, whose Japan-inspired feature film "Cherry Blossoms - Hanami" was a major German box-office hit and won several international awards, returns to her beloved Japan in this production. Flowing robes, translucent panels and the participation of Japan's Mamu Dance Theater and its choreographer/dancer Tadashi Endo add an evocative dimension to the work whose lead roles were written for a popular castrato and two rivaling primadonnas. Sensitively directed for video by Agnes Méth, who worked with Dörrie on Mozart's La finta giardiniera at the Salzburg Festival, the opera is played by Nicholas McGegan's FestspielOrchester Göttingen on period instruments. For this production, a coproduction of the Internationale Händel-Festspiele in Göttingen and the Edinburgh International Festival on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of Handel's death, Doris Dörrie was awarded the Edinburgh Festival's prestigious Herald Angel Award.
Agrippina was staged for the first time in late December 1709 - or possibly at the beginning of 1710 - at Venice's Teatro San Grisostomo and met with enormous success, as testified by twenty-seven following performances, a record number even for 18th-century standards. Agrippina 's triumph sanctioned Handel's definitive investiture as an operatic composer. After nearly 300 years this opera appears as a masterpiece of 18th-century music and an innovative work, considering that when Handel composed it he was just twenty-four years old. The composer's melodic creativity and sense of theatre are quite remarkable. The cast, conducted by Jean-Claude Malgoire, includes Véronique Gens in the title role.
Composed when he was just twenty-four, Agrippina was Handel's first theatrical success and is a sparkling example of his early work. It is full of his fresh, exuberantly inventive music and employs one of the finest librettos with which George Frederic Handel ever worked. The opera was composed and first performed in Venice in 1709 and, in a witty plot by an Italian cardinal, it tells the farcical story of the private lives of two ruthless figures in roman history, Nero and his mother Agrippina, and how they become entangled with the innocent Ottone and his lover Poppea. Typically for a Handel opera, the work is centred on a series of towering arias designed to show off the virtuosity of the singers. This beautiful production by renowned opera director Michael Hampe was recorded at the exquisite 18th century palace theatre during the Schwetzingen Festival in1985. It combines the atmosphere of a true Baroque opera with an elegant, colourful staging and brilliant musicianship. The London Baroque Players, an outstanding orchestra for early music, which specializes in the music of the 17th and 18th century, joins an accomplished cast of singers, all baroque specialists.
David McVicar's production of Giulio Cesare manages to combine serious insight with entertainment, bringing Handel's masterpiece to life in a powerful, convincing and highly intelligent way. In every line of the complex narrative the subtle nuances are apparent, reflecting perfectly the transparent and exquisite nature of Handel's musical expression. The outstanding singing of the all-star cast, led by a superb Sarah Connolly, and the vivid playing of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment under the energising baton of William Christie reveal the colour and dramatic character of Handel's music in a most delightful manner.
Bonus features :
- Illustrated Synopsis
- Danielle de Niese and the Glyndebourne experience - An informal portrait of Danielle de Niese in her first Glyndebourne season.
- Entertainment is not a dirty word - A documentary by Ferenc van Damme, including interviews with the creative team and cast.
Bonus features :
- Illustrated Synopsis
- Danielle de Niese and the Glyndebourne experience - An informal portrait of Danielle de Niese in her first Glyndebourne season.
- Entertainment is not a dirty word - A documentary by Ferenc van Damme, including interviews with the creative team and cast.
As the first collaboration ever between conductor William Christie and director Luc Bondy, this production of Hercules was the major event of the 2004 opera season. Originally Created in Aix-en-Provence in July 2004, the show then moved on to the Palais Garnier in Paris where it was recorded in December of the same year.
The Hercules received the student prize at the Golden Prague 2005.
The Hercules received the student prize at the Golden Prague 2005.
Dame Janet Baker, in one of her greatest roles, leads a cast of some of Britain's finest interpreters of Baroque opera, and their performance under the baton of Sir Charles Mackerras is one of the highest musical excellence. This video is a studio recording of John Copley's acclaimed English National Opera production.
The opera was first performed in 1724 at the Haymarket Theatre in London using castrati singers in the heroes' roles. This production follows modern practice in using women in these parts. Dame Janet's virtuoso role as Julius Caesar has been heralded as a masterful recreation of the music which Handel wrote for the finest singers of his time.
The opera was first performed in 1724 at the Haymarket Theatre in London using castrati singers in the heroes' roles. This production follows modern practice in using women in these parts. Dame Janet's virtuoso role as Julius Caesar has been heralded as a masterful recreation of the music which Handel wrote for the finest singers of his time.
This beautiful production of Handel's Serse presents a tale of intrigue, deception and true love. Xerxes, King of the Persians (the magnificent Paula Rasmussen) and his brother Arsamenes (Ann Hallenberg) are in love with Romilda. Romilda, however, only has eyes for Arsamenes, as does her sister Atalanta. Add to the mix a spurned lover, a doting father and an idiotic servant (the hilarious Matteo Peirone), and one is confronted with tragedy, comedy and romance in equal measures. Superbly performed under the baton of Christophe Rousset and Les Talens Lyriques, this is an elegant and charming production with an outstanding cast.
Teatro Real's majestic production of Handel's vivid tragedy, Tamerlano , stars a Lear-like Placido Domingo as the Turkish Sultan Bajazet, caught between pride, love and loyalty. Displaying the uniquely heroic quality of his voice, Domingo heads a superb cast, including Sara Mingardo, Monica Bacelli and Ingela Bohlin, all magnificently responsive to Paul McCreesh's authentic and luminous interpretation of the score. The stunning theatrical staging by Graham Vick provides a splendid setting for the characters and for designer Richard Hudson's extravagant Baroque-Islamic costumes, emphasising the brilliance of one of Handel's finest dramatic achievements.
Bonus features:
- Illustrated synopsis
- Interview with Paul McCreesh.
Bonus features:
- Illustrated synopsis
- Interview with Paul McCreesh.
In the Summer of 2009, the British director Nigel Lowery and the Iranian choreographer Amir Hosseinpour brought to the stage of the Berlin State Opera Unter den Linden, with colour and full of humour, the fantastic and imaginative adventures of "Racing Roland". On the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the death of Joseph Haydn, the composer's most renowned opera during his lifetime, Orlando Paladino , was performed, a heroic-comical stage piece based on Ariost's famous Versepos . Singers such as Marlis Petersen (Angelica), Tom Randle (Orlando), Alexandrina Pendatchanska (Alcina), Pietro Spagnoli (Rodomonte), Sunhae Im (Eurilla) and Victor Torres (Pasquale) performed under the musical direction of period-music specialist René Jacobs. The Freiburg Baroque Orchestra completed this high-class production giving the music a beautiful sound and lively swing.
Bo Holten's new opera The Visit of the Royal Physician was a great success with both audience and reviewers at the premiere in 2009. It is a tragic love story from one of the most dramatic periods in the history of Denmark, when new ideas almost overturned the social order. It is the 1770s, and the young, idealistic doctor Struensee dreams of creating a new and better world. He is given the chance to put his ideas into practice when, almost by coincidence, he becomes royal physician to the insane King Christian VII. Soon he is also the lover of the young Queen Caroline Mathilde. The result is a disaster for all those involved – while the old order is allowed to endure. The Visit of the Royal Physician is based on the best-selling novel by Per Olov Enquist. The performance was recorded at the Opera in Copenhagen and is conducted by the composer.
Hansel und Gretel is a fairy-tale opera (Marchenspiel) by Engelbert Humperdinck to a libretto by his sister Adelheid Wette. The idea for the opera was proposed to Humperdinck by his sister, who approached him about writing music for songs that she had written for her children for Christmas based on Hansel and Gretel . After several revisions, the musical sketches and the songs were turned into a full-scale opera.
Hansel und Gretel has been associated with Christmas since its earliest performances, and it is often performed at Christmas time. It is much admired for its folk music-inspired themes, one of the most famous being the prayer from act II.
A family classic, it grew out of a set of incidental music and, written between 1890 and 1893, it was first performed on 23 December 1893 under Richard Strauss in Weimar. The form in which the story is used in the opera derives from the collection of Ludwig Bechstein. Gertrud, the desperate mother, sends her hungry children into the wood to pick strawberries, unaware of the danger to which she exposes them until Peter, the broombinder, returns and is shocked at what she has done; both anxious parents immediately set out to find them. The thoroughly happy ending introduces another significant variation to the familiar version...
Hansel und Gretel has been associated with Christmas since its earliest performances, and it is often performed at Christmas time. It is much admired for its folk music-inspired themes, one of the most famous being the prayer from act II.
A family classic, it grew out of a set of incidental music and, written between 1890 and 1893, it was first performed on 23 December 1893 under Richard Strauss in Weimar. The form in which the story is used in the opera derives from the collection of Ludwig Bechstein. Gertrud, the desperate mother, sends her hungry children into the wood to pick strawberries, unaware of the danger to which she exposes them until Peter, the broombinder, returns and is shocked at what she has done; both anxious parents immediately set out to find them. The thoroughly happy ending introduces another significant variation to the familiar version...
Diana Damrau and Angelika Kirchschlager star in the acclaimed 2008 production of Humperdinck's famous fairytale opera, in the company of two of Britain's most revered musical figures: Thomas Allen, playing the role of the Father, and the legendary conductor Colin Davis. Directors Patrice Caurier and Moshe Leiser combine their characteristic wit and a dash of deliciously dark comedy with the opera's fairytale charm. Humperdinck's music mixes catchy folk-like songs with sumptuous instrumental colour, making the result as tunefully approachable, musically memorable and visually delightful as opera gets.
Bonus features :
- Illustrated Synopsis
- Animated cast gallery
- Interview with Colin Davis
- Fairytales feature
Bonus features :
- Illustrated Synopsis
- Animated cast gallery
- Interview with Colin Davis
- Fairytales feature
First staged at the Weimar Court Theatre under the baton of Richard Strauss in 1893, who hailed it as "a masterpiece of the highest quality", Humperdinck's debut opera Hänsel und Gretel has remained a solid favourite since its 1893 première. Engelbert Humperdinck (1854-1921) transformed Grimm's beloved fairy tale Hänsel und Gretel into opera entertainment for everyone from young children to the serious music lover; this is a tumultuous and joyful production for both children and adults. Director Katharina Thalbach cheerfully evokes a magic world of woodland sprites and candy dreams and creates an enchanting fantasy world filled with high spirits, fairytale fantasy and genial comedy. Recorded live at the world-famous Dresden Semperoper in December 2006, the production is also musically of the highest rank, with international soloists in the main roles, accompanied by the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden under Michael Hofstetter.
Besides being one of the most important Czech composers, Leoš Janáček is also among the most individual opera composers of the twentieth century, without whom one could hardly imagine the development of contemporary music. His nine stage works in particular have carried his homeland's life and customs, and also folk melodies and musical language, out into the world.
Leoš Janáček wrote the libretto for the Cunning Little Vixen himself, based on Rudolf Tešnohlidek's story of the same name, Příhody lišky Bystroušky (literally: 'The adventures of the vixen Bystrushka'). The first performance on 6 November 1924 at the Brno National Theatre was a great artistic success, and international acclaim followed with its legendary staging in 1956, at the Comic Opera in Berlin.
Leoš Janáček wrote the libretto for the Cunning Little Vixen himself, based on Rudolf Tešnohlidek's story of the same name, Příhody lišky Bystroušky (literally: 'The adventures of the vixen Bystrushka'). The first performance on 6 November 1924 at the Brno National Theatre was a great artistic success, and international acclaim followed with its legendary staging in 1956, at the Comic Opera in Berlin.
Jenufa tells a heartbreaking story of rural life in the 19th century: a baby is killed to protect a young girl's honour. This tragedy befalls the family of the old miller, the Grandmother Buryjovka, a respected figure in a small country village. The pressure of the extremely closed, morally repressive and hypocritical society leads the protagonists to inexorably holding to such traditional values as honour and respect, no matter what the costs.
The production, sung in the original Czech, was directed by French-Austrian opera director Olivier Tambosi. His version of the work was first produced at the Metropolitan Opera New York in 2003 to high acclaim and was revived there at the beginning of 2007. In 2005 it was staged in Barcelona's Gran Teatre del Liceu – once again proving the opera house to be Spain's most successful and internationally renowned stage.
The production, sung in the original Czech, was directed by French-Austrian opera director Olivier Tambosi. His version of the work was first produced at the Metropolitan Opera New York in 2003 to high acclaim and was revived there at the beginning of 2007. In 2005 it was staged in Barcelona's Gran Teatre del Liceu – once again proving the opera house to be Spain's most successful and internationally renowned stage.
The vulnerable young woman at the heart of Janacek's breakthrough opera is a signature role for the English soprano Amanda Roocroft. Here, in Stéphane Braunschweig's clear but deeply affecting production, she is partnered by the Slovak tenor Miroslav Dvorsky, as the man through whom she finds redemption, love and hope. The complex figure of the Kostelnicka becomes both tormentor and tormented in this fearless interpretation by the great dramatic soprano Deborah Polaski.
A religious mystery opera. A magnificent doomsday vision. A full length nightmare.
Dacapo' Records' very first opera DVD features Rued Langgaard's powerful vision of the coming of Antikrist in the spectacular co-production with the Royal Danish Opera and the Danish Broadcasting Corporation (DR) from 2002. No punches are pulled as the composer's breathtaking revelation unfolds with its intriguing allegorical characters and its powerful statement about the moral decay of modern society.
Bonus feature:
-Langgaard and Antikrist
Dacapo' Records' very first opera DVD features Rued Langgaard's powerful vision of the coming of Antikrist in the spectacular co-production with the Royal Danish Opera and the Danish Broadcasting Corporation (DR) from 2002. No punches are pulled as the composer's breathtaking revelation unfolds with its intriguing allegorical characters and its powerful statement about the moral decay of modern society.
Bonus feature:
-Langgaard and Antikrist
Pagliacci is often celebrated as one of the finest examples of verismo, or realist opera. It is even based on a true story: Leoncavallo's father, a judge, once presided over the trial of an actor who, in a fit of jealousy, murdered his wife immediately following a performance. Pagliacci is frequently performed along with Mascagni's one-acter Cavalleria Rusticana . Both works are strongly linked with the name of Franco Zeffirelli, the great stage and film director who has been infusing the operatic repertoire with grace, elegance and poignancy. Both his Emmy Award-winning production of Pagliacci and his Cavalleria feature international star tenor Placido Domingo.
In his position as the king's composer, Jean Baptiste Lully (1632-1687) created the opera Persée for Louis XIV. The opera was considered the crowning achievement of 17th century French music theatre and was widely recognized as Lully's greatest work. Filled with dancing, fight scenes, monsters and special effects, this truly spectacular music drama recounts the thrilling story of Perseus, son of Zeus and heroic vanquisher of the snake-haired Gorgon Medusa. More than half a century after its premiere, Louis XV chose "Persée" to open the new Royal Opera House at the Chateau de Versailles, an event that formed part of the celebrations for the future Louis XVI's marriage to Marie Antoinette. Recorded live at the Elgin Theatre, Toronto in April 2004, this staging is a dazzling spectacle of gods and goddesses, dancing scenes, flying machines and monsters with fight scenes and special effects inspired by designs from the original 17th century performance. The excellent singer-actors and the "Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and Chamber Choir" are leading specialists in early music.
An opera with a rich vein of musical ideas, sumptuous and original sets, a little-known German Romantic composer, high-level interpreters (among them Anna Caterina Antonacci): these are the ingredients of Hans Heiling, staged in 2004 in Cagliari under the scrupulous and refined baton of Renato Palumbo. There is no doubt that this timeless story of gnomes and spirits, love and suffering, supernatural powers and mortal beauty will captivate many opera lovers.
Pietro Mascagni explored many different musical styles, from the verismo of his ever-popular Cavalleria rusticana to the sentimental lyricism of Lodoletta . Amica was composed at breakneck speed, reaching completion only a month before its Monte Carlo première in 1905 conducted by the composer, and combined a return to 'realism' with a more sophisticated style of writing. Its extravagant scenic and vocal demands contributed to the opera's neglect until recent times. Set in the Savoy mountains around 1900, Amica is a 'dramatic poem in two acts' involving two brothers, Giorgio and Rinaldo, whose love for the same woman, Amica, culminates in tragedy. While today numbering among his least performed works, Amica was initially a triumph, praised for its 'passionate accent' and 'impulsive sincerity' by a contemporary critic, and deemed 'most worthy of re-evaluation' according to the composer's biographer Roger Flury.
Giancarlo del Monaco's acclaimed new production elegantly intertwines Mascagni's and Leoncavallo's well-loved operas, masterpieces which brought new levels of realism into opera through their so-called verismo style. Jesus Lopez Cobos directs a double cast of outstanding talent in this recording.
Bonus features:
- Interviews with Giancarlo del Monaco, Jesus Lopez Cobos, Violeta Urmana, Vincenzo La Scola, Vladimir Galouzine and Maria Bayo
Bonus features:
- Interviews with Giancarlo del Monaco, Jesus Lopez Cobos, Violeta Urmana, Vincenzo La Scola, Vladimir Galouzine and Maria Bayo
From "dream team" of the opera stage to "dream team" of classic and pop - Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazón have long since conquered the entire world of music. Yet while their CD Duets ranked third on the pop charts, the opera stage remains their preferred venue. And in Jules Massenet's Manon, they have found a drama worthy of their combined talents.
Manon, the tragic heroine of Massenet's work, is torn between flirtatiousness and profound love, between frivolity and deep commitment. Netrebko seems predestined for this role, with her body language alternating between girlish, introspective and carefree, and her voice radiating brilliance, warmth, mystery and longing. As the impoverished young nobleman Des Grieux, Rolando Villazón compellingly depicts the burning passion of an ultimately doomed lover with his glowing, supple, slender tenor voice.
The glittering production's distinctly Hollywood touch is due to director Vincent Paterson, who makes his operatic debut with Manon. Paterson knows what stars want: he worked his way up from dancer to director of music video clips and internationally renowned choreographer who has worked with Madonna, Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney, and staged several Broadway musicals. He also worked on films such as Dancer in the Dark,...
Manon, the tragic heroine of Massenet's work, is torn between flirtatiousness and profound love, between frivolity and deep commitment. Netrebko seems predestined for this role, with her body language alternating between girlish, introspective and carefree, and her voice radiating brilliance, warmth, mystery and longing. As the impoverished young nobleman Des Grieux, Rolando Villazón compellingly depicts the burning passion of an ultimately doomed lover with his glowing, supple, slender tenor voice.
The glittering production's distinctly Hollywood touch is due to director Vincent Paterson, who makes his operatic debut with Manon. Paterson knows what stars want: he worked his way up from dancer to director of music video clips and internationally renowned choreographer who has worked with Madonna, Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney, and staged several Broadway musicals. He also worked on films such as Dancer in the Dark,...
Every operatic composer has a title that marks a turning point, one that raises him from being almost unknown to sudden fame. For Bellini, in 1827, this was Il Pirata , for Verdi, in 1842, Nabucco . For Massenet this opera was Le Roi de Lahore . Performed for the first time in 1877 at the Palais Garnier to a resounding success - the opera ran to no fewer than 57 performances in the great Paris opera house within two years - this work contains all the characteristic elements of grand-opéra: marches and solemn processions, a ballet, use of countless extras, spectacular choral scenes, concertante sections of great length, a general exotic tint that was much appreciated at the time and a great wealth of melodic invention. The present Venetian production features a high quality cast and documents the last performance of the late conductor Marcello Viotti, who had made the critical edition of the score.
Jules Massenet's opera Werther belongs to the most favourite works of French repertoire. It is in the first wave of German Romantic literature that Massenet found the source for his doubtless most powerful work – and certainly his most popular! Might the French musician have detected in his own life the inspiration for these pages about the tormented fate of Werther and Charlotte, of their impossible love, their sighs, their unhappiness? Rarely has the author of Manon found a more poignant or fitting touch, leading the listener right inside the tempestuous soul of his characters.
It was first performed in 1892 in Vienna, and based on a famous novel by J.W.Goethe The Sorrows of Young Werther . The story of the main character Werther takes place around 1772 in Wetzlar near Frankfurt, and unveils a touching drama of two young hearts who were not allowed to find happiness, because of the conventions of the period and family conditions. When Werther meets Charlotte, he falls in love with her at first sight but is desolated after finding out she is about to marry someone else. Charlotte's jolly and optimistic sister Sophie hides her feelings she secretly cherishes towards Werther who is hopelessly infatuated with Charlotte and has numerous times, to no avail, attempted to...
It was first performed in 1892 in Vienna, and based on a famous novel by J.W.Goethe The Sorrows of Young Werther . The story of the main character Werther takes place around 1772 in Wetzlar near Frankfurt, and unveils a touching drama of two young hearts who were not allowed to find happiness, because of the conventions of the period and family conditions. When Werther meets Charlotte, he falls in love with her at first sight but is desolated after finding out she is about to marry someone else. Charlotte's jolly and optimistic sister Sophie hides her feelings she secretly cherishes towards Werther who is hopelessly infatuated with Charlotte and has numerous times, to no avail, attempted to...
Messiaen's breathtakingly intense opera on the life of St. Francis of Assisi stars Rod Gilfry as the charismatic visionary, beguiled by the glory of creation, yet fearful of both its imperfections and its transience. Pierre Audi's thoroughly engaging production for The Netherlands Opera brings out the naive imagery, the grandeur, and above all the vast tenderness of the resplendent score, revealed as a grandiose ritual with the meaning and purpose of life as its central theme. But the real drama of the work takes place in the orchestra. Elevated to stupendous heights by the sublimely inspired Ingo Metzmacher, The Hague Philharmonic and the Chorus of De Nederlandse Opera combine forces with a brilliant cast to produce the finest possible musical pilgrimage.
Bonus features:
- Illustrated Synopsis.
- Interviews : The Children
- Interviews : The Message
- Interviews : "A Chamber Piece … Really"
Bonus features:
- Illustrated Synopsis.
- Interviews : The Children
- Interviews : The Message
- Interviews : "A Chamber Piece … Really"
Eugene Scribe had presented the composer with the drama L'Africaine together with a libretto for Le Prophete as early as 1838. The world premier on 28 April 1865 was one of the outstanding social events of the Second Empire. L'Africaine was first performed at San Francisco Opera on 3 November 1972. The current performance, in the original French version, is a revival of the new production of the grande opera created by the opera house for its programme in September 1988.
Monteverdi's operatic scene for three voices Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda , with a libretto drawns from Torquato Tasso's Gerusalemme liberata , is a vivid romance set against the backdrop of the First Crusade, in which the noble knight Tancredi fights a duel with a supposed Saracen warrior only to discover, too late, that the vanquished opponent dying in his arms is non other than his beloved Clorinda in disguise. In this dramatic and intimate performance, staged with precision by Pierre Audi, musical director David Porcelijn gives great attention to the phrasing and dynamic demands of the score, leading the ASKO Ensemble and the singers to transparent brilliance.
Bonus feature:
- Introduction to Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clarinda by Roeland Hazendonk
Bonus feature:
- Introduction to Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clarinda by Roeland Hazendonk
Almost four decades before creating his Poppea , Monteverdi wrote in the preface to his fifth book of madrigals, "The modern composer must create his works solely on the basis of the truth" – a credo to which the music of his final opera is utterly faithful.
Poppea is a potent work from opera's first true creator and pioneering genius. The fact that, at the close of this highly charged dramma in musica , he allows evil to triumph over good (albeit temporarily), has frequently led to his being decried as amoral.
Monteverdi's timeless masterpiece, which creates a modern, deep involvement in performers and audiences alike, is brilliantly captured in this live recording of Pierre Audi's moving and beautifully styled production from Het Muziektheater Amsterdam.
Bonus features:
- Illustrated synopsis
- Introduction to L'incoronazione di Poppea - featuring interviews with Pierre Audi, Christophe Rousset and members of the cast.
Poppea is a potent work from opera's first true creator and pioneering genius. The fact that, at the close of this highly charged dramma in musica , he allows evil to triumph over good (albeit temporarily), has frequently led to his being decried as amoral.
Monteverdi's timeless masterpiece, which creates a modern, deep involvement in performers and audiences alike, is brilliantly captured in this live recording of Pierre Audi's moving and beautifully styled production from Het Muziektheater Amsterdam.
Bonus features:
- Illustrated synopsis
- Introduction to L'incoronazione di Poppea - featuring interviews with Pierre Audi, Christophe Rousset and members of the cast.
In some respects, Monteverdi's Orfeo (1607) is to the history of Italian opera what Dante's Divine Comedy is to the history of Italian literature: a masterpiece that stands at the very beginning of the journey. With Orfeo and the operas that followed it, Monteverdi had the substantial merit of immediately demonstrating the infinite possibilities of this new genre, which would leave an imprint on three centuries of European culture. In the present edition the French conductor Jean-Claude Malgoire is at the head of a cast of Baroque opera specialists.
Intense and refined performances by an inspired cast, led by a profound and commanding John Mark Ainsley as the legendary tragic musician, are sustained with fluent ease and obvious affection by the ensemble under Stephen Stubbs. The beautifully styled, evocative stage production, rich with Pierre Audi's trademark symbolism, accentuates the solemn serenity of Monteverdi's most famous work to create a moving and timeless experience.
Bonus features:
- Illustrated synopsis
- Introduction to the opera featuring interviews with Pierre Audi, Stephen Stubbs and members of the cast
Bonus features:
- Illustrated synopsis
- Introduction to the opera featuring interviews with Pierre Audi, Stephen Stubbs and members of the cast
Monteverdi's seminal first opera tells the dramatic story from Ovid's Metamorphoses of the descent of Orfeo (Georg Nigl) into the underworld to recover his beloved wife Euridice (Roberta Invernizzi), who has died from a snake bite. In a new production for La Scala, based on a painting by Titian and directed by Robert Wilson, the opera receives a powerful and inspiring performance from a fine cast, the Orchestra of Teatro alla Scala and Concerto Italiano under the much-admired Italian early music specialist, Rinaldo Alessandrini.
Jordi Savall directs Le Concert des Nations, La Capella Reial de Catalunya and the leading soloists of early opera in a beautiful period production of Monteverdi's favola in musica staged at Barcelona's Gran Teatre del Liceu in 2002. Gilbert Deflo's stage direction reflects the sublime art and imagery found in Mantua's Palazzo Ducale, with its famous Hall of Mirrors, where the opera was first performed in 1607. Soloists include Furio Zanasi, Montserrat Figueras, Sara Mingardo, Antonio Abete, Daniele Carnovich, Fulvio Bettini, Gerd Turk, Francesc Garrigosa and Carlos Mena.
In his penultimate opera, based on text adapted from Homer's Odyssey , Monteverdi ventures further than ever before into the depths of human emotion. In this dramma in musica human frailty falls victim to time, fortune and love. Gods and humans, comic and intensely serious characters plus spectacular scenic effects are brought together in a wonderfully rich and effective texture. Pierre Audi's highly stylised and timeless production is captured here in a live recording from Het Muziektheater Amsterdam.
Bonus features:
- Illustrated synopsis
- Introduction to Il Ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria - including interviews with Glen Wilson and Pierre Audi.
Bonus features:
- Illustrated synopsis
- Introduction to Il Ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria - including interviews with Glen Wilson and Pierre Audi.
Mozart was eleven years old when he wrote Apollo et Hyacinthus, K. 38 and Die Schuldigkeit desersten Gebots (The Obligation to Observe the First Commandment), K. 35 in 1767. Their brevity and contemporaneity made it seem fitting to entrust them to one director for their stage interpretations within the Mozart 22 project. John Dew, known and admired for his rediscoveries of long-neglected works and his highly imaginative productions, has created a semi-ironic framework that ideally suits the two little pieces. They are given a graceful musical accompaniment by the Symphony Orchestra of the Mozarteum University.
Apollo et Hyacinthus is Mozart's very first operatic venture and was commissioned soon after the successful performance of Schuldigkeit . "Apollo" is a Latin intermezzo that was intended as an insert between the prologue and the five-act school drama "Clementia Croesi." Curiously, it already contains many of the themes that would recur in Mozart's later operas: disguise, intrigue, transformation, self-discovery. The plot concerns Zephyrus' love for Melia, who is about to marry Apollo. In his jealousy, Zephyrus gravely wounds Hyacinthus with a discus and, to have Apollo banished, accuses Apollo of murder. Apollo, who saw Zephyrus throw the discus, turns the true...
Apollo et Hyacinthus is Mozart's very first operatic venture and was commissioned soon after the successful performance of Schuldigkeit . "Apollo" is a Latin intermezzo that was intended as an insert between the prologue and the five-act school drama "Clementia Croesi." Curiously, it already contains many of the themes that would recur in Mozart's later operas: disguise, intrigue, transformation, self-discovery. The plot concerns Zephyrus' love for Melia, who is about to marry Apollo. In his jealousy, Zephyrus gravely wounds Hyacinthus with a discus and, to have Apollo banished, accuses Apollo of murder. Apollo, who saw Zephyrus throw the discus, turns the true...
Ascanio in Alba, K. 111 came about through the good offices of Count Firmian, who had shared the Milan audience's enthusiasm for Mitridate and exerted his influence on the Empress in Vienna. He suggested entrusting the young Mozart with the composition of a festa teatrale for the wedding of the Empress's son, Archduke Ferdinand, and Maria Beatrice d'Este of Modena. Mozart began working on the score in late August 1771. Tailor-made for the royal wedding, the work's main function was to portray the members of the Habsburg wedding party as generous, kindly rulers and virtuous heroes. For the creative team of the production shown at the Salzburg Festival but originating at the Nationaltheater Mannheim, this specificity proved to be a rewarding challenge. Since the audience had no pre-formulated expectations with Ascanio in Alba, K. 111 , director David Hermann and his stage and costume designer Christof Hetzer sought to draw out of this unknown opera the elements that are of particular interest to us today.
Bastien und Bastienne takes up the plot of the little French opera Le devin du village (The Village Soothsayer) by the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau. The "soothsayer" Colas, a wise old shepherd, advises the unhappy shepherdess Bastienne to secure the love of the fickle Bastien by arousing his jealousy. The despairing Bastien then also seeks advice from Colas, who pretends to use magic to bring the two lovers together again. Der Schauspieldirektor revolves around an impresario's problems in assembling a group of singers for a performance.
With Die Entführung aus dem Serail and Die Zauberflöte, Mozart made immortal contributions to the genre of the German Singspiel - German-language opera with spoken dialogues. But in the course of his career, Mozart also wrote two short German-language works that are different in musical craftsmanship, but both utterly delightful: Bastien und Bastienne, K. 50 , one of Mozart's earliest dramatic works, and Der Schauspieldirektor (The Impresario), K. 486 , a mature work written at the same time as Le nozze di Figaro.
Entrusting the two operas to the world-famous Salzburg Marionette Theater for the Mozart 22 cycle was perfectly natural, especially since Bastien und Bastienne was the very first work staged by this theater...
With Die Entführung aus dem Serail and Die Zauberflöte, Mozart made immortal contributions to the genre of the German Singspiel - German-language opera with spoken dialogues. But in the course of his career, Mozart also wrote two short German-language works that are different in musical craftsmanship, but both utterly delightful: Bastien und Bastienne, K. 50 , one of Mozart's earliest dramatic works, and Der Schauspieldirektor (The Impresario), K. 486 , a mature work written at the same time as Le nozze di Figaro.
Entrusting the two operas to the world-famous Salzburg Marionette Theater for the Mozart 22 cycle was perfectly natural, especially since Bastien und Bastienne was the very first work staged by this theater...
Commissioned for the coronation of Leopold II in Prague, Mozart's last opera is a deep, humane reflection on relationships, power and forgiveness. With the composition of some of the most beautiful passages in his oeuvre, Mozart has succeeded in giving this opera seria both a noble sobriety and transparent instrumentation, to which this commanding production by the Hermann partnership does full justice on all levels. Susan Graham's most extraordinary Sesto and Christoph Pregardien's superb Tito set the standard for this riveting Opera National de Paris performance, conducted by the outstanding Sylvain Cambreling.
Bonus features:
- A masterpiece revisited - a documentary film by Reiner E. Moritz, including interviews with Ursel and Karl-Ernst Herrmann, Sylvain Cambreling, Susan Graham, Christoph Pregardien, Hannah Ester Minutillo, Ekaterina Siurina, Catherine Naglestad and Gerard Mortier
- Illustrated Synopsis
Bonus features:
- A masterpiece revisited - a documentary film by Reiner E. Moritz, including interviews with Ursel and Karl-Ernst Herrmann, Sylvain Cambreling, Susan Graham, Christoph Pregardien, Hannah Ester Minutillo, Ekaterina Siurina, Catherine Naglestad and Gerard Mortier
- Illustrated Synopsis
Mozart's genius in setting to music Da Ponte's comic play of love, infidelity and forgiveness marks Cosi fan tutte as one of the great works of art from the Age of Enlightenment. Nicholas Hytner's beautiful new production, with its sure touch and theatrical know-how, lives up to its promise to be "shockingly traditional", while Ivan Fischer teases artful performances from an outstanding international cast of convincing young lovers.
Bonus features :
- Illustrated Synopsis
- Interview with Ivan Fischer
- Interview with Nicholas Hytner
- Cast Feature
- Animated Gallery
Bonus features :
- Illustrated Synopsis
- Interview with Ivan Fischer
- Interview with Nicholas Hytner
- Cast Feature
- Animated Gallery
Don Alfonso is convinced that the sweethearts of the two soldiers Ferrando and Guglielmo, Dorabella and Fiordiligi, would be unfaithful to them, given the opportunity. The two soldiers are convinced otherwise and bet with him. With the help of the young ladies' maid Despina, Alfonso devises an elaborate scheme to make the two young women believe their lovers have gone off to the army. Then he brings back the two young men, now disguised as "Albanians." Dorabella and Fiordiligi are smitten, and soon fall in love with the handsome strangers, but not with the "right" ones.
In their light-footed, witty and poetic staging, the Herrmanns took advantage of the wide stage of the Grosses Festspielhaus to create a luminous and elegantly minimalist landscape dotted with a few sparing but stylish props. The lovers are portrayed with verve and compelling emotional confusion by Ana María Martinez (Fiordiligi) and Sophie Koch (Dorabella) as the two sisters, and Stéphane Degout (Guglielmo) and Shawn Mathey (Ferrando) as the cocky soldiers who learn that lying isn't the best way to find out the truth. Thomas Allen (Don Alfonso) and the great Helen Donath (Despina) add their incomparable stage presence to the action. Conductor Manfred Honeck entices a wondrous delicacy and tenderness from the...
In their light-footed, witty and poetic staging, the Herrmanns took advantage of the wide stage of the Grosses Festspielhaus to create a luminous and elegantly minimalist landscape dotted with a few sparing but stylish props. The lovers are portrayed with verve and compelling emotional confusion by Ana María Martinez (Fiordiligi) and Sophie Koch (Dorabella) as the two sisters, and Stéphane Degout (Guglielmo) and Shawn Mathey (Ferrando) as the cocky soldiers who learn that lying isn't the best way to find out the truth. Thomas Allen (Don Alfonso) and the great Helen Donath (Despina) add their incomparable stage presence to the action. Conductor Manfred Honeck entices a wondrous delicacy and tenderness from the...
Director Claus Guth's production of Mozart's da Ponte trilogy for the
Salzburg Festival reaches its sensational conclusion with his elegant,
stylish production from the "Haus für Mozart". Guth bolsters the unity of the cycle by making ingenious reference to his stagings of the first two works, Le nozze di Figaro and Don Giovanni . His widely acclaimed production of the trilogy, which began in the Mozart Year 2006, consolidates Guth's international reputation as one of the most sought-after stage directors of our time. Among his other major successes are Der fliegende Hollander in Bayreuth and Luisa Miller at the Bavarian State Opera.
Guth assembles a superb ensemble of young singers who toy with love and trust under the cynical gaze of "ringmaster" Bo Skovhus' Don Alfonso and his foxy, temperamental sidekick Despina, played by fiery young soprano Patricia Petitbon. Baritone Florian Boesch and tenor Topi Lehtipuu ideally complement their frisky partners Miah Persson and Isabel Leonard. Conductor Adam Fischer keeps the tempi brisk and the Wiener Philharmoniker on their toes in his layered reading of the score. "Uno spettacolo superbo", wrote the Corriere della Sera.
Salzburg Festival reaches its sensational conclusion with his elegant,
stylish production from the "Haus für Mozart". Guth bolsters the unity of the cycle by making ingenious reference to his stagings of the first two works, Le nozze di Figaro and Don Giovanni . His widely acclaimed production of the trilogy, which began in the Mozart Year 2006, consolidates Guth's international reputation as one of the most sought-after stage directors of our time. Among his other major successes are Der fliegende Hollander in Bayreuth and Luisa Miller at the Bavarian State Opera.
Guth assembles a superb ensemble of young singers who toy with love and trust under the cynical gaze of "ringmaster" Bo Skovhus' Don Alfonso and his foxy, temperamental sidekick Despina, played by fiery young soprano Patricia Petitbon. Baritone Florian Boesch and tenor Topi Lehtipuu ideally complement their frisky partners Miah Persson and Isabel Leonard. Conductor Adam Fischer keeps the tempi brisk and the Wiener Philharmoniker on their toes in his layered reading of the score. "Uno spettacolo superbo", wrote the Corriere della Sera.
Wit and astute theatrical awareness are the hallmarks of this exceptional vision of Mozart's and Da Ponte's famous masterpieces, directed by the duo Jossi Wieler and Sergio Morabito. Set in a 1960s youth hostel, Cosi fan tutte is a charmingly original tableau of adolescent inexperience, while Le nozze di Figaro , set in a car showroom, exemplifies the delicate balance between love's shadowy manipulation and its cheerful innocence. Don Giovanni , by contrast, is a breathtaking, sinister game of voyeuristic intimacy and brutal violence. Ingo Metzmacher and a sparkling ensemble and cast underscore this unique vision of a kaleidoscope of human emotions with commitment and vitality.
Bonus features :
- Illustrated synopses - Cosi fan tutte , Le nozze di Figaro , Don Giovanni
- Introductions: The Trilogy , Cosi fan tutte , Le nozze di Figaro , Don Giovanni
Bonus features :
- Illustrated synopses - Cosi fan tutte , Le nozze di Figaro , Don Giovanni
- Introductions: The Trilogy , Cosi fan tutte , Le nozze di Figaro , Don Giovanni
Filmed at the 1954 Salzburg Festival, this restored and technically enhanced recording of Don Giovanni is more than simply a superb performance of one of the world's most lastingly popular operas with an exquisite cast led by Cesare Siepi, Elisabeth Grummer and Lisa della Casa. It is the last visual document of Wilhelm Furtwangler's art, the legacy of a great conductor. A giant among 20th-century conductors, Wilhelm Furtwangler was associated for many years with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. After the war, he discovered a new, exceptionally rewarding venue for his artistry at the Salzburg Festival. Beginning with Fidelio in 1948, Furtwangler ushered in a golden age of memorable performances in Salzburg.
Don Giovanni is one of the timeless classics of all opera. Mozart's music, and the words of his great collaborator Da Ponte, are brought to life in Francesca Zambello's engrossing production from 2002 with its rich and colourful designs by Maria Bjornson. The music is memorable, dramatic and enjoyable: from the seductive solo voices of the famous 'La ci darem la mano' to the fabulous ensemble as Don Giovanni's infatuated conquests, vengeful victims and their outraged relatives join forces for justice. And retribution does finally come to Don Giovanni, a serial womanizer and a murderer, with the searing flames of Hell ready to engulf him. Simon Keenlyside heads the outstanding cast, conducted by renowned Mozart expert Charles Mackerras.
Bonus Features
- Synopsis
- Cast gallery
- Into the Royal Opera House
- A Backstage Tour
- Antonio Pappano in conversation with Charles Mackerras and Francesca Zambello
Bonus Features
- Synopsis
- Cast gallery
- Into the Royal Opera House
- A Backstage Tour
- Antonio Pappano in conversation with Charles Mackerras and Francesca Zambello
Il dissoluto punito, ossia Il Don Giovanni is the full title of the opera that is widely held to be the most perfect work of its genre. Luckily, it is known today merely as Don Giovanni , a title that far better evokes the hero in all of his seductive power, his disregard for the social order, his merry wantonness. It is this hero who fascinated Mozart, not the "dissolute punito" - the "rake punished" - who harks back to the morals and conventions of the late 18th century.
As sung by baritone Thomas Hampson, who made his international breakthrough as Don Giovanni under Harnoncourt in 1987, the title hero superbly incarnates the aging rake and emotional anarchist who's seen and done everything. Ildebrando D'Arcangelo plays his servant without exaggeration, as an astute observer. While Melanie Diener dazzles as Donna Elvira, it is Christine Schafer and Piotr Beczala who, with their powerful stage presence, give exceptionally unforgettable performances as Donna Anna and Don Ottavio.
Director Martin Kusej interprets Don Giovanni with compelling images that cast the rake as a child of today's consumer society, a man who acquires women, uses them and disposes of them after consumption. Happiness can be bought - but the specter of retribution is never far away, as in the...
As sung by baritone Thomas Hampson, who made his international breakthrough as Don Giovanni under Harnoncourt in 1987, the title hero superbly incarnates the aging rake and emotional anarchist who's seen and done everything. Ildebrando D'Arcangelo plays his servant without exaggeration, as an astute observer. While Melanie Diener dazzles as Donna Elvira, it is Christine Schafer and Piotr Beczala who, with their powerful stage presence, give exceptionally unforgettable performances as Donna Anna and Don Ottavio.
Director Martin Kusej interprets Don Giovanni with compelling images that cast the rake as a child of today's consumer society, a man who acquires women, uses them and disposes of them after consumption. Happiness can be bought - but the specter of retribution is never far away, as in the...
Wild animals live in the woods. Robbers hide there. Mystery is at home there. And, when the woods are on the stage of Salzburg's Haus fur Mozart, a notorious ladies' man and his unsavory accomplice can also find shelter there. For here, in the dense forest planted by director Claus Guth, is the home of the rugged macho Don Giovanni, who, assisted by Leporello, lures the ladies with the heady scent of danger. In Guth's almost cinematic Salzburg Festival production, every character in Mozart's most realistic opera seems to carry a back-story of thwarted love and frustration. Everyone appears to be seeking either salvation or damnation in the woods – a compelling concept that removes the opera from its traditional pseudo-Seville squares and palaces.
Don Giovanni is played by Christopher Maltman. Donna Anna, played by Annette Dasch, Donna Elvira by Dorothea Roschmann and Zerlina by Ekaterina Siurina. With a physique as striking as his full-bodied baritone voice, Maltman embodies Don Giovanni as an almost reluctant seducer, a man fated to bring misery to women and, ultimately, to himself. Next to Maltman, it is Uruguayan bass-baritone Erwin Schrott who rivets the audience in this production: "Schrott's Leporello is an event in his own right, the event of the Salzburg Don...
Don Giovanni is played by Christopher Maltman. Donna Anna, played by Annette Dasch, Donna Elvira by Dorothea Roschmann and Zerlina by Ekaterina Siurina. With a physique as striking as his full-bodied baritone voice, Maltman embodies Don Giovanni as an almost reluctant seducer, a man fated to bring misery to women and, ultimately, to himself. Next to Maltman, it is Uruguayan bass-baritone Erwin Schrott who rivets the audience in this production: "Schrott's Leporello is an event in his own right, the event of the Salzburg Don...
Lluis Pasqual's powerful new production for the Spanish capital sets da Ponte's timeless story of sleaze and seduction into the dark world of 1940s Spain. Carlos Alvarez, in the title role, toys with the affections of Donna Anna, Zerlina and the Spanish lady Donna Elvira, before his overpowering methods finally bring his own destruction.
Bonus feature:
- Interview with Carlos Alvarez
Bonus feature:
- Interview with Carlos Alvarez
Johan Simons' feisty production of Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail is an intelligently innovative account of Mozart's 1782 comic tale of abduction, love, loyalty and forgiveness. Kurt Rydl's Osmin is hilarious, with just the right edge of latent thuggery; Mojca Erdmann's smart and cheeky Blonde sports a red riding coat, high latex boots and a belt that she is not afraid to use on the men! Laura Aikin's Konstanze, torn between true love and obligation, reveals a vast range of human emotions and Edgaras Montvidas' Belmonte portrays his coming-of-age with clarity and genuine charisma. The performance is whipped up to a feverish pitch in the pit by Constantinos Carydis, the orchestra and chorus responding with fleet virtuosity. This ground-breaking performance delivers everything one could wish for from a Mozart opera, combining thrilling energy with a profound sense of lyrical beauty and truth.
Bonus features:
- Illustrated synopsis and cast gallery.
- Interviews with the cast.
- Behind the scenes documentary.
Bonus features:
- Illustrated synopsis and cast gallery.
- Interviews with the cast.
- Behind the scenes documentary.
The plot couldn't be simpler: the Spanish nobleman Belmonte must free his fiancee Konstanze, her English maid Blonde and Belmonte's servant Pedrillo from the clutches of the Turkish Bassa, or Pasha, Selim. Belmonte must sneak into the pasha's seraglio and sneak back out again, all the while eluding and outsmarting Osmin, the overseer of the harem. With his Salzburg production of 2003, young Norwegian director Stefan Herheim raised a storm of controversy that continued to crackle in 2006, when the production was revised for the Mozart 22 cycle.
Giving powerful accounts of their difficult roles is a top-notch cast dominated by Laura Aikin as Konstanze and Charles Castronovo as Belmonte. With her elegiac Andante arias, Aikin is an oasis of calm and nobility. Castronovo suggests his own vulnerability with his wonderfully lyrical timbre. At the head of the Mozarteum Orchestra, Ivor Bolton once again confirms his reputation as a dynamic and sensitive interpreter of Baroque and Classical operas. The clarity and wisdom of his music-making provide an astute contrast to the turbulent activity on stage. Indeed, the marriage of orchestra and voices evokes the image of the stage of life: on the surface, everything is in motion; below, order rules - but it is an order that is often lost in...
Giving powerful accounts of their difficult roles is a top-notch cast dominated by Laura Aikin as Konstanze and Charles Castronovo as Belmonte. With her elegiac Andante arias, Aikin is an oasis of calm and nobility. Castronovo suggests his own vulnerability with his wonderfully lyrical timbre. At the head of the Mozarteum Orchestra, Ivor Bolton once again confirms his reputation as a dynamic and sensitive interpreter of Baroque and Classical operas. The clarity and wisdom of his music-making provide an astute contrast to the turbulent activity on stage. Indeed, the marriage of orchestra and voices evokes the image of the stage of life: on the surface, everything is in motion; below, order rules - but it is an order that is often lost in...
Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail (The Abduction from the Seraglio) is one of Mozart's five great repertoire operas alongside Le nozze di Figaro , Don Giovanni , Cosi fan tutte and Die Zauberflote . A typical "Singspiel", a form in which all the dialogue is spoken rather than sung, it was a great success during Mozart's lifetime and to this day has not lost any of its magic. Mozart was twenty-six when he wrote this opera, which was commissioned by a Viennese Theatre and premiered in 1782. The production for the Schwetzingen Festival in May 1991, which was amusingly staged by Michael Hampe, was recorded in the small, jewel-like Rococo Palace Theatre. Gianluigi Gelmetti led his excellent soloists, including international stars Ruth Ann Swenson and Kurt Rydl to an ensemble performance of great unity. The combination of colourful and imaginative sets and costumes and musical excellence brings the story about Westeners in a Turkish harem convincingly home to the viewers.
Belfiore believes he has killed his betrothed, Violante, in a fit of
jealousy. He flees in panic - which does not prevent him from falling for Arminda, who then spurns her admirer Ramiro in favor of Belfiore. Violante, meanwhile, searches for her lover with her servant Roberto. Under a false name, she takes a post as gardener on the estate of Don Anchise; her servant passes himself off as her cousin. While Anchise pursues Violante, Roberto romances the maid. The labyrinth of pursuit and deception becomes completely entangled when Belfiore, his new conquest Arminda and her persistent admirer Ramiro turn up on the estate...
The Mozart 22 production of La finta giardiniera was placed in the hands of Doris Dorrie, a noted filmmaker and, more recently, director of controversial opera productions. Asked why she set the work in a garden center, Dorrie replied: "It's a market of emotions! The plants represent feelings, the garden is our little paradise. We all have the same dream, which is why we buy so much equipment, chemicals, even weapons to keep our garden under control. It must be kept in its boundaries, for just as an uncontrolled garden can mutate into a wild jungle, so can uncontrolled emotions, proliferating like wild plants, become dangerous to us."
The rousing...
jealousy. He flees in panic - which does not prevent him from falling for Arminda, who then spurns her admirer Ramiro in favor of Belfiore. Violante, meanwhile, searches for her lover with her servant Roberto. Under a false name, she takes a post as gardener on the estate of Don Anchise; her servant passes himself off as her cousin. While Anchise pursues Violante, Roberto romances the maid. The labyrinth of pursuit and deception becomes completely entangled when Belfiore, his new conquest Arminda and her persistent admirer Ramiro turn up on the estate...
The Mozart 22 production of La finta giardiniera was placed in the hands of Doris Dorrie, a noted filmmaker and, more recently, director of controversial opera productions. Asked why she set the work in a garden center, Dorrie replied: "It's a market of emotions! The plants represent feelings, the garden is our little paradise. We all have the same dream, which is why we buy so much equipment, chemicals, even weapons to keep our garden under control. It must be kept in its boundaries, for just as an uncontrolled garden can mutate into a wild jungle, so can uncontrolled emotions, proliferating like wild plants, become dangerous to us."
The rousing...
Munich's court theater was the venue for the premiere of Mozart’s Idomeneo on 29 January 1781; today, it hosts another premiere of this same work, now to celebrate the reopening of this sparkling Rococo gem of a theater, now known after its architect as the Cuvilliés Theater. Restored at the cost of over 25 million euros, the theater provides an exultant red, gold and white setting for Mozart's opera seria, which is considered as the first of the seven uncontested masterworks of Mozart's dramatic oeuvre.
Drama keynotes Idomeneo, which is drenched in endless despair, the constant threat of death, and the destructive passions of jealousy and hatred. For having saved his life, King Idomeneo promises Neptune to sacrifice the first person he encounters. Unfortunately, this happens to be his son Idamante, who is torn between two women: the Trojan Princess Ilia, whom he loves, and the Greek Princess Elettra, who desperately wants to marry him and ascend the throne.
Mozart's highly expressive music is given a passionate reading by conductor Kent Nagano, who leads his singers and players with brisk energy. The dark, full sound of the Bayerisches Staatsorchester provides lush underpinnings for the bravura arias and glittering coloraturas. In the title role, John Mark...
Drama keynotes Idomeneo, which is drenched in endless despair, the constant threat of death, and the destructive passions of jealousy and hatred. For having saved his life, King Idomeneo promises Neptune to sacrifice the first person he encounters. Unfortunately, this happens to be his son Idamante, who is torn between two women: the Trojan Princess Ilia, whom he loves, and the Greek Princess Elettra, who desperately wants to marry him and ascend the throne.
Mozart's highly expressive music is given a passionate reading by conductor Kent Nagano, who leads his singers and players with brisk energy. The dark, full sound of the Bayerisches Staatsorchester provides lush underpinnings for the bravura arias and glittering coloraturas. In the title role, John Mark...
Written for the court of Munich in 1780/81, Idomeneo is often regarded as the first of the seven undisputed masterworks in Mozart's dramatic oeuvre. Never before had he cast such bold, impassioned music into a dramatic form or devised such a well-calibrated dramaturgy. Was it the plot that drove Mozart to such extremes of expressive power? The story evokes countless other opera seria subjects: King Idomeneo has promised to sacrifice to Neptune the first person he meets if he is saved from shipwreck; this turns out to be his son Idamante, who stands between two women, the Trojan Princess Ilia, whom he loves, and the Greek princess Elettra, who loves him. Four people on the edge of the abyss, drawn together by passion, torn apart by reasons of state...
Such an extraordinary work deserves an exceptional interpretation. And this is ensured by Sir Roger Norrington and the Camerata Salzburg playing on an "island" (the action unfolds on Crete) surrounded by narrow ramps on which the singers, literally "on the edge of the abyss," pace about in search of one another, of love, of redemption... Simplicity and elegance stamp both the production of Ursel and Karl-Ernst Herrmann, and the playing of the Camerata Salzburg. Norrington entices entire catalogues of nuances from his players,...
Such an extraordinary work deserves an exceptional interpretation. And this is ensured by Sir Roger Norrington and the Camerata Salzburg playing on an "island" (the action unfolds on Crete) surrounded by narrow ramps on which the singers, literally "on the edge of the abyss," pace about in search of one another, of love, of redemption... Simplicity and elegance stamp both the production of Ursel and Karl-Ernst Herrmann, and the playing of the Camerata Salzburg. Norrington entices entire catalogues of nuances from his players,...
Even though in recent years Idomeneo has been staged more frequently, this Mozart masterpiece can hardly be counted among the operas (the Da Ponte trilogy in primis) that made of the Salzburg composer one of the greatest operatic composers of all times. Yet Idomeneo was, in its day, a revolutionary work, animated by music that appears remarkably innovative and profoundly theatrical.
The Irrfahrten (Odysseys) trilogy comprises three independent, self-contained performances that are motivically interwoven into a compelling whole through a great variety of references. Various artistic genres - music, theater, dance and video - are fused into an original form of music theater that could very well point to the future. The trilogy was conceived by Joachim Schlömer, a noted dancer, choreographer and director. He sees his project as the "odyssey of an artist from external control to self-determination" (Schlömer). This concerns not only Mozart himself, but also the artist in general, and, by extension, everyone who has overcome a crisis in their life to achieve their personal freedom.
At the beginning of the trilogy is the twelve-year-old Mozart's first opera buffa, La finta semplice (The Make-Believe Simpleton), a full-length opera with commedia dell'arte-style characters. "The music," says Schlömer, "tells of wanting something - even if the characters still don't really know what they want." The second Odyssey, Abendempfindung (Evening Sensation), a pasticcio of Mozart arias, songs, instrumental pieces (including some for the rare and evocative glass harmonica) and letters. The great Ann Murray is the featured performer here. The third Odyssey, Rex...
At the beginning of the trilogy is the twelve-year-old Mozart's first opera buffa, La finta semplice (The Make-Believe Simpleton), a full-length opera with commedia dell'arte-style characters. "The music," says Schlömer, "tells of wanting something - even if the characters still don't really know what they want." The second Odyssey, Abendempfindung (Evening Sensation), a pasticcio of Mozart arias, songs, instrumental pieces (including some for the rare and evocative glass harmonica) and letters. The great Ann Murray is the featured performer here. The third Odyssey, Rex...
Following the success of his Mitridate, Mozart received another commission to write an opera for Milan, a dramma per musica in three acts. He began working on Lucio Silla in late 1772, while on his third trip to Italy. Although the rehearsals were fraught with problems caused by recalcitrant singers, the work was nevertheless given 26 performances to full houses. Yet despite this success, Lucio Silla was the last opera Mozart wrote for Italy.
"I see it as a kind of political thriller, the story of a plot against an inhuman regime. [...] Lucio Silla is, in my opinion, one of the few truly political pieces by Mozart." Director Jürgen Flimm conceived his production accordingly, delivering a taut and often breathtakingly raw interpretation of the story of the dictator Lucio Silla. Although the action unfolds in ancient Rome, Flimm has transposed it to Mozart's day, when absolutistic monarchs still held sway over Europe.
Coveting the betrothed of the senator Cecilio, the dictator Silla exiles the senator and declares him dead. Giunia, however, wards off Silla's advances and is happily reunited with Cecilio when he secretly returns. But Silla refuses to yield and tries to force Giunia to give herself to him. She refuses once, she refuses twice... Then Silla publicly...
"I see it as a kind of political thriller, the story of a plot against an inhuman regime. [...] Lucio Silla is, in my opinion, one of the few truly political pieces by Mozart." Director Jürgen Flimm conceived his production accordingly, delivering a taut and often breathtakingly raw interpretation of the story of the dictator Lucio Silla. Although the action unfolds in ancient Rome, Flimm has transposed it to Mozart's day, when absolutistic monarchs still held sway over Europe.
Coveting the betrothed of the senator Cecilio, the dictator Silla exiles the senator and declares him dead. Giunia, however, wards off Silla's advances and is happily reunited with Cecilio when he secretly returns. But Silla refuses to yield and tries to force Giunia to give herself to him. She refuses once, she refuses twice... Then Silla publicly...
Mozart's fourth opera – written when he was only 14 – displays all the hallmarks of the fresh, inventive writing that was to flourish into extraordinary genius in his later works and, with a cast as good as this, The Royal Opera's production takes Mitridate, re di Ponto to the highest levels of operatic achievement. Based on a play by Jean Racine, it is a story of jealous love and political intrigue.
Widely acclaimed as one of the absolute top productions of the Mozart 22 cycle in Salzburg, Mitridate has everything going for it. It is a wild story of erotic desire, jealousy, intrigue and betrayal; a dramatically focused staging that does full justice to the conflicted relations; a cast of singers who are all of the highest caliber; and a sensational musical ensemble led by a singularly powerful and charismatic conductor.
Indeed, the real star of this production is conductor Marc Minkowski, who is famed for his recordings of Baroque music with his ensemble Les Musiciens du Louvre - Grenoble, who also play on this recording. It is nothing less than phenomenal how Minkowski storms into the score and unleashes raw emotions encompassing everything from happiness and tenderness to madness and murderous jealousy. As he plumbs the depths of this music, he carries his singers on his orchestra's richly nuanced fabric, whips them along impetuously, and envelops them in opulent sounds.
In stage director Günter Krämer and his set designer Jürgen Bäckmann, Minkowski found partners on a par with his vibrant talent. Through cleverly placed mirrors, Krämer reveals what's going on "behind the scenes" at the same time that we see what is occurring before our eyes - a breathtaking...
Indeed, the real star of this production is conductor Marc Minkowski, who is famed for his recordings of Baroque music with his ensemble Les Musiciens du Louvre - Grenoble, who also play on this recording. It is nothing less than phenomenal how Minkowski storms into the score and unleashes raw emotions encompassing everything from happiness and tenderness to madness and murderous jealousy. As he plumbs the depths of this music, he carries his singers on his orchestra's richly nuanced fabric, whips them along impetuously, and envelops them in opulent sounds.
In stage director Günter Krämer and his set designer Jürgen Bäckmann, Minkowski found partners on a par with his vibrant talent. Through cleverly placed mirrors, Krämer reveals what's going on "behind the scenes" at the same time that we see what is occurring before our eyes - a breathtaking...
Recorded at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in June 2004, this Marriage of Figaro was unanimously acclaimed by the public and critics alike as a Mozart opera landmark.
Director Jean-Louis Martinoty brings an elegantly intelligent narrative sense to an interpretation in which the protagonists, against a backdrop of magnificent canvases of 18th-century inspiration, are dressed by Sylvie de Segonzac in a palette in which every shade is perfect. Hans Schavernoch's set suggests an elitist society that is coming apart at the seams.
René Jacobs's conducting of Concerto Köln is meticulous and perfectly balanced, offering a ravishing use of tonal colour and orchestral dynamics.
A veteran Almaviva, the excellent Pietro Spagnoli plays opposite Annette Dasch's beauteous Countess. As Figaro and Susanna, Luca Pisaroni and Rosemary Joshua are a truly sparkling couple, while mezzo Angelika Kirchschlager embodies the most divinely troubling Cherubino.
Director Jean-Louis Martinoty brings an elegantly intelligent narrative sense to an interpretation in which the protagonists, against a backdrop of magnificent canvases of 18th-century inspiration, are dressed by Sylvie de Segonzac in a palette in which every shade is perfect. Hans Schavernoch's set suggests an elitist society that is coming apart at the seams.
René Jacobs's conducting of Concerto Köln is meticulous and perfectly balanced, offering a ravishing use of tonal colour and orchestral dynamics.
A veteran Almaviva, the excellent Pietro Spagnoli plays opposite Annette Dasch's beauteous Countess. As Figaro and Susanna, Luca Pisaroni and Rosemary Joshua are a truly sparkling couple, while mezzo Angelika Kirchschlager embodies the most divinely troubling Cherubino.
Lorenzo da Ponte's libretto and Mozart's music were to transform the stock characters of the opera buffa tradition into real human beings, making Le Nozze di Figaro one of the most sophisticated operas of all time. A charming, expressive and witty Figaro, Lorenzo Regazzo leads a sparkling cast to illustrate superbly the timeless humanity of this masterpiece. Christoph Marthaler's take on Mozart's classic is both daringly original and highly contemporary, the setting transposed to a wedding-dress shop lit with neon lights and a shabby register office.
Bonus features:
- Illustrated Synopsis
- A Day of Real Madness – A documentary film by Reiner E. Moritz, including interviews with the cast and creative crew
Bonus features:
- Illustrated Synopsis
- A Day of Real Madness – A documentary film by Reiner E. Moritz, including interviews with the cast and creative crew
In David McVicar's spellbinding production of Le nozze di Figaro the break-down of the relationship between Finley's suave, dashingly self-absorbed Count and Roschmann's passionately dignified Countess lies at the heart of the opera. The struggle to rekindle their love contrasts tragic-comically with the sexy ease between a feisty Figaro (Erwin Schrott) and a sassy Susanna (Miah Persson) and the tenacious spark that remains between Marcellina (Graciela Araya) and Bartolo (Jonathan Veira). Antonio Pappano conducts (and accompanies the recitatives) with invigorating wit and emotional depth, allowing the ensemble to capture the moments of dramatic tension to perfection and engaging fully with the rhythm of an already classic production, captured in High Definition video and surround sound.
Bonus features:
- The Magic of Mozart - Interviews with Antonio Pappano, David McVicar and principal cast.
- Illustrated Synopsis
Bonus features:
- The Magic of Mozart - Interviews with Antonio Pappano, David McVicar and principal cast.
- Illustrated Synopsis
Anna Netrebko, Christine Schäfer, Dorothea Röschmann, Bo Skovhus and Ildebrando D'Arcangelo under the direction of Nikolaus Harnoncourt and accompanied by the Vienna Philharmonic - this Marriage of Figaro is a feast for musical gourmets. Of all the Mozart 22 productions of the Salzburg Festival's Mozart year 2006, Figaro is no doubt the most popular, both among connoisseurs and amateurs - perhaps because it is above all a triumph of superior music-making.
The story is well-known, the work is fast-moving, witty, touching and vibrant. Based on a politically and socially explosive comedy by Beaumarchais, but toned down by Mozart's librettist Lorenzo da Ponte, it treats the topic of love, lust and justice among the various classes: nobility, indentured servants and the rising bourgeoisie. The joy of the work lies above all in its characters, which are perhaps the most "human" human beings to be found on the opera stage.
Harnoncourt's musical concept is meticulously worked-out, interpreted with a wealth of subtle nuances and, with respect to the madness of the romantic intrigues unfolding on the stage, nothing less than thought-provoking. Director Claus Guth's staging fits the music like a glove: there are no farcical elements or slapstick; he takes each and every character...
The story is well-known, the work is fast-moving, witty, touching and vibrant. Based on a politically and socially explosive comedy by Beaumarchais, but toned down by Mozart's librettist Lorenzo da Ponte, it treats the topic of love, lust and justice among the various classes: nobility, indentured servants and the rising bourgeoisie. The joy of the work lies above all in its characters, which are perhaps the most "human" human beings to be found on the opera stage.
Harnoncourt's musical concept is meticulously worked-out, interpreted with a wealth of subtle nuances and, with respect to the madness of the romantic intrigues unfolding on the stage, nothing less than thought-provoking. Director Claus Guth's staging fits the music like a glove: there are no farcical elements or slapstick; he takes each and every character...
Critics were unanimous in their praise of the opening production of the Mozart 22 project at the Salzburg Festival 2006: the premiere of the serenata Il rè pastore, K. 208 . It was composed in early 1775 for the visit to Salzburg of Archduke Maximilian. As in La finta giardiniera of the previous year, it takes up the motif of the trials of love and virtue in a pastoral setting. The shepherd Aminta unexpectedly learns that he is the rightful heir to a kingdom. Initially delighted to become a king, Aminta loses his enthusiasm when he learns he must marry Tamiri instead of his beloved Elisa.
Thomas Hengelbrock, the production's director and conductor, gives eloquent voice to Mozart's tale with his Balthasar Neumann Ensemble, which plays on original instruments (including an early "fortepiano" instead of the traditional harpsichord as continuo instrument). At 19, Mozart was no beginner, and his next work was to be Idomeneo, which is generally considered to be his first operatic masterpiece. In Il rè pastore, it is amazing how Mozart manages to infuse life into the rigid conventions of the opera seria genre. There is dramatic impact and emotional depth, for
example in Aminta's rondo "L'amerò, sarò costante" with obbligato solo violin; and there are poignant depictions of...
Thomas Hengelbrock, the production's director and conductor, gives eloquent voice to Mozart's tale with his Balthasar Neumann Ensemble, which plays on original instruments (including an early "fortepiano" instead of the traditional harpsichord as continuo instrument). At 19, Mozart was no beginner, and his next work was to be Idomeneo, which is generally considered to be his first operatic masterpiece. In Il rè pastore, it is amazing how Mozart manages to infuse life into the rigid conventions of the opera seria genre. There is dramatic impact and emotional depth, for
example in Aminta's rondo "L'amerò, sarò costante" with obbligato solo violin; and there are poignant depictions of...
Die Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebots is an allegorical drama in three parts that was first performed in the Archibishop's residence in March 1767. Mozart composed the first part. The work is an offshoot of the 17th-century tradition of the Jesuit school drama in which the characters are purely symbolic. Here, the "lukewarm Christian" becomes the object of contention between two authorities. Worldliness tempts him with the pleasures of the senses; a trio formed by Justice, Mercy and Christian Spirit urges him to choose an active Christian life. Mozart included such subtle musical touches as a 3/4 dance rhythm and merry woodwinds deployed by Worldliness and an alto trombone that summons the hero to the Last Judgement – an instrumental color that will appear prominently in Don Giovanni .
The genre of Il sogno di Scipione hovers between opera seria and oratorio. Devoid of psychological development or even dramatic conflict, it centers on Scipio, who dreams of two beautiful allegorical women: Fortuna (Fortune) and Costanza (Constancy). The two women both try to win him over. Ultimately, Scipio has to choose one, and his choice falls, unsurprisingly, on Costanza.
The Mozart 22 production of Il sogno di Scipione (Scipio's Dream) adds two more superlatives to the already stunning list of this project's matchless achievements. The musical direction is in the hands of the youngest conductor of all Mozart 22 works, Robin Ticciati, born in 1983; and it is most likely the very first staged performance ever of this work, which was not given its first full-length concert premiere until 1979, at the Salzburg Mozartwoche. Based on a libretto by Pietro Metastasio, like Betulia liberata, Tito and Rè pastore, the azione teatrale was composed between April and August 1771. Although it was intended for Archbishop Schrattenbach, he died before the work was completed.
Director Michael Sturminger has devised a light and witty staging with artists from the Klagenfurt Municipal Theater. He transposes the action to what looks like a large suite in a luxury hotel. Gone are...
The Mozart 22 production of Il sogno di Scipione (Scipio's Dream) adds two more superlatives to the already stunning list of this project's matchless achievements. The musical direction is in the hands of the youngest conductor of all Mozart 22 works, Robin Ticciati, born in 1983; and it is most likely the very first staged performance ever of this work, which was not given its first full-length concert premiere until 1979, at the Salzburg Mozartwoche. Based on a libretto by Pietro Metastasio, like Betulia liberata, Tito and Rè pastore, the azione teatrale was composed between April and August 1771. Although it was intended for Archbishop Schrattenbach, he died before the work was completed.
Director Michael Sturminger has devised a light and witty staging with artists from the Klagenfurt Municipal Theater. He transposes the action to what looks like a large suite in a luxury hotel. Gone are...
An abducted beauty in a harem, a noble rescuer from Europe, a merciless Muslim ruler - aren't these the ingredients for Mozart's Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail ? Yes, but not only. They are also found in the fragment of a Turkish opera that Mozart wrote shortly before the Entfuhrung , a work that was later given the title Zaide . The fragmentary nature and splendid music of Zaide have long stimulated enterprising artists to attempt completions or collages to make the work performable. For the Mozart 22 project, Salzburg Festival director Peter Ruzicka commissioned the Israeli composer Chaya Czernowin to produce a new work that stage director Claus Guth would then interweave with the Zaide fragment.
In Zaide we have two lovers, Zaide and Gomatz, held prisoner in a harem in an imaginary past, somewhere in the Middle East. In Adama we have two lovers, a Woman and a Man, caught in the irreconcilable religious and political conflicts of today's Middle East. Mozart's themes are imprisonment, doomed love, culture clash and despotism; Czernowin's are the same, but transported into our time. She tells of the love between an Israeli woman and a Palestinian man, a partnership doomed to fail in a world torn by violence.
Czernowin approached her task with great reverence for...
In Zaide we have two lovers, Zaide and Gomatz, held prisoner in a harem in an imaginary past, somewhere in the Middle East. In Adama we have two lovers, a Woman and a Man, caught in the irreconcilable religious and political conflicts of today's Middle East. Mozart's themes are imprisonment, doomed love, culture clash and despotism; Czernowin's are the same, but transported into our time. She tells of the love between an Israeli woman and a Palestinian man, a partnership doomed to fail in a world torn by violence.
Czernowin approached her task with great reverence for...
Die Zauberflote (The Magic Flute) is Mozart's most popular and beloved opera, and its melodies - from Papageno's folkloric tunes to the Queen of the Night's breathtaking coloraturas - are familiar even among non-listeners of classical music. In this production by Pierre Audi, however, it is the eyes and not the ears that first fall under the spell of this truly magical Magic Flute . From the illustration on the stage curtain to the incredible, wildly colored, primeval-looking monsters, animals and decorative elements on the stage, the production is dominated by the unmistakable expressive world of the Dutch artist and sculptor Karel Appel. A co-founder of the acclaimed Cobra Group, Appel developed a darkly expressionistic idiom and was the "secret dramaturge" of the production, says director Audi. Appel died at the age of 85 three months before the premiere of Die Zauberflote at the Salzburg Festival.
While the sets may be a treat for the eyes, the music is a feast for the ears. Metropolitan Opera and La Scala star Diana Damrau shines as a Queen of the Night who effortlessly tosses out her coloraturas with dazzling accuracy. Rene Pape's Sarastro is a worthy counterpart, a solemn figure with balsamic bass tones. Paul Groves' supple tenor voice ensures a faultless Tamino...
While the sets may be a treat for the eyes, the music is a feast for the ears. Metropolitan Opera and La Scala star Diana Damrau shines as a Queen of the Night who effortlessly tosses out her coloraturas with dazzling accuracy. Rene Pape's Sarastro is a worthy counterpart, a solemn figure with balsamic bass tones. Paul Groves' supple tenor voice ensures a faultless Tamino...
Boris Godunov is the story not only of a troubled leader but of an entire nation, and its history is as eventful as that of Mother Russia herself. In this new production, the legendary director Andrei Konchalovsky presents a personal vision of the opera that takes Mussorgsky's bare and monumental first version as its basis, while adding the final scene from the composer's revision, in which not only the Tsar but the people themselves reveal their fatal flaws.
Orlin Anastassov stars in the title role, conducted by Gianandrea Noseda.
Orlin Anastassov stars in the title role, conducted by Gianandrea Noseda.
Mussorgsky's loveless and brutal drama of the transformation of Russian society, which led to the rule of Peter the Great within the epic history of Russia, is powerfully modernised through Stein Winge's dramatic and uncompromising production. Performing the version completed by Shostakovich, the outstanding Russian-dominated cast and the orchestra and chorus of the Liceu are led by Michael Boder.
Bonus features:
- Interview with Michael Boder.
- Illustrated Synopsis
Bonus features:
- Interview with Michael Boder.
- Illustrated Synopsis
This production of Carl Nielsen's treasured opera Maskarade bears witness to the spectacular 2006 staging at the Royal Danish Opera by top director Kasper Bech Holten and chief conductor Michael Schonwandt. The immortal story of old Jeronimus versus the young rebels is given new life in impressive surroundings while still continuing the proud traditions of the Royal Danish Opera, featuring the strongest Maskarade cast in living memory.
Bonus features:
- Introduction to Maskarade
- The Making of Maskarade
Bonus features:
- Introduction to Maskarade
- The Making of Maskarade
On This Planet is a journey through life from birth to death. But it is no ordinary journey. It has been set to text and music by the composer Anders Nordentoft, and it is performed by the musician Thomas Sandberg; on stage Martin Tulinius has created a unique unity of video, computer graphics, sound and light – just as the music mixes different genres. Anders Nordentoft's past as a rock musician is combined with his classical training in a brand new musical universe where the concept of crossover is no longer adequate as a label.
Thomas Sandberg is well known in Scandinavia as an unusual mixture of performance artist, percussionist, clown and sound artist. Together with Athelas Sinfonietta Copenhagen he creates a symbiosis of the human voice and instrumental sound where texts by Anders Nordentoft and the West Indian poet Derek Walcott meet. With On This Planet we enter the same universe as Twin Peaks and Lars von Trier’s The Kingdom, where anything can happen and nothing is what it seems. This suspense-filled universe is given musical nerve by Anders Nordentoft in a mixture of rock, jazz, blues and modern music. There are no borders On This Planet. Anything can happen.
Bonus features:
- From music paper to orchestra - Documentary on Anders...
Thomas Sandberg is well known in Scandinavia as an unusual mixture of performance artist, percussionist, clown and sound artist. Together with Athelas Sinfonietta Copenhagen he creates a symbiosis of the human voice and instrumental sound where texts by Anders Nordentoft and the West Indian poet Derek Walcott meet. With On This Planet we enter the same universe as Twin Peaks and Lars von Trier’s The Kingdom, where anything can happen and nothing is what it seems. This suspense-filled universe is given musical nerve by Anders Nordentoft in a mixture of rock, jazz, blues and modern music. There are no borders On This Planet. Anything can happen.
Bonus features:
- From music paper to orchestra - Documentary on Anders...
Just as in Orpheus in the Underworld , this opera-travesty by Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880) also uses an ancient Greek subject as a means of caricaturing contemporary social and political issues. The main target of Offenbach's barbs are the unscrupulousness and moral decline of France's "Second Empire". The action of the ancient saga of gods and heroes is stripped of its loftiness and parodistically reduced to an ironic display of very human motivations, weaknesses and excesses. "The ambivalence of Offenbach's genius emerges here more clearly than in any other of his works - a genius that masters with the same skillfullness all the facets of musical expression: emotion and intellect, romance and parody." (Bernard Grun, Cultural History of the Operetta)
Offenbach’s Les Contes d'Hoffmann, staged by Olivier Py. High art at Geneva’s Grand Théâtre!
Three fables. A man falls in love with a doll, a young woman sings herself to death and a courtesan steals her lovers' reflections. "Three women in the same woman," and the same number of stories told by Hoffmann. A picture of the cursed artist slipping through women's arms into those of his muse, under the treacherous eye of the evil one, the latter also appearing in three diabolical incarnations. Intertwining themes borrowed from the German poet, the libretto fed the composer's fantasies with material both fantastic and fanciful, sustaining his dreams that this work would one day be a triumph at the Opéra Comique. Alas, he was to die before he could see it performed.
Baroque and mystical, carnal yet metaphysical, Olivier Py's theatrical universe comes into its own when highlighting the oddities of this truly singular work.
Three fables. A man falls in love with a doll, a young woman sings herself to death and a courtesan steals her lovers' reflections. "Three women in the same woman," and the same number of stories told by Hoffmann. A picture of the cursed artist slipping through women's arms into those of his muse, under the treacherous eye of the evil one, the latter also appearing in three diabolical incarnations. Intertwining themes borrowed from the German poet, the libretto fed the composer's fantasies with material both fantastic and fanciful, sustaining his dreams that this work would one day be a triumph at the Opéra Comique. Alas, he was to die before he could see it performed.
Baroque and mystical, carnal yet metaphysical, Olivier Py's theatrical universe comes into its own when highlighting the oddities of this truly singular work.
Giancarlo Del Monaco's passionate and intelligent production of Jacques Offenbach's magnum opus creates a climactic kaleidoscope of deep and convincing emotions. A highly credible incarnation of the pitiable Kleinzach he sings about, Aquiles Machado is the poet who loses his romantic idealism, his reflection and finally his soul to a 'trio of charming enchantresses'. Conductor Alain Guingal inspires the superbly dramatic cast, including Maria Bayo, Milagros Poblador, Valentina Kutzarova and Katharine Goeldner, in an outstanding recording.
Bonus features:
- Interviews with Maria Bayo, Aquiles Machado and Juan Carlos Matellanes
- Illustrated Synopsis
Bonus features:
- Interviews with Maria Bayo, Aquiles Machado and Juan Carlos Matellanes
- Illustrated Synopsis
Les Contes d'Hoffmann is a great, unfinished masterpiece. In 1880 Offenbach's health began to deteriorate rapidly. Les Contes d'Hoffmann had already been programmed for the 1880/81 season of the Opéra-Comique, but Offenbach was having a hard time finishing it and worked only in the moments of respite from his illness. He died on 5 October, leaving the opera incomplete (we still do not know to what extent). And so Ernest Guiraud, a "specialist" who had already transformed into recitatives the spoken parts of Bizet's Carmen , was called to finish the task. The opera was first staged at the Opéra-Comique on 10 February 1881 and met with great success. Soon it was being performed in the most important theatres of the world.
This edition has an Italian cast of exceptional quality, in which stand out the amazing voice of Desirée Rancatore, the extraordinary artistry of Ruggiero Raimondi and the fascinating direction of Pier Luigi Pizzi, one of today's most creative directors.
This edition has an Italian cast of exceptional quality, in which stand out the amazing voice of Desirée Rancatore, the extraordinary artistry of Ruggiero Raimondi and the fascinating direction of Pier Luigi Pizzi, one of today's most creative directors.
As Malibrans brings up the dark side of a Diva, her voice and her role as an opera personage.
In the great majority of traditional opera librettos, the female personage is always destined to submission or condemned to death. Through opera history and also in real life, these "Divas" with their divine voices, fantasized as goddesses, were often driven to lose their sanity.
As Malibrans does not present a linear narration, however, a great part of reconstructed images are based on the cult figure of Maria Malibran. She becomes the archetype of the theme and represents a new type of woman born before 1830.
Bonus features:
- The Making of As Malibrans
- Noturno de um piano
- Revenge of Medea
- Nenhuma mulher civilizada faria isso
In the great majority of traditional opera librettos, the female personage is always destined to submission or condemned to death. Through opera history and also in real life, these "Divas" with their divine voices, fantasized as goddesses, were often driven to lose their sanity.
As Malibrans does not present a linear narration, however, a great part of reconstructed images are based on the cult figure of Maria Malibran. She becomes the archetype of the theme and represents a new type of woman born before 1830.
Bonus features:
- The Making of As Malibrans
- Noturno de um piano
- Revenge of Medea
- Nenhuma mulher civilizada faria isso
Fata Morgana means mirage and visions of the subconscious, and is also the druid witch who represents divine wisdom, depositary of the primitive revelation.
According to Stephen Hawking, the world we live in, with its planets and galaxies, is contained within an enormous bubble, whose surface gives off other smaller bubbles that occasionally give rise to new universes. This concept is the central idea of this magical opera: a bubble, symbolizing birth, rebirth, the bubble of space, time.
Jocy de Oliveira believes Liturgia do Espaco to be a "cosmic allegory," questioning human beings in the light of the celestial spectacle. T.S. Eliot gave her the first key: "Time present and time past are both perhaps present in time future."
Bonus features:
- The Making of Fata Morgana
- The Making of Liturgia do Espaco
According to Stephen Hawking, the world we live in, with its planets and galaxies, is contained within an enormous bubble, whose surface gives off other smaller bubbles that occasionally give rise to new universes. This concept is the central idea of this magical opera: a bubble, symbolizing birth, rebirth, the bubble of space, time.
Jocy de Oliveira believes Liturgia do Espaco to be a "cosmic allegory," questioning human beings in the light of the celestial spectacle. T.S. Eliot gave her the first key: "Time present and time past are both perhaps present in time future."
Bonus features:
- The Making of Fata Morgana
- The Making of Liturgia do Espaco
Inori to the sacred prostitute represents a return to the ritual, in search of the mythical, of the symbol, of the eternal. This rite of passage is tender, painful, erotic, hallucinating, violent, sanctifying, involving the personage in solitude of his being, in a net between the profane and the sacred.
The center of this rite is the myth of the sacred prostitute. To restore her figure means to regain the true feminine with inherent values, now lost in modern society. To recreate the image of the Goddess in our time is to reformulate totally our thinking, directing ourselves to a more human and integrated world.
In this path, the magic of the encounter is like a language of the initiated which integrates words and phonemes from primitive people, extinct people, future people.
Illud Tempus means time now and always in Latin. It also represents the atemporal telling of dreams, of unconscious time when God was a woman, a contemporary fairy tale.
Spoken words in different languages are used not only to tell these stories but also weaving intelligible phonemic texts combining sonic and semantic results.
Focusing on texts that expresses the female psyche through times, Illud Tempus explores, through music, theater, and body expression, this variety and diversity of...
The center of this rite is the myth of the sacred prostitute. To restore her figure means to regain the true feminine with inherent values, now lost in modern society. To recreate the image of the Goddess in our time is to reformulate totally our thinking, directing ourselves to a more human and integrated world.
In this path, the magic of the encounter is like a language of the initiated which integrates words and phonemes from primitive people, extinct people, future people.
Illud Tempus means time now and always in Latin. It also represents the atemporal telling of dreams, of unconscious time when God was a woman, a contemporary fairy tale.
Spoken words in different languages are used not only to tell these stories but also weaving intelligible phonemic texts combining sonic and semantic results.
Focusing on texts that expresses the female psyche through times, Illud Tempus explores, through music, theater, and body expression, this variety and diversity of...
Kseni is a foreign woman who comes from another place, another time, another culture... Kseni is someone who thinks differently and fights for the right to be different. It explores the myth of Medea in a different light, capturing eternal conflicts transposed to our time. It revisits primordial questions that reside in human relationships and within ourselves. It is a reflection on this timeless myth transported to the political and cultural reality of the world today.
Bonus features:
The Making of Kseni, A Estrangeira
The Making of Kseni, Die Fremde
Bonus features:
The Making of Kseni, A Estrangeira
The Making of Kseni, Die Fremde
Revisiting Stravinsky is a music theatre piece in memory of Stravinsky and in recognition to Robert Craft. A dramatic musical reading with multimedia resources conceived and written by Jocy de Oliveira, based on her diary of acquaintance and rare collection of letters written to her by Stravinsky and his most important collaborator and interpreter, the conductor and writer Robert Craft.
The script brings up historic musical events, human, witty, emotional moments creating a touching dramatization intercepted by the extraordinary music of Stravinsky and vocal / instrumental / electro acoustic pieces specially composed by Jocy de Oliveira.
Bonus:
- Robert Craft on Stravinsky, 8 November 2010
The script brings up historic musical events, human, witty, emotional moments creating a touching dramatization intercepted by the extraordinary music of Stravinsky and vocal / instrumental / electro acoustic pieces specially composed by Jocy de Oliveira.
Bonus:
- Robert Craft on Stravinsky, 8 November 2010
For the festivities marking the Pergolesi's tercentenary in his native Jesi, Ignacio García created a new staging of the imperial drama Adriano in Siria . His staging in Jesi's exquisite 18th-century Teatro Comunale Pergolesi includes the delightful comic intermezzo Livietta e Tracollo , thus following the precedent set at the premiere in 1734. A fine Italian cast and the distinguished Accademia Bizantina are led by the Accademia's director, Ottavio Dantone.
Written in 1998, Petitgirard's opera differs from David Lynch's cult film in offering an entirely different perspective on the tale of Joseph Merrick, born in 1863 with horrific deformities, exhibited as a freak at the circus, taken in by Dr. Treves at the London Hospital and subsequently afforded celebrity status. Where the film is based largely on Dr. Treves' memoirs, the opera is based on biographies of Joseph Merrick giving his character a more central focus than in the film.
Requiring 38 soloists, chorus and large orchestra, Palestrina, Hans Pfitzner's (1869-1949) "most important work" (Süddeutsche Zeitung), is a challenging opera to stage. In Munich, the city in which it was given its world premiere in 1917, the Bavarian State Opera succeeded - director Christian Stückl, best known for his staging of the Oberammergau Passion Play and the Salzburg Festival's Jedermann, transformed the monumental work into an optical pop art event.
Stückl's production infuses such color and life into the serious work that even the German tabloid "Abendzeitung" delightedly wrote: "Who would have thought that Pfitzner could be such fun?" Written in a lush late-Romantic idiom, the masterpiece weaves a fictitious tale around Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, one of the most important Renaissance composers and renovators of sacred music, who fears losing his creative powers and his role in society.
Conductor Simone Young maintains a silky, organic orchestral texture and expertly holds the reins of the many vocal and instrumental parts. Heading the many outstanding soloists are the imposing Christopher Ventris as Palestrina, Bayreuth regular Falk Struckmann and baritone Michael Volle.
Stückl's production infuses such color and life into the serious work that even the German tabloid "Abendzeitung" delightedly wrote: "Who would have thought that Pfitzner could be such fun?" Written in a lush late-Romantic idiom, the masterpiece weaves a fictitious tale around Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, one of the most important Renaissance composers and renovators of sacred music, who fears losing his creative powers and his role in society.
Conductor Simone Young maintains a silky, organic orchestral texture and expertly holds the reins of the many vocal and instrumental parts. Heading the many outstanding soloists are the imposing Christopher Ventris as Palestrina, Bayreuth regular Falk Struckmann and baritone Michael Volle.
What more appropriate venue for Ildebrando Pizzetti's operatic masterwork of 1958 Assassinio nella Cattedrale than the austere, Romanic Basilica di San Nicola in the southern Italian port city of Bari. A striking coincidence: the action of T. S. Eliot's stage play "Murder in the Cathedral", on which the opera is based, takes place in December 1170; the Basilica di San Nicola also dates from the 12th century and was consecrated in 1197...
Pizzetti's religiosity also manifests itself in his choice of T.S. Eliot's modern-day miracle play about St. Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who returns from a seven-year-exile only to be confronted by various torments, including Four Temptations; he succumbs to the fourth, the temptation of martyrdom...
Internationally acclaimed bass-baritone Ruggero Raimondi, at home on all of the world's major stages and unforgotten as Don Giovanni in Joseph Losey's celebrated 1979 film, brings the firmness and authority of his vocal artistry to this role, elevating it to one of the most passionate and intriguing portrayals of a 20th-century operatic hero.
Pizzetti's religiosity also manifests itself in his choice of T.S. Eliot's modern-day miracle play about St. Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who returns from a seven-year-exile only to be confronted by various torments, including Four Temptations; he succumbs to the fourth, the temptation of martyrdom...
Internationally acclaimed bass-baritone Ruggero Raimondi, at home on all of the world's major stages and unforgotten as Don Giovanni in Joseph Losey's celebrated 1979 film, brings the firmness and authority of his vocal artistry to this role, elevating it to one of the most passionate and intriguing portrayals of a 20th-century operatic hero.
When Canadian opera director Robert Carsen produced his intense and cogent staging of Francis Poulenc's compelling opera Les Dialogues des Carmelites at the Nederlandse Opera in Amsterdam in 2001, it impressed audiences and critics alike, and also gained the interest of Riccardo Muti, then musical director of La Scala in Milan. He arranged for the production to be staged by the famous Milanese opera company in 2004. Muti himself conducted Orchestra and Chorus of the Scala and a superb, handpicked cast of singers.
In this production the clash between religion and revolution is made strikingly clear from the outset. Robert Carsen introduces the chorus as a mass of nameless individuals whose silence makes them all the more threatening and who later develop into a crowd and finally into a bloodthirsty mob. This provides the staging with its outer framework. Internally, by contrast, the work is held together by the theme of fear: the opera confronts us with the searing sounds of dying, and the fear that permeates the entire piece proves ultimately to be the mortal anguish of an age that is moving inexorably to its end.
In this production the clash between religion and revolution is made strikingly clear from the outset. Robert Carsen introduces the chorus as a mass of nameless individuals whose silence makes them all the more threatening and who later develop into a crowd and finally into a bloodthirsty mob. This provides the staging with its outer framework. Internally, by contrast, the work is held together by the theme of fear: the opera confronts us with the searing sounds of dying, and the fear that permeates the entire piece proves ultimately to be the mortal anguish of an age that is moving inexorably to its end.
2004 production of Prokofiev's The Love for Three Oranges, performed in the theatre of Grand Saint-Jean. The cast list suggested Larissa Gergieva's Mariinsky Theatre young singers academy had set up their summer camp in Aix to give the audience a taste of Russia's youngest singing talents.
Philippe Calvario made his debut as a theatre director. His debut didn't reveal any inexperience. He knew how to make the best use of all the possibilities the theatre offered. With an admirable dash and panache, he placed the chorus groups around, very often to hilarious effect. The cheap stage constructions and the candy-coloured costumes fitted perfectly with his slapstick approach. The sometimes sharp, sometimes burlesque music of Prokofiev invites an over-the-top approach.
Conductor Tugan Sokhiev, only 26 years old, made a favourable impression. In his conducting of the Prokofiev score, it was easy to hear that he was a pupil of Valery Gergiev. Sokhiev has the same hard-edged drive as his master, pushing for large dynamic contrasts. With the young and enthusiastic cast, this works wonderfully well.
Philippe Calvario made his debut as a theatre director. His debut didn't reveal any inexperience. He knew how to make the best use of all the possibilities the theatre offered. With an admirable dash and panache, he placed the chorus groups around, very often to hilarious effect. The cheap stage constructions and the candy-coloured costumes fitted perfectly with his slapstick approach. The sometimes sharp, sometimes burlesque music of Prokofiev invites an over-the-top approach.
Conductor Tugan Sokhiev, only 26 years old, made a favourable impression. In his conducting of the Prokofiev score, it was easy to hear that he was a pupil of Valery Gergiev. Sokhiev has the same hard-edged drive as his master, pushing for large dynamic contrasts. With the young and enthusiastic cast, this works wonderfully well.
Prokofiev's enchantingly surreal commedia dell'arte masterwork is turned into a spectacular triumph of total theatre in this vital production from the Amsterdam Muziektheater. De Nederlandse Opera has chosen to use the more flexible French libretto of the 1921 premiere, a pertinent choice which has the advantage of accentuating the aesthetic common ground shared by Prokofiev and Les Six .
Stephane Deneve's brilliant musical direction inspires outstanding performances from the soloists and the superb Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, enhanced by the smart, blockbusting staging of Laurent Pelly and the exquisite sets of Chantal Thomas, which propel this feverish fable to great heights.
Bonus features:
- Illustrated Synopsis
- Introduction to L'amour des 3 Oranges - including interviews with main members of the cast and the artistic team
Stephane Deneve's brilliant musical direction inspires outstanding performances from the soloists and the superb Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, enhanced by the smart, blockbusting staging of Laurent Pelly and the exquisite sets of Chantal Thomas, which propel this feverish fable to great heights.
Bonus features:
- Illustrated Synopsis
- Introduction to L'amour des 3 Oranges - including interviews with main members of the cast and the artistic team
John Copley's enduring production of one of the most famously melodious and popular of all operas is a classic of the Royal Opera repertory. With historically accurate designs by Julia Trevelyan Oman and an excellent cast headed by Hibla Gerzmava and Teodor Ilincai, this 2009 revival, in which conductor Andris Nelsons makes a distinguished Royal Opera House debut, does full justice to Puccini's masterpiece.
Bonus Features :
- Cast Gallery
- Interview with John Copley
- Interview with Andris Nelsons
Bonus Features :
- Cast Gallery
- Interview with John Copley
- Interview with Andris Nelsons
" La Boheme , which opened at the San Francisco Opera House Wednesday night [Nov 19, 1988], starred international recording star Luciano Pavarotti as Rodolfo and Mirella Freni as Mimi, who both had their debut with the company 21 years ago in the same roles."
- Opera review, November 1988
- Opera review, November 1988
One of the world's most beloved operas, La Boheme is, along with Puccini's Tosca and Madama Butterfly , one of the pillars of the Italian repertory. When it premiered in Turin on 1 February 1896, it was dismissed as "a momentary error". It wasn't until its first performance in Palermo that year that the opera scored a definitive success. This production of La Boheme scored a trio of "firsts": it was the first opera film to be produced by Unitel, the first music film conducted by Herbert von Karajan, and the first major film production by Franco Zeffirelli.
Produced in 1965, it was based on Zeffirelli's acclaimed 1963 La Scala production and features Mirella Freni and Gianni Raimondi as the star-crossed lovers. Karajan conducts the chorus and orchestra of Milan's La Scala. The production is still considered today one of the finest treatments of opera on film and a classic of opera performance in the 20th century.
Produced in 1965, it was based on Zeffirelli's acclaimed 1963 La Scala production and features Mirella Freni and Gianni Raimondi as the star-crossed lovers. Karajan conducts the chorus and orchestra of Milan's La Scala. The production is still considered today one of the finest treatments of opera on film and a classic of opera performance in the 20th century.
Giancarlo del Monaco's one million euro cinematic production of Puccini's popular masterpiece takes its place among the great interpretations of modern times. Jesus Lopez Cobos directs an outstanding cast, led by Inva Mula and Aquiles Machado as Mimi and Rodolfo, in a landmark recording.
Bonus feature:
- Illustrated Synopsis
Bonus feature:
- Illustrated Synopsis
Nikolaus Lehnhoff's Hollywood-style production updates this Wild West story to the capitalist culture of Wall Street, perfectly reflecting Puccini's innovatory spirit. In a new angle on the age-old love triangle theme, corrupt Sheriff Jack Rance (Lucio Gallo) and charismatic criminal Dick Johnson (Zoran Todorovich) vie for the love of glamorous blonde and devout Christian Minnie (Eva-Maria Westbroek), finding her way in a man's world. Carlo Rizzi's idiomatic conducting draws excellent singing from the large cast and fine playing from the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra.
Bonus features :
- Backstage insights - principal members of the cast and Basia Jaworski.
Bonus features :
- Backstage insights - principal members of the cast and Basia Jaworski.
Puccini's Gianni Schicchi perfomed at the AVRO Kerstmatinee 2000 by Riccardo Chailly and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.
Robert Wilson's pure and highly stylised 2003 production enhances the timeless beauty of Puccini's moving Japanese tragedy. Cheryl Barker and Martin Thompson lead an inspired cast in a highly charged recording from the Amsterdam Muziektheater with the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by a masterful and passionate Edo de Waart.
Bonus features:
- Illustrated Synopsis
- Introduction to the Madama Butterfly - interviews with Robert Wilson, Edo De Waart and the cast
Bonus features:
- Illustrated Synopsis
- Introduction to the Madama Butterfly - interviews with Robert Wilson, Edo De Waart and the cast
On the anniversary of the first success of Madama Butterfly in Brescia on 28 May 1904, Placido Domingo conducted, from the podium of Torre del Lago Puccini, Daniela Dessì, Fabio Armilato and Juan Pons in a new production by Stefano Monti with sets designed by Arnaldo Pomodoro and costumes of Maison Gattinoni.
Manon Lescaut , Puccini's first major success, is a work of impassioned emotions based on the 18th-century novel by Abbe Prevost, depicting the doomed infatuation of Chevalier des Grieux for beautiful, fun-loving Manon. Puccini clothes the story in warmly passionate music that makes a direct appeal to the listener's emotions. "Manon", wrote Puccini to his publisher Giulio Ricordi in 1889, "is a heroine I believe in and therefore she cannot fail to win the heart of the public." This turned out to be a truly prophetic statement since none of Puccini's other world successes were received on their first nights as rapturously as Manon Lescaut . The popularity of Puccini's great masterpiece has never waned and the production at the Chemnitz Opera House was hailed as "a magnificent event" and "moments we go to the opera for."
Bonus features:
- Interviews with Bernhard Helmich, Ansgar Weigner, Frank Beermann, Astrid Weber
Bonus features:
- Interviews with Bernhard Helmich, Ansgar Weigner, Frank Beermann, Astrid Weber
Although one of his most consistently lyrical operas, La rondine (The Swallow) remains one of Puccini's least known. Dissatisfied with the result of his work, Puccini wrote three versions, with two different endings, and continued to make further revisions up to his death in 1924. The innovative 2007 production at the Torre del Lago Giacomo Puccini Festival, presented here, is in effect a fourth version, which combines Acts I and II of the first version (1917), with Lorenzo Ferrero’s 1994 orchestration of parts of the Finale of Act III of the incomplete third version (1921), some of which had survived only in piano score, as well as Ruggero's Act I romanza, Parigi e la citta dei desideri , from the second version (1920).
With a sparkling score reminiscent of Franz Lehar and Richard Strauss, La rondine , set in mid-19th century Paris, tells the story of Magda de Civry, a young courtesan who falls in love one evening with Ruggero Lastouc, the handsome son of a childhood friend of her protector, Rambaldo Fernandez. Although Magda believes that her compromised social position prevents their marrying, in Puccini's third version it is Ruggero who leaves Magda when he discovers that she is the mistress of Rambaldo.
With a sparkling score reminiscent of Franz Lehar and Richard Strauss, La rondine , set in mid-19th century Paris, tells the story of Magda de Civry, a young courtesan who falls in love one evening with Ruggero Lastouc, the handsome son of a childhood friend of her protector, Rambaldo Fernandez. Although Magda believes that her compromised social position prevents their marrying, in Puccini's third version it is Ruggero who leaves Magda when he discovers that she is the mistress of Rambaldo.
Riccardo Chailly and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra with a highly acclaimed perfomance of Puccini's opera in one act, Suor Angelica , at the legendary AVRO Kerstmatinee in 1999.
From the main hall of the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam: Riccardo Chailly and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra perfoming Puccini's opera in one act, Il tabarro . Joining them is a great cast of high-class singers. Amongst them star tenor José Cura.
It is an event that draws many thousands of music lovers to Verona every summer: the opera season at the ancient Roman Arena. One of the highlights of the 2006 season was the riveting production of Puccini's Tosca by Argentine director Hugo de Ana. Nearly 15,000 spectators regularly filled the amphitheater for the performances of the Puccini favorite with a stellar cast - Fiorenza Cedolins, Marcelo Alvarez and Ruggero Raimondi - under the baton of Daniel Oren.
This recording captures the magical atmosphere of Verona's Arena: the balmy night air, the starry sky, the grandiose pageant of sumptuous sets and costumes, the awe-inspiring effects of light and sound - including guns and cannons in this production marked by a stylized realism. At the center of De Ana's stage concept is a giant replica of the head of the "Angelo di Castello", an 18th-century bronze statue of the archangel Michael holding a sword. After being restored, it was recently returned to its place atop the Castel Sant'Angelo in Rome, where the third act of the opera takes place. "An altogether perfect staging, with the director exploiting to the fullest the vast space of the amphitheater and designing grandiose scenes and magnificent costumes," wrote Italian daily Corriere della Sera.
Amidst the surreal...
This recording captures the magical atmosphere of Verona's Arena: the balmy night air, the starry sky, the grandiose pageant of sumptuous sets and costumes, the awe-inspiring effects of light and sound - including guns and cannons in this production marked by a stylized realism. At the center of De Ana's stage concept is a giant replica of the head of the "Angelo di Castello", an 18th-century bronze statue of the archangel Michael holding a sword. After being restored, it was recently returned to its place atop the Castel Sant'Angelo in Rome, where the third act of the opera takes place. "An altogether perfect staging, with the director exploiting to the fullest the vast space of the amphitheater and designing grandiose scenes and magnificent costumes," wrote Italian daily Corriere della Sera.
Amidst the surreal...
Filmed in the authentic Roman locations specified in the score, this Tosca absolutely pulsates with tension and excitement. The first act was shot in the splendid Baroque church of Sant'Andrea della Valle. The second act was filmed in papal apartments in the Castel Sant'Angelo resembling those in the Palazzo Farnese, which is now the French Embassy and off limits to film teams. The final act was filmed on the banks of the Tiber and on the ramparts of the ancient Castel Sant'Angelo. Raina Kabaivanska is a memorable Tosca, restless, jealously provocative and powerfully determined. With Placido Domingo's heroically passionate portrayal of Cavaradossi and Sherrill Milnes' ruthless and eruptively sensual Scarpia, this Tosca is a winner.
Daniela Dessi takes the title role in Nuria Espert's new production of Puccini's fiery Roman melodrama of lust, betrayal and revenge.
A new production by the internationally acclaimed director Nuria Espert for the Teatro Real, Madrid, in a beautifully intense and dramatic classical style. The lighting by Vinicio Cheli increases the atmosphere of a performance which is destined as a benchmark for twenty-first century productions. Based on the theatre play La Tosca , by Victorien Sardou and first performed at the Teatro Costanzi de Roma on 14th January 1900. Libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa.
Bonus feature:
- Interviews with Daniela Dessi and Fabio Armiliato, Ruggero Raimondi, Maurizio Benini, and Nuria Espert
A new production by the internationally acclaimed director Nuria Espert for the Teatro Real, Madrid, in a beautifully intense and dramatic classical style. The lighting by Vinicio Cheli increases the atmosphere of a performance which is destined as a benchmark for twenty-first century productions. Based on the theatre play La Tosca , by Victorien Sardou and first performed at the Teatro Costanzi de Roma on 14th January 1900. Libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa.
Bonus feature:
- Interviews with Daniela Dessi and Fabio Armiliato, Ruggero Raimondi, Maurizio Benini, and Nuria Espert
Turandot from the Arena di Verona: Franco Zeffirelli's legendary production of a Puccini masterpiece.
For its 88th edition, the prestigious Arena di Verona Festival honored internationally acclaimed Italian stage director Franco Zeffirelli. Zeffirelli delivers an opulent staging of the fairy-tale story of the Chinese Princess Turandot, who will only marry a prince capable of solving her riddles.
The Russian soprano Maria Guleghina proved a brilliant Turandot. Salvatore Licitra's trump card is his imposingly radiant tenor voice of which he remains in sovereign control even in the role's much-feared highest register. The soprano Tamar Iveri is a beautiful and sensitive Liù.
The Orchestra and Chorus of the Arena di Verona are conducted by Maestro Giuliano Carella.
For its 88th edition, the prestigious Arena di Verona Festival honored internationally acclaimed Italian stage director Franco Zeffirelli. Zeffirelli delivers an opulent staging of the fairy-tale story of the Chinese Princess Turandot, who will only marry a prince capable of solving her riddles.
The Russian soprano Maria Guleghina proved a brilliant Turandot. Salvatore Licitra's trump card is his imposingly radiant tenor voice of which he remains in sovereign control even in the role's much-feared highest register. The soprano Tamar Iveri is a beautiful and sensitive Liù.
The Orchestra and Chorus of the Arena di Verona are conducted by Maestro Giuliano Carella.
The story of the beautiful but cruel princess Turandot, who had her suitors beheaded if they failed to solve her three riddles, has a unique place among Puccini’s works. Turandot shows the composer's ability to reflect the musical trends of his time more convincingly than any of his other operas. Here he combines advanced techniques with his own idiom without compromising the foundations of the traditional melodramma. Even today, and in spite of its wealth of inspired melodies (among them Calaf's aria "Nessun dorma" in the third act), the opera's chief fascination remains its clever, imaginative tonality and subtle instrumentation.
Filmed in 2004, this production of Turandot was first staged in 1999 to inaugurate the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, which was reopening after repairs to extensive fire damage.
The director, Núria Espert, retained the lavish settings traditionally associated with the opera: the magnificent sets are the work of Ezio Frigerio, while the costumes were designed by Franca Squarciapino. None the less, Espert's approach to the work is founded on the doubts that the composer himself expressed about the final scene of the work. In Espert's conception of the piece, Turandot remains incapable of turning into an ordinary, docile woman...
Filmed in 2004, this production of Turandot was first staged in 1999 to inaugurate the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, which was reopening after repairs to extensive fire damage.
The director, Núria Espert, retained the lavish settings traditionally associated with the opera: the magnificent sets are the work of Ezio Frigerio, while the costumes were designed by Franca Squarciapino. None the less, Espert's approach to the work is founded on the doubts that the composer himself expressed about the final scene of the work. In Espert's conception of the piece, Turandot remains incapable of turning into an ordinary, docile woman...
The star-studded vocal ensemble, under the direction of internationally renowned director David Runnicles, guarantees a satisfactory interpretation of Puccini's majestic opera. The aria "Nessun dorma," which has now become a global hit, is sung by the young Indiana-born tenor Michael Sylvester as Calaf. At the vanguard of the contemporary art genre, David Hockney has been hired as both director and designer to contribute his experience to this well-staged opera project.
The Royal Ballet and The Royal Opera join forces for Wayne McGregor's acclaimed fusion of music and movement, whose richly layered designs perfectly complement Purcell's telling of a classical tale of love thwarted by evil powers. With Sarah Connolly and Lucas Meachem in the title roles, Christopher Hogwood conducts the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.
Jonathan Kent's spectacular production of Purcell's huge semi-opera is joyous, imaginative and witty. Glyndebourne, with its intimate auditorium, provides the perfect setting for a drama which is partly spoken and partly sung. Based on an adaptation of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream , the story is lavished with a brilliance that justifies this production's acclaim. Paul Brown's inventive designs, Kim Brandstrup's exquisite choreography, an excellent cast of actors and singers and outstanding playing by the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment under William Christie combine to make a seamless theatrical experience.
Bonus features :
- Staging The Fairy Queen - an interview with Jonathan Kent
- Music of The Fairy Queen - an interview with William Christie
Bonus features :
- Staging The Fairy Queen - an interview with Jonathan Kent
- Music of The Fairy Queen - an interview with William Christie
Director Robert Carsen and his creative team flood the stage with summer blossoms, drifts of autumn leaves, winter snows and thunderous spring storms. The cast of 140 are attired in elegant costumes inspired by late 1940s Dior. This mythical tale of a young queen, Alphise, determined to abdicate rather than contemplate an enforced marriage to a descendant of Boreas, is nothing less than highly-charged.
Ground-breaking modern dance ensemble La La La Human Steps, choreographed by Édouard Lock, perform dance divertissements in this strikingly beautiful staging.
Bonus feature:
The Triumph of Love – 60 minute documentary on the background of the production, including interviews with Robert Carsen, William Christie, Barbara Bonney, Paul Agnew and Laurent Naouri and other members of the cast.
Ground-breaking modern dance ensemble La La La Human Steps, choreographed by Édouard Lock, perform dance divertissements in this strikingly beautiful staging.
Bonus feature:
The Triumph of Love – 60 minute documentary on the background of the production, including interviews with Robert Carsen, William Christie, Barbara Bonney, Paul Agnew and Laurent Naouri and other members of the cast.
Castor et Pollux is arguably Rameau's finest creation in the tragédie lyrique style. Its libretto, based in mythology, focuses on an unusual theme: the self-sacrificing love between Castor, who is mortal, and his immortal brother, Pollux. When Castor is killed while defending his beloved Telaire from an attempted abduction, Pollux resolves to give up his immortality and take Castor's place in the Underworld. After passionate debate over who will live and who will die, the brothers are eternally united, transformed into the constellation Gemini. The strikingly luminous sets, depicting a stylized version of the constellation, give this fabulous production, staged by Pierre Audi and conducted by Christophe Rousset, a glorious 21st-century baroque look.
Bonus features :
- Illustrated Synopsis
- To serve this big spectacle - a look behind the scenes of Castor et Pollux with comments by Pierre Audi and members of the cast and crew.
Bonus features :
- Illustrated Synopsis
- To serve this big spectacle - a look behind the scenes of Castor et Pollux with comments by Pierre Audi and members of the cast and crew.
William Christie and Les Arts Florissants propel this exuberant production of Jean-Philippe Rameau's second opera to great heights. Andrei Serban's extravagant, highly baroque staging presents the four exotic love stories in a fantastic operatic spectacle. In Le Turc genereux Osman sets free his captive, Emilie, whom he loves, so that she may be reunited with her former lover, Valere; Les Incas de Perou is all about the rivalry of the Inca Huascar and the Spaniard Don Carlos, both in pursuit of Princess Phani; Les Fleurs offers a Persian love intrigue, as the Sultana Fatima tries to detect whether her husband Tacmas has his eye on the lovely Atalide; and Les Sauvages takes us to North America, where a Spaniard and a Frenchman compete for the love of Zima, daughter of a native chief, who prefers one of her own people.
Bonus features:
- Swinging Rameau – A 50-minute documentary analysis featuring interviews with William Christie, Nicolas Rivenq, Blanca Li, Andrei Serban, Paul Agnew, Patricia Petibon
Bonus features:
- Swinging Rameau – A 50-minute documentary analysis featuring interviews with William Christie, Nicolas Rivenq, Blanca Li, Andrei Serban, Paul Agnew, Patricia Petibon
Inspired by a fable by La Fontaine, Rameau produced perhaps his most brilliant music for his penultimate great work, blending reality and the surreal on several levels. This passionate new production by Jose Montalvo, stunningly choreographed by Montalvo and Dominique Hervieu, sets new standards in entertainment, charm and ingenuity. The sharp and spectacular multimedia staging does full justice to Rameau's dazzling burlesque, confirming Olivier Rouviere's statement that ' Les Paladins is the last laugh of a witty 77-year old composer'. Recorded live in 2004 at the Paris Theatre du Chatelet, both the virtuoso cast and Les Arts Florissants are in top form, clearly enjoying themselves in the masterful hands of William Christie.
Bonus feature:
- Baroque that rocks! – A documentary film by Reiner E. Moritz featuring interviews with William Christie, Dominique Hervieu, Topi Lehtipuu, Stephanie d'Oustrac and other members of the cast
Bonus feature:
- Baroque that rocks! – A documentary film by Reiner E. Moritz featuring interviews with William Christie, Dominique Hervieu, Topi Lehtipuu, Stephanie d'Oustrac and other members of the cast
Making full use of Drottningholm Theatre's unique 17th century Baroque theatre machinery, as well as his deep creative understanding of the profound drama of the work, stage director Pierre Audi creates a production of Zoroastre that completely accords with the spirit of Rameau. True to the form of the tragedie lyrique, choreographer Amir Hosseinpour's dances perfectly match the weight and meaning of both plot and music. The ensemble, Les Talens Lyriques, reinforced with musicians from the Drottningholm Court Theatre Orchestra and Chorus, is expertly and passionately led into the musical stratosphere by musical director Christophe Rousset. This intensely dramatic production is captured live in vibrant High Definition video and true surround sound.
Bonus features:
- Zoroastre: Discovering an opera - a documentary by Olivier Simonnet
- Illustrated Synopsis
Bonus features:
- Zoroastre: Discovering an opera - a documentary by Olivier Simonnet
- Illustrated Synopsis
This video features the three-act opera Aleksis Kivi (1996) by iconic Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara who also wrote the libretto.
The opera tells the story of Finland's national author Aleksis Kivi (1834-1872) and draws on many of Kivi's own poems and texts. Aleksis Kivi wrote the first significant novel in the Finnish language (Seven Brothers), but during his short lifetime he suffered from moral and artistic condemnation by literary rivals. He died, insane and impoverished, at age 38.
This Finnish National Opera production is conducted by Mikko Franck and staged by Pekka Milonoff and features Jorma Hynninen in the lead role. Hynninen, upon whose request the opera was written, already headed the casts at the opera's world premiere performance in 1997, as well as for the acclaimed premiere CD recording in 2002.
The opera tells the story of Finland's national author Aleksis Kivi (1834-1872) and draws on many of Kivi's own poems and texts. Aleksis Kivi wrote the first significant novel in the Finnish language (Seven Brothers), but during his short lifetime he suffered from moral and artistic condemnation by literary rivals. He died, insane and impoverished, at age 38.
This Finnish National Opera production is conducted by Mikko Franck and staged by Pekka Milonoff and features Jorma Hynninen in the lead role. Hynninen, upon whose request the opera was written, already headed the casts at the opera's world premiere performance in 1997, as well as for the acclaimed premiere CD recording in 2002.
For his first opera production, Dario Fo, the theatre director known for his brilliant wit, chose to stage Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia for the Netherlands Opera. First mounted in 1987, it was a huge success and a live recording of its revival in May 1992, the 200th anniversary of Rossini's birth, has been made.
Fo has said that 'Rossini is the musician of eating and love. He composes music rich in herbs and aromas, in which you find olives, tomatoes, fish, grapes, roses and rosemary, sheets and tablecloths, dry wine and the laughter of girls.' His Barbiere is a joyful carnival. During the overture he fills the stage with carnival revellers and immediately the commedia dell'arte origins of opera buffa are restored. Visual theatrics abound, never at the expense of the music, but highlighting it, engaging the eye as well as the ear. Fo addresses the heart more than the intellect and Rossini's comedy comes up dazzling and vital.
Fo has said that 'Rossini is the musician of eating and love. He composes music rich in herbs and aromas, in which you find olives, tomatoes, fish, grapes, roses and rosemary, sheets and tablecloths, dry wine and the laughter of girls.' His Barbiere is a joyful carnival. During the overture he fills the stage with carnival revellers and immediately the commedia dell'arte origins of opera buffa are restored. Visual theatrics abound, never at the expense of the music, but highlighting it, engaging the eye as well as the ear. Fo addresses the heart more than the intellect and Rossini's comedy comes up dazzling and vital.
Based on Jean-Pierre Ponnelle's highly acclaimed Salzburg production, Il Barbiere di Siviglia was filmed in a Munich studio, while the voices and music were taped in Milan, using the Scala orchestra and chorus. The brilliant cast includes Teresa Berganza, Hermann Prey, Luigi Alva and Enzo Dara, all great names in the international operatic world.
The press enthusiastically declared this Barber of Seville a "firework display of exhilarating comedy" and praised the "unforced liveliness" of the cast. EuroArts releases this highly acclaimed staging of one of the most popular operas ever written. Vesselina Kasarova is the undisputed star of this production - she shines musically and dramatically in the part of Rosina, one of her signature roles, which she has since been invited to sing in many major opera houses from Vienna to New York. Recorded live at the Zurich Opera in April 2001, the cast was led by Manuel Lanza as Figaro, Reinaldo Macias as the Count, Carlos Chausson as Bartolo and Nicolai Ghiaurov as Basilio and Nello Santi, a "singer-conductor" in the best Italian tradition, roused his orchestra to precise, vivacious performance.
The plot of La cambiale di matrimonio , which Rossini composed when he was just eighteen years old, revolves around the farcical attempts of Tobia Mill, a rich English merchant, to combine business with pleasure by forcing his daughter, the lovely Fanny ("the merchandise") to marry Slook, his rich colonial correspondent from America, by means of a bill of exchange. Eventually it is the gallant Slook himself who persuades Mill to allow Fanny to marry her true love, Edoardo Milfort. This Rossini Opera Festival – Pesaro production features two well-established singers, Desiree Rancatore and Saimir Pirgu, who are joined by three promising young singers: Fabio Maria Capitanucci, Enrico Maria Marabelli and Maria Gortsevskaya.
Rossini's first staged opera already contains all the elements that would take the music world by storm in Il barbiere di Siviglia , L'italiana in Algeri and La Cenerentola in the years to come: melodic inventiveness, ingenious connections between sung lines and orchestral accompaniment in the exuberant finale, musical humour and ensembles using breathtakingly fast parlando singing. This sparkling production continues the Rossini one-act opera series emerging from the Schwetzingen Festival with excellent direction, acting and stagecraft. Director Michael Hampe created a perfect realization of the opera in the small, jewel-like Rococo Theatre of Schwetzingen Palace in May 1989. The staging is perfectly suited to the screen and the cast of principals, led by John Del Carlo; Janice Hall and David Kuebler provide musical excellence together with the flexible Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra. The lively performance is led by Gianluigi Gelmetti, who was awarded the Rossini d'Oro Prize in 1999.
Vladimir Jurowski and Sir Peter Hall are reunited for a fresh and vibrant but timelessly elegant production of Rossini's much-loved setting of the Cinderella story, with a fine cast led by Ruxandra Donose in the title role.
Bonus features :
- Illustrated Synopsis
- Insights - Vladimir Jurowski and Sir Peter Hall
Bonus features :
- Illustrated Synopsis
- Insights - Vladimir Jurowski and Sir Peter Hall
"Catch Joyce DiDonato and Juan Diego Flórez in what may just be definitive performances in Rossini's enchanting rags-to-riches rendition," entreated James Sohre in his review of Rossini's beloved drama giocoso La Cenerentola in Opera Today. This recording from Barcelona's Gran Teatre del Liceu captures all the vocal sparks and dazzle generated by these two phenomenal singers.
With his airy, effortless high notes and perfect command of rapid-fire Rossinian parlando, the charismatic Flórez once again proves that he was born to sing Rossini. American mezzo Joyce DiDonato is not only a beautiful Angelina and a stunning presence, but also a prodigiously gifted artist who moves with ease and grace from the most delicate pianissimi to the most heartrending outbursts of passion. A noted bel canto singer, Ms. DiDonato won the Metropolitan Opera's Beverly Sills Award in 2007.
Coproduced by the Houston Grand Opera, the Welsh National Opera Cardiff and Geneva's Grand Théâtre in addition to the Liceu, this international undertaking boasts a truly cosmopolitan flair. Conducting the Orchestra of the Gran Teatre del Liceu, Patrick Summers leads "an effervescent reading" (Opera Today) that is fully supported by the rest of the top-notch cast. Director Joan Font and his set and costume...
With his airy, effortless high notes and perfect command of rapid-fire Rossinian parlando, the charismatic Flórez once again proves that he was born to sing Rossini. American mezzo Joyce DiDonato is not only a beautiful Angelina and a stunning presence, but also a prodigiously gifted artist who moves with ease and grace from the most delicate pianissimi to the most heartrending outbursts of passion. A noted bel canto singer, Ms. DiDonato won the Metropolitan Opera's Beverly Sills Award in 2007.
Coproduced by the Houston Grand Opera, the Welsh National Opera Cardiff and Geneva's Grand Théâtre in addition to the Liceu, this international undertaking boasts a truly cosmopolitan flair. Conducting the Orchestra of the Gran Teatre del Liceu, Patrick Summers leads "an effervescent reading" (Opera Today) that is fully supported by the rest of the top-notch cast. Director Joan Font and his set and costume...
La Cenerentola is one of those Rossini operas that cannot be forced into a stylistic straightjacket. An opera buffa with tragic overtones, a comedy with magical nuances, a parable in which one character – Alidoro – pulls all the strings. The fairy tale transcends character comedy to become a baroque allegory whose finale is a vindication of Ferretti's subtitle La bontà in trionfo : "the triumph of good". For the 1988 Salzburg festival, Michael Hampe staged La Cenerentola with the assistance of stage and costume designer Mauro Pagano and lighting designer Hans Toelstede. His approach highlights not so much the fairy tale as Rossini's underlying satirical commentary on the society of his times and human relationships. A star cast including Ann Murray as Angelina and Francisco Araiza as Don Ramiro ensure musical quality, as does Rossini expert Riccardo Chailly's conducting of the Vienna State Choir and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.
Paul Curran's production, originally created for Naples in 2004, and presented to rapturous acclaim in Genoa in May 2006, finds a rather unusual setting for this moral tale. He sets the story in the year 1912, in his own words, 'because I wanted to draw attention to social conflicts, and this was a period when class differences were very real'. The setting inspires some Art nouveau imagery in Pasquale Grossi's set designs, while Zaira De Vincentiis's costumes evoke both an elegant sophistication for the prince and Cinderella and a comic exaggeration on the sides of Don Magnifico and his daughters.
The 20th century setting works well as the social differences become immediately palpable for modern audiences, lending the main theme of forgiveness and reconciliation even more prominence. However, the comic side of the opera does not go missing and the clown-like choreographies for the duets, trios etc. dramatises the absurdities of the "bad" characters' behaviour.
Making his operatic debut in Genoa with this production, conductor Renato Palumbo – recently appointed Artistic Director for the Deutsche Oper Berlin – used Alberto Zedda's critical edition of Rossini's work. He was praised in the Italian press for his 'rapid, clearly-defined interpretation of the...
The 20th century setting works well as the social differences become immediately palpable for modern audiences, lending the main theme of forgiveness and reconciliation even more prominence. However, the comic side of the opera does not go missing and the clown-like choreographies for the duets, trios etc. dramatises the absurdities of the "bad" characters' behaviour.
Making his operatic debut in Genoa with this production, conductor Renato Palumbo – recently appointed Artistic Director for the Deutsche Oper Berlin – used Alberto Zedda's critical edition of Rossini's work. He was praised in the Italian press for his 'rapid, clearly-defined interpretation of the...
The Nobel Prize-winning writer Dario Fo applies his inventive genius to Rossini's comic opera in its premiere video release. Recorded in 2005 under the musical direction of Maurizio Barbacini, Fo's production brings fresh vitality and colour to the story of Lisetta, and of her father's attempts to find a husband for her through an advertisement in the newspaper La Gazzetta .
Bonus features :
- Illustrated synopsis
- Interview with Darrio Fo
Bonus features :
- Illustrated synopsis
- Interview with Darrio Fo
It was customary for Rossini to modify his scores and develop second and third versions for theatres that wanted to stage his operas. The Maometto II here recorded corresponds only in part to the original score (Naples, 1820), which is the version generally performed nowadays; it is, instead, the revision made for Venice's Teatro La Fenice staged on 26 December 1822 as opening title of the 1823 Carnival season, the same season which, on 3 February 3, would also see the debut of Semiramide . For Venice Rossini tried to soften the monolithic character of his Neapolitan score, introducing an opening symphony, making changes - some of them quite substantial - to the score and, especially, giving the plot a happy ending. The title role is sung by the young Italian bass Lorenzo Regazzo; Claudio Scimone, on the podium, is responsible for the revision of the score.
L'occasione fa il ladro is one of the five one-act operas - farsa giocosa - in which the teenage Rossini first demonstrated his operatic genius. This farce about arranged marriages, role reversals and other amorous confusions is, in musical terms, by far the most riotous of these five operatic jewels – all performed in the intricately decorated Rococo Theatre at Schwetzingen Palace. Renowned opera director Michael Hampe's sparkling production is perfectly suited to the small stage of the historic theatre. Recorded live in 1992 with an excellent cast of principals led by Susan Patterson, Robert Gambill and Natale de Carolis, and Gianluigi Gelmetti's refreshingly fast-paced leadership of the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra maintains the light musical touch of this "joyous farce" while at the same time setting a benchmark for the reading of these tiny gems among Rossini's operas.
The renowned Rossini expert Alberto Zedda, inspired by the creative brilliance of Pier Luigi Pizzi's production, leads a fizzing account of Rossini's 1812 comic opera – the composer's first La Scala commission.
Bonus features:
- Interviews with Alberto Zedda and Pier Luigi Pizzi
- Illustrated Synopsis
Bonus features:
- Interviews with Alberto Zedda and Pier Luigi Pizzi
- Illustrated Synopsis
This beautiful production by renowned opera director Michael Hampe was recorded at the exquisite Rococo Theatre in Schwetzingen Palace in May 1990. La scala di seta is one of the five one-act operas - farsa giocosa - in which the young Rossini first demonstrated his operatic genius. This sparkling production continues the Rossini one-act opera series emerging from the Schwetzingen Festival. The staging is perfectly suited to the screen and the cast of principals, led by David Griffith and Luciana Serra provide musical excellence together with the flexible Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra. Simone Young, who has since become one of the foremost opera conductors of the younger generation, appears on harpsichord and fortepiano. She was chief conductor of the Sydney Opera and has recently been appointed as the new musical director of the Hamburg Opera. Here she can be seen at the start of her career establishing a speciality for which she is now famous: she frequently conducts early operas from the harpsichord.
Il signor Bruschino is the last of the five one-act operas - farsa giocosa - in which the young Rossini first demonstrated his operatic genius. Among the 'peculiarities', which caused a sensation at its premiere 1813, was the daring experiment in search of new tonal effects in the overture, during which the second violins are required to tap their bows on their music stands. The opera is a mixture of saucy elegance, sizzling wittiness, cheeky orchestration and also some touching lyricism. It was realised to perfection in the small, jewel-like Rococo Theatre in Schwetzingen Palace, which was built in 1752. The stage is small and the beautifully elegant and this shining production by Michael Hampe, recorded in May 1989, provides one and a half hours of the entertaining story about "the son won in a game" as it is subtitled. The staging transfers to the screen perfectly and the cast of principals, led by Alessandro Corbelli, Alberto Rinaldi and Amelia Felle provide musical excellence together with the flexible Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra under Gianluigi Gelmetti.
Originally created for the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro 1999, this staging by Pier Luigi Pizzi was subsequently revived in Pesaro before travelling on to Rome and – due to its ongoing success – to the renowned Maggio Musicale Florence.
The opera – a tragic story of love against all political odds in medieval Sicily - includes the popular "Di tanti palpiti" (After such beating of the heart), sung by the Norman knight Tancredi of the title when he secretly lands again in Syracuse after having been exiled. Because he is in love with the daughter of the current ruler, his arrival has repercussions amongst the leading families that finally lead to his death.
Pier Luigi Pizzi’s severe classical imagery plays on the contrast of black and white of the factions in Syracuse against the red that characterizes the returning hero. Visually, it is overwhelmingly architectural – a mixture of columns, reliefs and an altar – and even nature is used for geometric and symbolic effect when, at the sound of the music of Tancredi’s homecoming, the magically limpid introduction to "Oh patria! dolce e ingrata patria", a solitary olive tree appears in silhouette. The similar textural clarity of the revelatory scene of Tancredi's death, with its...
The opera – a tragic story of love against all political odds in medieval Sicily - includes the popular "Di tanti palpiti" (After such beating of the heart), sung by the Norman knight Tancredi of the title when he secretly lands again in Syracuse after having been exiled. Because he is in love with the daughter of the current ruler, his arrival has repercussions amongst the leading families that finally lead to his death.
Pier Luigi Pizzi’s severe classical imagery plays on the contrast of black and white of the factions in Syracuse against the red that characterizes the returning hero. Visually, it is overwhelmingly architectural – a mixture of columns, reliefs and an altar – and even nature is used for geometric and symbolic effect when, at the sound of the music of Tancredi’s homecoming, the magically limpid introduction to "Oh patria! dolce e ingrata patria", a solitary olive tree appears in silhouette. The similar textural clarity of the revelatory scene of Tancredi's death, with its...
Filmed live in 2007 at the prestigious Rossini Opera Festival in the composer's birthplace, Pesaro, Il Turco in Italia is a madcap ensemble opera with an inspired score that boasts music of both comic genius and extraordinary beauty. Set in Naples, it spins a crazy tale around a poet who uses the romantic entanglements of the inhabitants with a Turkish prince as inspiration for the plot of his next play. Ultimately, life imitates art as all ends happily, but not before a planned abduction leads to a chaotic situation of mistaken identity…
Alain Maratrat's highly original and clever production of Il Viaggio a Reims , developed over several seasons by the Theatre du Chatelet and the Mariinsky Theatre, took both theatres by storm. A radiant Valery Gergiev whips up a cast of brilliant young singers from the Academy of the Mariinsky Theatre to unbelievable heights in a colourful, witty rendering that reinvigorates Rossini's last Italian opera.
Bonus feature:
- Illustrated Synopsis
Bonus feature:
- Illustrated Synopsis
The Irrfahrten (Odysseys) trilogy comprises three independent,
self-contained performances that are motivically interwoven into a
compelling whole through a great variety of references. Various artistic genres - music, theater, dance and video - are fused into an original form of music theater that could very well point to the future. The trilogy was conceived by Joachim Schlomer, a noted dancer, choreographer and director. He sees his project as the "odyssey of an artist from external control to self-determination." (Schlomer) This concerns not only Mozart himself, but also the artist in general, and, by extension, everyone who has overcome a crisis in their life to achieve their personal freedom.
At the beginning of the trilogy is the twelve-year-old Mozart's first opera buffa, La finta semplice (The Make-Believe Simpleton), a full-length opera with commedia dell'arte-style characters. "The music," says Schlomer, "tells of wanting something - even if the characters still don't really know what they want." The second Odyssey, Abendempfindung (Evening Sensation), a pasticcio of Mozart arias, songs, instrumental pieces (including some for the rare and evocative glass harmonica) and letters. The great Ann Murray is the featured performer here. The third Odyssey, "Rex...
self-contained performances that are motivically interwoven into a
compelling whole through a great variety of references. Various artistic genres - music, theater, dance and video - are fused into an original form of music theater that could very well point to the future. The trilogy was conceived by Joachim Schlomer, a noted dancer, choreographer and director. He sees his project as the "odyssey of an artist from external control to self-determination." (Schlomer) This concerns not only Mozart himself, but also the artist in general, and, by extension, everyone who has overcome a crisis in their life to achieve their personal freedom.
At the beginning of the trilogy is the twelve-year-old Mozart's first opera buffa, La finta semplice (The Make-Believe Simpleton), a full-length opera with commedia dell'arte-style characters. "The music," says Schlomer, "tells of wanting something - even if the characters still don't really know what they want." The second Odyssey, Abendempfindung (Evening Sensation), a pasticcio of Mozart arias, songs, instrumental pieces (including some for the rare and evocative glass harmonica) and letters. The great Ann Murray is the featured performer here. The third Odyssey, "Rex...
The Irrfahrten (Odysseys) trilogy comprises three independent, self-contained performances that are motivically interwoven into a compelling whole through a great variety of references. Various artistic genres - music, theater, dance and video - are fused into an original form of music theater that could very well point to the future. The trilogy was conceived by Joachim Schlömer, a noted dancer, choreographer and director. He sees his project as the "odyssey of an artist from external control to self-determination." (Schlömer) This concerns not only Mozart himself, but also the artist in general, and, by extension, everyone who has overcome a crisis in their life to achieve their personal freedom.
At the beginning of the trilogy is the twelve-year-old Mozart's first opera buffa, La finta semplice (The Make-Believe Simpleton) , a full-length opera with commedia dell'arte-style characters. "The music," says Schlömer, "tells of wanting something - even if the characters still don't really know what they want." The second Odyssey, Abendempfindung" (Evening Sensation) , a pasticcio of Mozart arias, songs, instrumental pieces (including some for the rare and evocative glass harmonica) and letters. The great Ann Murray is the featured performer here. The third Odyssey, Rex...
At the beginning of the trilogy is the twelve-year-old Mozart's first opera buffa, La finta semplice (The Make-Believe Simpleton) , a full-length opera with commedia dell'arte-style characters. "The music," says Schlömer, "tells of wanting something - even if the characters still don't really know what they want." The second Odyssey, Abendempfindung" (Evening Sensation) , a pasticcio of Mozart arias, songs, instrumental pieces (including some for the rare and evocative glass harmonica) and letters. The great Ann Murray is the featured performer here. The third Odyssey, Rex...
Most of Schubert's operas were written without a specific commission, in the hope that, once completed, some theatre might find them interesting simply by virtue of their musical value. This unrealistic optimism proved almost always wrong and Schubert suffered bitter disappointments, very often working for nothing. Begun on 20 September 1821, Alfonso und Estrella was completed on 27 February 1822 but was first staged, on the initiative of Franz Liszt, only in 1854, after Schubert's death. Alfonso und Estrella has the characteristic climate of a romantische Oper. If it is true that Schubert lacks the sense of theatre which is typical of the best operatic composers of his day (for example Weber), the power of his creativity and beauty of many arias cannot be denied.
Anton Schweitzer's Alceste (1773) has gone down in music history as the first German-language opera. Though it is practically unknown today, it offers music lovers a wealth of passionate arias and ariosos, lyrical scenes and jaunty ensembles, all in a pre-classical style that occasionally foreshadows Mozart. Written by Anton Schweitzer (1735-1787), one of the leading composers of his time, the work boasts impressive credentials: its libretto was written by C. M. Wieland, one of the great authors of the German Enlightenment, and it was premiered at Weimar's Ducal Residence, one of the most important artistic and cultural centers of the late 18th century, where this recording was also made.
Performed on the occasion of the official reopening of the Anna Amalia Library in Weimar in 2007, the sparing production by Hendrik Müller concentrates on the chamber-like interplay of the four lead roles. Alceste's demanding, coloratura-filled parts are mastered with grace and seemingly effortless ease by all singers. In the lead role as the wife who sacrifices herself to save her beloved husband, Simone Schneider combines delicacy with dazzling technique, and harmonizes superbly with internationally acclaimed Cyndia Sieden as Parthenia. Tenor Christoph Genz offers a moving account of...
Performed on the occasion of the official reopening of the Anna Amalia Library in Weimar in 2007, the sparing production by Hendrik Müller concentrates on the chamber-like interplay of the four lead roles. Alceste's demanding, coloratura-filled parts are mastered with grace and seemingly effortless ease by all singers. In the lead role as the wife who sacrifices herself to save her beloved husband, Simone Schneider combines delicacy with dazzling technique, and harmonizes superbly with internationally acclaimed Cyndia Sieden as Parthenia. Tenor Christoph Genz offers a moving account of...
Shostakovich's musically brilliant and ingeniously panoramic opera about love, lust, power and oppression is fabulously well played by the Concertgebouw Orchestra under Mariss Jansons in this authoritative production. Stage director Martin Kusej builds on formidable musical strengths to forge a relentless drama that explores with emotional conviction the shadowy, layered boundaries between victims and perpetrators. First-rate protagonist Eva-Maria Westbroek is phenomenal in her gripping interpretation of Katarina, compelling the entire cast, including the choir, to almost unbearable realism in their portrayal of timeless human weaknesses.
WARNING : The strengths of this highly acclaimed production are largely due to its brutal and graphic portrayal of human emotions. Please be aware that the production contains stroboscopic light effects, nudity and scenes of a sexual nature.
Bonus features:
- Illustrated Synopsis
- The Tragedy of Katerina Ismailova - A documentary film by Reiner E. Moritz, including interviews with Martin Kusej, Mariss Jansons and leading members of the cast
WARNING : The strengths of this highly acclaimed production are largely due to its brutal and graphic portrayal of human emotions. Please be aware that the production contains stroboscopic light effects, nudity and scenes of a sexual nature.
Bonus features:
- Illustrated Synopsis
- The Tragedy of Katerina Ismailova - A documentary film by Reiner E. Moritz, including interviews with Martin Kusej, Mariss Jansons and leading members of the cast
The creation of Daphne was not a simple affair, especially for what concerned the poetic text (due to the modest talent of the librettist Joseph Gregor), but on 15 October 1938 the opera was finally premiered at Dresden's Staatstheater. On the podium was the young conductor Karl Bohm. Daphne is a masterpiece of early 20th-century vocal music. Structured in a single act, this opera is a solid work with a rich musical vein. Strauss's orchestration appears, as always, remarkably refined. The vocal writing is demanding for all the main characters, but especially so for the protagonist, here interpreted by a magnificent June Anderson. Filmed in high definition at Venice's La Fenice, the present production is directed by Paul Curran.
"The best of the best assembled on stage," wrote Germany's leading newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung after the premiere of Richard Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden. Indeed, it would be hard to find a more ideal cast for this late-Romantic Rococo pastiche anywhere in the world. As the Marschallin, stellar soprano Renée Fleming uses her velvety tones and autumnal shadings to complement the youthfully lyrical and dynamic voice of Sophie Koch as her young lover Octavian. Diana Damrau's Sophie enhances the trio's sparkle with her ethereal high notes. Next to Franz Hawlata as a swaggering Baron Ochs and the always impressive Franz Grundheber as Faninal, the Baden-Baden production rounds off its male leads with international tenor star Jonas Kaufmann as the "Italian Singer."
Leading his Münchner Philharmoniker, acclaimed Romantic specialist Christian Thielemann revels in Strauss's lustrous melancholy and obtains a rarely heard transparency from the brass and woodwinds. Bolstered by these solid orchestral underpinnings, Herbert Wernicke's Salzburg Festival production - which also scored a great success at Paris' Opéra de la Bastille - has been polished and trimmed here by Alejandro Stadler. It places the cast of fabulous singers in a sumptuous...
Leading his Münchner Philharmoniker, acclaimed Romantic specialist Christian Thielemann revels in Strauss's lustrous melancholy and obtains a rarely heard transparency from the brass and woodwinds. Bolstered by these solid orchestral underpinnings, Herbert Wernicke's Salzburg Festival production - which also scored a great success at Paris' Opéra de la Bastille - has been polished and trimmed here by Alejandro Stadler. It places the cast of fabulous singers in a sumptuous...
The 2004 staging of Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier was one of the most talked about productions of recent Salzburg festival years. The musical comedy has a deep-rooted performance tradition at the Salzburg Festival, but Robert Carsen's new reading opened up a new view of this operatic staple while Semyon Bychkov leading the Vienna Philharmonic and a cast of internationally renowned singers guaranteed a high musical standard.
Director Robert Carsen and his designer Peter Pabst adopted an approach to the piece that asked questions about the setting. Were Hofmannsthal (the librettist) and Strauss offering a nostalgic transfiguration of Maria Theresa's Vienna in the work or were they attempting to portray the decadent, valedictory atmosphere of the dying Habsburg monarchy? Both clearly came down in favour of the second of these interpretations: they transferred the action to the time at which the opera was written, to the final years of the Habsburg monarchy, shortly before the outbreak of the First World War.
Carsen marked the work with a coherent vision, cleverly holding its three acts and almost 200 stage personnel together. The wide stage of the Großes Festspielhaus allowed him to keep the main action centre-stage, while the surrounding spaces were used to comment on the...
Director Robert Carsen and his designer Peter Pabst adopted an approach to the piece that asked questions about the setting. Were Hofmannsthal (the librettist) and Strauss offering a nostalgic transfiguration of Maria Theresa's Vienna in the work or were they attempting to portray the decadent, valedictory atmosphere of the dying Habsburg monarchy? Both clearly came down in favour of the second of these interpretations: they transferred the action to the time at which the opera was written, to the final years of the Habsburg monarchy, shortly before the outbreak of the First World War.
Carsen marked the work with a coherent vision, cleverly holding its three acts and almost 200 stage personnel together. The wide stage of the Großes Festspielhaus allowed him to keep the main action centre-stage, while the surrounding spaces were used to comment on the...
The Semperoper caused a sensation in November 2007 when it visited Japan for the first time in twenty-six years. The demand for tickets and the audience's enthusiasm were unprecedented, not least because the company was staging a piece that is performed more authentically in Dresden than anywhere else in the world: Richard Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier, which received its first performance in Dresden in 1911. Leading the ensemble was the radiant-voiced and profoundly thoughtful Marschallin of Anne Schwanenwilms, a singer described by The Independent as "one of the greatest singers on the operatic stage today."
Peter Hall's magnificent 1992 production of Strauss's opera Salome features sensational acting from Maria Ewing who, as the sinister, monstrous heroine of the title, ultimately leaves nothing to the imagination in her Dance of the Seven Veils . She leads a fine cast including Michael Devlin as a strong-voiced Jokanaan, Kenneth Riegel as a devilish Herod, Gillian Knight as the depraved Herodias and Robin Leggate as the infatuated Narraboth. The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, in excellent form, is conducted by Edward Downes.
David McVicar's powerful 2008 production of Oscar Wilde's bible-based drama takes the controversially disturbing film Salo as its visual reference, setting it in a debauched palace in Nazi Germany. Strauss's ravishing and voluptuous score adds to the sexual alchemy conjured by an international cast led by Nadja Michael in the title role.
WARNING: Contains nudity and scenes of violence.
Bonus features:
- Documentary – David McVicar: A work in process .
- Illustrated Synopsis
WARNING: Contains nudity and scenes of violence.
Bonus features:
- Documentary – David McVicar: A work in process .
- Illustrated Synopsis
This ambitious production uses a number of striking visual elements including a massive set that floats above a reflecting pool, huge puppets and sculptures. The noted Butoh artist, Min Tanaka, dances the role of Oedipus, and is joined by twenty dancers to portray this classical tragedy.
In this celebrated Glyndebourne Festival production, David Hockney's designs for director John Cox reinterpret the Hogarth etchings that inspired the opera's libretto, written for Stravinsky by W.H. Auden and Chester Kallman.
In 2010, this revival under Glyndebourne's Music Director, Vladimir Jurowski, captured the opera's neo-classical spirit and its juxtaposition of whimsy, cynicism and compassion, prompting the Financial Times to call it, "as enjoyable a performance of Stravinsky's opera as any that has come along".
In 2010, this revival under Glyndebourne's Music Director, Vladimir Jurowski, captured the opera's neo-classical spirit and its juxtaposition of whimsy, cynicism and compassion, prompting the Financial Times to call it, "as enjoyable a performance of Stravinsky's opera as any that has come along".
Stravinsky's masterwork The Rake's Progress , created for La Fenice in Venice in 1951, is based on a libretto by W. H. Auden and Chester Kallman, inspired by a series of 18th century prints by William Hogarth. This amazing production from La Monnaie–De Munt 'jazzifies' the setting by replacing Hogarth's sin city, London, with 1950s Las Vegas, turning it into a glittering, cinematic gallery of tableaux vivants inspired by the early days of television. Staged by one of the most visionary theatre directors of our age, the Quebecois Robert Lepage, the neo-classical morality tale truly becomes a grand spectacle . Lepage's visual imagination works its magic superbly, while Kazushi Ono's energetic musical direction drives the sparkling ensemble to exhilarating heights.
Bonus features:
- Interview with stage director Robert Lepage.
- Behind the scenes and rehearsal footage.
- Illustrated Synopsis
Bonus features:
- Interview with stage director Robert Lepage.
- Behind the scenes and rehearsal footage.
- Illustrated Synopsis
The stage-play for a Baroque-Orchestra, two Sopranos and one actor is based on the real-life story of Jack Unterweger, a notorious womanizer and celebrated author and journalist, who was suspected of killing prostitutes in Vienna, Graz, Prague and Los Angeles; later vanished from Vienna, fled into the U.S., got arrested in Miami, transferred to Austria, accused and finally committed suicide after being convicted of homicide in eleven cases.
In Marco Polo , an opera within an opera, composer Tan Dun portrays the Venetian explorer's travels to the Far East as a journey of both inner and physical discovery, a voyage depicting spiritual experiences as well as a geographical expedition. At the same time the work, on a libretto by Paul Griffiths, can be seen as a compositional adventure of the composer himself, unifying the various cultural worlds he occupies: a blend of Western avant garde and Oriental traditions. Pierre Audi's mythical staging and Jean Kalman's fabulous set design complement the composer's own musical direction, forging the dazzlingly versatile soloists, the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra and Capella Amsterdam to a stunning symbiosis of elements across time and space, a true testimony to cultures intertwined in globalisation.
Bonus features :
- Synopsis - Cast gallery
- The Music of Tomorrow - A documentary by Reiner E. Moritz, including interviews with the creative team and principal members of the cast.
Bonus features :
- Synopsis - Cast gallery
- The Music of Tomorrow - A documentary by Reiner E. Moritz, including interviews with the creative team and principal members of the cast.
Based on Gogol's fantastical and comic story of the Devil's antics on Christmas Eve, this magical blend of opera and ballet is brought to vivid life in Francesca Zambello's colourful production. Magnificent set designs (Mikhail Mokrov) and costumes (Tatiana Noginova), and an excellent, largely Russian cast provide authenticity. Splendid dancing by The Royal Ballet and Cossack dancers completes the spectacle.
The Bolshoi troupe triumphs at Paris Opera's 2008 season opening with Eugene Onegin.
Three romantic heroes each with a solitary destiny: Tatiana, a Romanesque young woman seeking absolution; Onegin, a distant dandy hiding emptiness under affected haughtiness; and Lenski, abandoned by his literary idol. Between these three, barren affections presage the inexorable social ruin.
With a stage setting as sombre as it is effective – a great dining table appears in the middle of a salon – the director Dmitri Tcherniakov separates two different worlds and lends the drama a clarity rarely reached.
Three romantic heroes each with a solitary destiny: Tatiana, a Romanesque young woman seeking absolution; Onegin, a distant dandy hiding emptiness under affected haughtiness; and Lenski, abandoned by his literary idol. Between these three, barren affections presage the inexorable social ruin.
With a stage setting as sombre as it is effective – a great dining table appears in the middle of a salon – the director Dmitri Tcherniakov separates two different worlds and lends the drama a clarity rarely reached.
Described by Tchaikovsky as "lyric scenes", Eugene Onegin receives a spectacular reinterpretation from the Norwegian director Stefan Herheim. His productions create controversy and excitement around Europe, and here he takes Pushkin's story of illusion, disaffection and frustrated love, and places the protagonists – world-weary Onegin and naïve, passionate Tatyana – in a triple temporal perspective, referencing the theatrical present, the period of the work's composition, and the pageant of Russia's history. Mariss Jansons, renowned for his mastery of Tchaikovsky's symphonies, conducts this performance from Amsterdam's Muziektheater.
Tchaikovsky is best known for his symphonic scores and ballets such as the Nutcracker , Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty . Yet his operas also occupy a place of honor in his oeuvre, and two of them, Eugene Onegin and The Queen of Spades , both based on novels by Pushkin, are among his very finest works.
The plot of Onegin is quickly told: on a Russian country estate, awkward, inexperienced young Tatyana is seized by a sudden passion for the handsome, blase new neighbor Eugene Onegin. She writes him a love letter, but he makes it clear to her that he is not interested. Later, when Tatyana's sister flirts with Onegin, her fiancé challenges him to a duel and is killed. Years later, Onegin returns, finds that Tatyana has married an aged prince, and tries to win her back but fails. Tchaikovsky called his opera a sequence of "lyric scenes." Its structure prefigures narrative techniques that later came into use in cinema, such as abrupt cuts and chronological leaps, intimate close-ups, and atmospheric interjections. Bearing this practically cinematic structure in mind, director Andrea Breth has produced an intimate chamber play that mines the depths of veracity, precision and charisma of her singer-actors. The stage suggests both the concrete location of the action as well as...
The plot of Onegin is quickly told: on a Russian country estate, awkward, inexperienced young Tatyana is seized by a sudden passion for the handsome, blase new neighbor Eugene Onegin. She writes him a love letter, but he makes it clear to her that he is not interested. Later, when Tatyana's sister flirts with Onegin, her fiancé challenges him to a duel and is killed. Years later, Onegin returns, finds that Tatyana has married an aged prince, and tries to win her back but fails. Tchaikovsky called his opera a sequence of "lyric scenes." Its structure prefigures narrative techniques that later came into use in cinema, such as abrupt cuts and chronological leaps, intimate close-ups, and atmospheric interjections. Bearing this practically cinematic structure in mind, director Andrea Breth has produced an intimate chamber play that mines the depths of veracity, precision and charisma of her singer-actors. The stage suggests both the concrete location of the action as well as...
Tchaikovsky is regarded as Russia's great symphonist. In his music he succeeded in creating a synthesis between the national musical language of Russia and the compositional forms and techniques of western European romanticism. His works are distinguished by rich melodic passages - parts of which are full of the deepest melancholy - interspersed with cheerful, dance-like sections drawn from Russian folk music. His great operas Eugene Onegin and Pique Dame reveal a fascinating artistry that uses expressive, highly dramatic characters and scenes. Pique Dame was written quickly in the spring of 1890 in Florence, and its first performance took place the same year at the Marinsky theatre in St. Petersburg. The production recorded here received the highest acclaim for its outstanding interpretation at the 1992 Glyndebourne Festival. The London Philharmonic under Andrew Davis accompanied a cast which included Sergei Leiferkus (Count Tomsky) and Dimitri Kharitonov (Prince Jeletzky).
Obsessive in gambling and in love, the soldier Hermann is the protagonist of Tchaikovsky's Pique Dame , based on a story by Pushkin. He is smitten with the aristocratic Lisa and fixated on learning the winning secret of "the three cards" from her grandmother, the Countess, played by iconic contralto Ewa Podles. This opulent production from Barcelona's Liceu captures St Petersburg in the era of Catherine the Great, while the house's Music Director Michael Border conducts a large and impressive cast.
A Swan Lake for our times.
A magical version of Tchaikovsky's masterpiece by the Zurich Ballet and choreographer Heinz Spoerli.
This Swan Lake’ is a Swan Lake for our times capable of transporting the audience to another world. The magic in the story suddenly takes hold of the viewer. Ballet is not simply a way of telling the story. Rather than gestures asking to be deciphered, the choreographer created large-scale, visionary movements closer to an artistic language of symbols and plays on the whole spectrum of human emotions. It always maintains a relationship of creative tension with its surroundings, especially the music, the poetry of the set, the use of light and colour, the texture of the costumes.
A key element of this artistic responsibility is to tell the story precisely but openly, without pinning it down, especially the ending – an ending wich is in a many-facetted sense a "deliverance." Does this mean that the lovers are saved? Is the spell's power broken? Are there other kinds of salvation and deliverance? Perhaps even by death and transfiguration?
A magical version of Tchaikovsky's masterpiece by the Zurich Ballet and choreographer Heinz Spoerli.
This Swan Lake’ is a Swan Lake for our times capable of transporting the audience to another world. The magic in the story suddenly takes hold of the viewer. Ballet is not simply a way of telling the story. Rather than gestures asking to be deciphered, the choreographer created large-scale, visionary movements closer to an artistic language of symbols and plays on the whole spectrum of human emotions. It always maintains a relationship of creative tension with its surroundings, especially the music, the poetry of the set, the use of light and colour, the texture of the costumes.
A key element of this artistic responsibility is to tell the story precisely but openly, without pinning it down, especially the ending – an ending wich is in a many-facetted sense a "deliverance." Does this mean that the lovers are saved? Is the spell's power broken? Are there other kinds of salvation and deliverance? Perhaps even by death and transfiguration?
Luther is a two-act opera by Finnish composer and conductor Kari Tikka who also wrote the libretto in collaboration with Jussi Tapola. It tells the life story of the German theologian and church reformer Martin Luther (1483-1546).
This live recording was made in May 2003 at the Temppeliaukion Kirkko ("Rock Church") in Helsinki, where the work had its world première in December 2000. The Finnish National Opera production is staged by Jussi Tapola, with conductor Kari Tikka leading a cast of soloists from the Opera.
Bonus features:
- An introduction to Luther
- A visit to the Temppeliaukio Church
This live recording was made in May 2003 at the Temppeliaukion Kirkko ("Rock Church") in Helsinki, where the work had its world première in December 2000. The Finnish National Opera production is staged by Jussi Tapola, with conductor Kari Tikka leading a cast of soloists from the Opera.
Bonus features:
- An introduction to Luther
- A visit to the Temppeliaukio Church
Placido Domingo heads an internationally renowned cast in Emilio Sagi's stylish new production for Madrid's Teatro Real of Moreno Torroba's enduring Zarzuela, whose story itself is set in the Spanish capital. Jesus Lopez Cobos conducts the Chorus and Orchestra of the Teatro Real.
Bonus features:
- Interviews with Placido Domingo, Emilio Sagi and Jesus Lopez Cobos
- Illustrated Synopsis
Bonus features:
- Interviews with Placido Domingo, Emilio Sagi and Jesus Lopez Cobos
- Illustrated Synopsis
In a tragic-comic take on the extremes of celebrity culture, composer Mark Anthony Turnage, librettist Richard Thomas and director Richard Jones add Anna Nicole Smith to opera's gallery of bad, sad girls. A pneumatic Playboy model who married an octogenarian billionaire, she achieved grotesque fame before her destitute, drug-riddled death. With its jazz-coloured score and Eva-Maria Westbroek's starry performance, this is, as the New York Times said: "an engrossing outrageous, entertaining and, ultimately deeply moving opera".
Set against the magnificent backdrop of Lake Constance, every production at the Bregenz Festival faces strong natural competitors. But with this first-ever production of Verdi's Aida (in an abridged version) on the lakeside stage, it is easy to overlook the beauty of the surrounding nature. Stage director Graham Vick and set designer Paul Brown conjure up an "open-air spectacle of superlatives" (Die Zeit) that throws a bridge between ancient Egypt and today's U.S.
The stage effects are stunning: ruins of the Statue of Liberty pieced
together with the help of giant cranes, boats carrying priestesses and
prisoners – parts of the opera even take place in the lake itself! And in the Grand March – one of the most famous marches in opera – a golden elephant comes sailing into view on a barge.
Under Carlo Rizzi, the Wiener Symphoniker brilliantly support the chorus and soloists, among whom Iano Tamar (Amneris) and Tatiana Serjan (Aida) stand out. Drawing capacity crowds of over 200,000 spectators in just one season, Aida is the festival's most successful opera to date, even more successful than the Tosca production, which has been immortalized in the James Bond film "Quantum of Solace".
The stage effects are stunning: ruins of the Statue of Liberty pieced
together with the help of giant cranes, boats carrying priestesses and
prisoners – parts of the opera even take place in the lake itself! And in the Grand March – one of the most famous marches in opera – a golden elephant comes sailing into view on a barge.
Under Carlo Rizzi, the Wiener Symphoniker brilliantly support the chorus and soloists, among whom Iano Tamar (Amneris) and Tatiana Serjan (Aida) stand out. Drawing capacity crowds of over 200,000 spectators in just one season, Aida is the festival's most successful opera to date, even more successful than the Tosca production, which has been immortalized in the James Bond film "Quantum of Solace".
Cult director Robert Wilson's highly stylised and intensely dramatic staging brings a Zen-like tranquility to Verdi's great opera concerning the conflict between individual aspiration, tradition and duty. His visually calm, yet emotionally taut, direction is emphasised by outstanding performances from the cast and the Symphony Orchestra and Choir of La Monnaie-De Munt under the commanding and inspired musical direction of Kazushi Ono. Recorded live at the Royal Opera House, La Monnaie-De Munt in Brussels, this riveting and painstakingly beautiful production, reminiscent at times of Japanese Noh theatre, offers a new and thought-provoking experience of a masterpiece.
Filmed at the Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona, Daniela Dessi, Elisabetta Fiorillo, Fabio Armiliato, Juan Pons and Roberto Scandiuzzi lead the cast in the renowned period production filmed in 2003 against the historic paper trompe-l'oeil sets painted between 1936-45 by Josep Mestres Cabanes, the last representative of the old Catalan school of scenography. Mestres Cabanes worked on his Aida vision for eight years. The opulent staging he created in 1945 is here in every detail. The seven magnificent sets he painted for Aida in 1945 have been subtly and painstakingly restored by Jordi Castells and his team - revealing the palaces, temples and surroundings of Memphis and Thebes which the set designer had wanted to evoke in his historical yet also fantasy-like vision.
These fascinating sets are not just realistic - but also magical in the theatrical sense. Mestres Cabanes loved the theatre which he had been exploring for over a quarter of a century. His sets are dramatic and visceral, conceived for stage action, conveying the dynamic tensions proper to each part of the work – intimate, epic, severe, sensual, troubled and tragic.
Bonus features:
- Scenographer Josep Mestres Cabanes at the Liceu
- Illustrated synopsis
These fascinating sets are not just realistic - but also magical in the theatrical sense. Mestres Cabanes loved the theatre which he had been exploring for over a quarter of a century. His sets are dramatic and visceral, conceived for stage action, conveying the dynamic tensions proper to each part of the work – intimate, epic, severe, sensual, troubled and tragic.
Bonus features:
- Scenographer Josep Mestres Cabanes at the Liceu
- Illustrated synopsis
Cheryl Studer, in the title role, leads an excellent cast in Elijah Moshinsky's 1994 production of Verdi's extravagant and magnificent Egyptian opera. Aida was acclaimed at its first performance in 1871 and has grown in stature ever since to become one of the best-loved and most-performed grand operas of all time.
This exciting open-air staging of Aida was one of the classical highlights in summer 2004. The vast production of the Verdi masterpiece at St. Margarethen took place amidst the intoxicating scenery of a rustically romantic Roman quarry, which provided a unique backdrop for this live recording. The Opera Festival St. Margarethen in Austria counts as one of Europe's most important open-air festivals and nearly 150,000 opera lovers from all over the world visit it annually. The story of the forbidden love between the Egyptian leader Radames and the beautiful Ethiopian princess Aida was originally commissioned for the opening of the Cairo opera house, which formed part of the celebrations surrounding the opening of the Suez Canal in 1871. This is an opera of epic proportions and the staging presented on this video truly conforms to this spirit: horses, elephants, pyrotechnical special effects and more than 400 participants take to the stage. The magnificent event, with its towering musical performances is captured by the famous music video duo of directors Dolezal/Rossacher.
Nina Stemme marks her theatrical role debut as Aida with an astounding performance in a new staging by Nicolas Joel at the Zurich Opera - sharing the stage with a star-packed cast including Salvatore Licitra, Luiciana d'intino and Juan Pons.
Bonus:
- The Story of Aida - a film by Louis Wallencan
- Interview with Andy Sommer
Bonus:
- The Story of Aida - a film by Louis Wallencan
- Interview with Andy Sommer
Filmed live at the Leipzig Opera in November 2005, this recording of Verdi's famous Un Ballo in Maschera , brings a lively musical evening. Riccardo Chailly, who made a critically acclaimed start in his position as General Music Director of the Leipzig Opera with this staging, directs the Gewandhausorchestra and a cast of experienced Verdi singers in a collaboration between the Zurich and Leipzig Operas. Un ballo in maschera - a story of love, power and political murder in 19th century United States of America - is as exciting as a thriller, but with a passion that can only be experienced in a Verdi opera. The Italian film director Ermanno Olmi ( The Legend of the Holy Drinker, The Tree of Wooden Clogs ) staged it accordingly. The amazing visual effects in this production were created by the sculptor Arnaldo Pomodore who designed the fantastic colourful set and costumes.
Passion, loyalty and political conspiracy are the three pillars of Un ballo in maschera (1859), "the most operatic of all operas". Set in 19th-century Boston, Mario Martone's atmospheric production for the Teatro Real brings out all the innate theatricality and drama of Verdi's work. World famous Argentinean tenor Marcelo Álvarez, in the role of Riccardo, leads a fabulous cast including Lithuanian soprano Violeta Urmana as his lover Amelia and Elena Zaremba as the witch Ulrica. Jesús Lopez Cobos conducts the Chorus and Orchestra of the Teatro Real in a performance that emphasises the lyricism and majesty of this wonderful work, in which grand opera and opera comique are woven together with classic Italian style.
Il Corsaro is still one of Verdi's less known and performed operas. Chronologically speaking, it belongs to the famous "years in the galley", even though it dates from a period (the autumn of 1848) when the composer's name, in Italy, could already be considered established. Although this is considered one of Verdi's minor works, there are many exciting and poignant passages in it, and the tight dramatic action makes for music that has a pressing and incisive rhythm. The renowned baritone Renato Bruson and conductor Renato Palumbo stand out in the cast and this recording makes the most of Lamberto Puggelli's beautiful sets.
The premiere of Ernani at Venices' Teatro La Fenice in 1844 failed to come up to Verdi's expectations, primarily because of the poor health of some of the singers. Both critics and audiences, however, soon warmed to Ernani , especially after the following performances. The opera contains some of Verdi's most successful, impassioned arias (first and foremost Elvira's cavatina and Silva's cantabile) and clearly denoted an evolution in terms of dramatic structure, more cohesive and with lesser use of blocks of closed numbers. Despite a turbulent 'premiere', Ernani became a real international success, beginning with the felicitous Vienna productions of May/June 1844. The cast of this Teatro Regio of Parma production features some of today's best singers for this type of repertoire.
The inspirational Vladimir Jurowski conducts Verdi's last opera, his only true comic opera. An international cast is led by Christopher Purves in the larger-than-life role of the corpulent Falstaff , whose profligacy both outrages and inspires the citizens of Windsor. Richard Jones's production brings out the humour, bitterness and anger – mixed with tenderness and wisdom – embodied in the Shakespeare plays on which the libretto is based.
Bonus features :
- Illustrated synopsis
Bonus features :
- Illustrated synopsis
The main characters are sung by leading exponents of their respective roles, including Barbara Frittoli, who sang Alice in the production that marked the reopening of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. The action revolves around Ruggero Raimondi, one of the foremost Falstaffs of recent years. Raimondi first sang the role, one of a small number of purely baritone parts in his repertoire, in 1986, and then waited until the end of the 1990s before taking it up again under Claudio Abbado in Berlin. He values the part for the way Falstaff "takes part in the action both comically and dramatically, and perhaps this is the real strength and beauty of the role."
Adapted by Arrigo Boito from Shakespeare's play The Merry Wives of Windsor , Falstaff was Verdi's last opera and one of his few comedies. It was also the third of Verdi's operas to be based on a Shakespearean play, and like his first adaptation of the English playwright, Macbeth , it concludes with a fugue, the famous "Tutto nel mondo e burla" (All the world's a joke). The successful first performance took place at La Scala in Milan in 1893. While not as immensely popular as the works that immediately preceded it ( Aida and Otello ) Falstaff's refinement and melodic invention have made it a long term favourite with...
Adapted by Arrigo Boito from Shakespeare's play The Merry Wives of Windsor , Falstaff was Verdi's last opera and one of his few comedies. It was also the third of Verdi's operas to be based on a Shakespearean play, and like his first adaptation of the English playwright, Macbeth , it concludes with a fugue, the famous "Tutto nel mondo e burla" (All the world's a joke). The successful first performance took place at La Scala in Milan in 1893. While not as immensely popular as the works that immediately preceded it ( Aida and Otello ) Falstaff's refinement and melodic invention have made it a long term favourite with...
The spectacular opening production of London's newly restored Royal Opera House, first broadcast live on BBC television in December 1999, brings a riot of colour to Verdi's great Shakespearean masterpiece. Bryn Terfel as Sir John Falstaff and Barbara Frittoli as Alice Ford lead a star cast with the Orchestra and Chorus of the Royal Opera House under the direction of Bernard Haitink, in a spectacular new production by Graham Vick.
After an unparalleled succession of tragic operas, Verdi finished his operatic career with a comedy. It has a thread of intriguing musical cross-references and a great richness of musical resource, as well as subtle delineation of character. It has enchanting love music, too, but it is the depiction of Falstaff himself and the web of conspiracy around him that gives the opera its chief celebrity. Verdi's congenial librettist Arrigo Boito created a sparkling adaptation of Shakespeare's "The Merry Wives of Windsor" and "Henry IV." Falstaff was premiered in Milan in 1893.
Based on Schiller's Kabale und Liebe (Intrigue and Love) , Verdi's tragic melodramma Luisa Miller revolves around the loves of the heroine of the title and Rodolfo, son of Count Walter, and the machinations of the Count's steward, Wurm, who wants Luisa for himself, resulting in the death of all three. Directed by Arnaud Bernard, who took as his inspiration Bernardo Bertolucci's 1976 film 1900 , this La Fenice production is led by the outstanding Bulgarian soprano Darina Takova whose intense characterisation of Luisa emphasizes the heroine's inner torture, and Giuseppe Sabbatini who brings a thrilling theatricality to the role of Rodolfo, especially in the most famous aria from the opera, "Quando le sere al placido".
Hailed as his first mature masterpiece, Verdi's 1849 opera Luisa Miller leaves the world of Bellini and Donizetti behind and opens the door to the realism of the three following operas, Rigoletto , La Traviata and Il Trovatore. Even though it has not become a repertoire work like its successors, the work's ensemble scenes and fluid dramaturgy have an electrifying impact on all Verdi lovers. This drama, based on Schiller's Kabale und Liebe, treats the conflicts between the two fathers and their children and between two very different social classes with a forward-looking psychological refinement. "It is a melodrama hovering between two worlds and depicts a society in transition from one to the other," says director Denis Krief. The story of the star-crossed lovers Luisa and Rodolfo fully occupies center stage in this production from the 2007 Festival Verdi in Parma, with a minimalist decor highlighted by a simple wooden table for the heroine's home and an elegant sofa for the home of the noble Walter family. As in his 2007 Nabucco from the Arena di Verona, Franco-Italian director Denis Krief pares down the production to focus on the music and, above all, the outstanding singers.
Fiorenza Cedolins heads the roster of great Verdi artists in this production. The famed...
Fiorenza Cedolins heads the roster of great Verdi artists in this production. The famed...
Macbeth signifies the beginning of Verdi's life-long preoccupation with William Shakespeare where he came close to emulating the master with his congenial composition of Othello and whom he even surpassed with Falstaff . Aware of the great musical as well as literary challenge, Verdi wrote the scenario himself and essentially concentrated the piece on three main protagonists: Macbeth, Lady Macbeth and the prophecy of the witches… During the first performance on 14 March 1847 in Florence the audience reacted with great displeasure. The piece only gradually established itself in the world of opera. Luca Ronconi's new production of Verdi's early masterpiece which was first performed in June 1987 at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin was received in Germany and around the world with great praise.
Carlos Alvarez takes the title role in the first of Verdi's Shakespearean operas, with Maria Guleghina as the manipulative wife whose desire to gain the Scottish throne drives her husband to murder and leaves both with blood on their hands. Bruno Campanella conducts the Symphony Orchestra and Chorus of the Gran Teatre del Liceu in the 2004 recording of Phyllida Lloyd's powerful production, first staged at London's Royal Opera House.
Bonus feature:
- Illustrated Synopsis
Bonus feature:
- Illustrated Synopsis
Black, red, cream and gold are the colours that define Phyllida Lloyd's Royal Opera House staging of Verdi's robust, yet penetrating setting of Shakespeare's Scottish play. Manipulated by a whole coven of cunning, scarlet-turbanned witches, the characters often evoke figures in a splendid Gothic fresco. With Simon Keenlyside making his British debut, as an athletic, brooding Macbeth and Liudmyla Monastyrska as his Lady, both imperious and subtle, this performance, masterfully conducted by Antonio Pappano, goes far beyond mere sound and fury.
Bonus features:
- Interview with Liudmyla Monastryrska, Simon Keenlyside, Raymond Aceto
- Rehearsing Macbeth with Antonio Pappano
Bonus features:
- Interview with Liudmyla Monastryrska, Simon Keenlyside, Raymond Aceto
- Rehearsing Macbeth with Antonio Pappano
Verdi was justifiably pleased with Macbeth, his tenth opera and his first on a Shakespearian subject – it would long remain his own favourite among his "early period" operas. Eighteen years later, at the invitation of the Theatre Lyrique in Paris, he substantially revised the score, and this version (sung in Italian) is presented here in Pier Luigi Pizzi's visually arresting 2007 production. The talented young cast is headed by Giuseppe Altomare as Macbeth, one of Verdi's most profoundly modern anti-heroes, a political animal driven to bloody regicide yet doomed by his very success. Olha Zhuravel plays his obsessively ambitious wife, driven to madness by her own guilt.
Macbeth occupies a special place in Verdi's overall output: it is his only opera without an amorous intrigue, and it is also his first Shakespearean opera. Shakespeare was one of his "favourite poets," the composer admitted, "a poet whose works I have had in my hands from my earliest youth and one whom I read and reread constantly."
This staging of the four-act dramatic opera that tells the story of the Scottish nobleman Macbeth, who is corrupted by power and loses his wife, his sanity and finally his life to his ambitions. The plot, set in Scotland in the middle of the 11th century, represents Verdi's advance into realism. He developed a completely new approach to characterization, in which characters and actions are treated with a hitherto unprecedented degree of realism and began to explore his own scenario for the first time.
Thus a staging as close to the plot and its psychological context becomes inevitable. Internationally renowned film director Liliana Cavani (best known for the 1974 film Night Porter with Charlotte Rampling) takes the conflict of a man torn between two female force fields at face value and shows Lady Macbeth's lascivious insinuations and the seductive prophecies of the witches as elements of the pitfalls that both real and our subconscious urges...
This staging of the four-act dramatic opera that tells the story of the Scottish nobleman Macbeth, who is corrupted by power and loses his wife, his sanity and finally his life to his ambitions. The plot, set in Scotland in the middle of the 11th century, represents Verdi's advance into realism. He developed a completely new approach to characterization, in which characters and actions are treated with a hitherto unprecedented degree of realism and began to explore his own scenario for the first time.
Thus a staging as close to the plot and its psychological context becomes inevitable. Internationally renowned film director Liliana Cavani (best known for the 1974 film Night Porter with Charlotte Rampling) takes the conflict of a man torn between two female force fields at face value and shows Lady Macbeth's lascivious insinuations and the seductive prophecies of the witches as elements of the pitfalls that both real and our subconscious urges...
After his first two operas Oberto and Un giorno di regno , Verdi fell into a depression that dissipated only when he was shown the libretto to Nabucco and discovered the chorus Va, pensiero . The words sung by the Hebrew exiles made an indelible impression on the composer, who also saw the political potential within them: an echo of the Italians' longing for freedom and a unified nation.
This video production vividly captures this unique experience and provides the viewer with fascinating details that escape many of the Arena's spectators. Stage director Denis Krief casts the work in a sparse modern setting, providing a highly effective showcase for the true heroes of the evening, the singers under conductor Daniel Oren. The chorus of the Hebrew captives is so perfect that it is probably impossible to find it sung anywhere else more beautifully than in Verona.
As so often in the Arena, the chorus presents itself as protagonist and perfectly homogeneous ensemble in this acoustically delicate theater. But with Leo Nucci as an aging Nabucco reminiscent of Lear, Fabio Sartori as his antagonist Ismaele and Maria Guleghina as a power-hungry Abigaille, the stage was dominated by three brilliantly disposed soloists who rousingly did justice to the drama of their...
This video production vividly captures this unique experience and provides the viewer with fascinating details that escape many of the Arena's spectators. Stage director Denis Krief casts the work in a sparse modern setting, providing a highly effective showcase for the true heroes of the evening, the singers under conductor Daniel Oren. The chorus of the Hebrew captives is so perfect that it is probably impossible to find it sung anywhere else more beautifully than in Verona.
As so often in the Arena, the chorus presents itself as protagonist and perfectly homogeneous ensemble in this acoustically delicate theater. But with Leo Nucci as an aging Nabucco reminiscent of Lear, Fabio Sartori as his antagonist Ismaele and Maria Guleghina as a power-hungry Abigaille, the stage was dominated by three brilliantly disposed soloists who rousingly did justice to the drama of their...
This exciting open-air staging of Nabucco was one of the classical highlights in summer 2007. The vast production of the Verdi masterpiece at St. Margarethen took place amidst the intoxicating scenery of a rustically romantic Roman quarry, which provided a unique backdrop for this live recording. The Opera Festival St. Margarethen in Austria counts as one of Europe's most important open-air festivals and nearly 220,000 opera lovers from all over the world visit it annually. Nabucco tells the story of Nebuchadnezzar, ancient King of Babylon, who went mad after proclaiming himself God. It is one of the most popular works in the history of opera and was Giuseppe Verdi's (1813–1901) break-through in 1842. It features the most famous of all opera choruses, "Va, pensiero...", which is a tune known to more than just opera lovers. This is an opera of epic proportions and the staging presented on this video truly conforms to this spirit: horses, pyrotechnical special effects and more than 400 participants take to the stage.
Verdi's first published opera, written in his 20s, already shows the instinctive melodic gift and heightened sense of drama which was to make him a giant among composers of grand opera. Set in 13th century Italy, Oberto was first performed at La Scala, Milan in 1839 - 54 years before his last opera was premiered there - and prepared the way for a lifetime's work which would culminate in some of the finest music ever written.
Bonus feature:
- Interview with Yves Abel
Bonus feature:
- Interview with Yves Abel
The first of Verdi's two late Shakespearian operas stands as one of the great masterpieces of grand opera. Jose Cura, ranked among the world's leading interpreters of Verdi's music, takes the title role in Willy Decker's profound and intense production, recorded live at the Liceu, Barcelona in 2006.
Bonus features:
- Introduction to Otello
- Illustrated Synopsis
Bonus features:
- Introduction to Otello
- Illustrated Synopsis
Herbert von Karajan, a master painter of aural and visual panoramas, has created a medley of Mediterranean moods, extending from the violent storm of the Overture to the golden hues of the palace scenes. Jon Vickers, in one of his greatest roles as the brooding Moor Otello, displays the full brilliancy of his legendary voice; Mirella Freni, as Otello's tormented wife Desdemona, secures our compassion with singing of serene vocal beauty; Peter Glossop is as evil an Iago as one can imagine. Three definitive portrayals of some of Verdi's most powerful characters. With the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and the Chorus of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Herbert von Karajan's Salzburg Festival production is assured of an electrifying impact.
"An amazing range, with fresh young lows and girlish highs, full, glowing middle and high registers, a timbre of silk, champagne and sandpaper, a great lyrical-dramatic soprano," wrote Berlin's Tagesspiegel about Marina Poplavskaya. The Moscow native was clearly "the queen of this operatic performance," as the eminent critic Joachim Kaiser put it in the Suddeutsche Zeitung, and perhaps the most dazzling discovery of this Salzburg Festival production of Verdi's Otello .
Poplavskaya's Desdemona shares the limelight on the stage of Salzburg's Grosses Festspielhaus with her partner Aleksandrs Antonenko, an up-and-coming Latvian tenor with an impressive stage presence and a light, heady timbre that gives his Otello a youthful note.
Particularly noteworthy are Carlos Alvarez, a powerful, charismatic baritone who infuses his manipulating Iago with criminal energy and threatening darkness; and Stephen Costello, whose sensitive, elegant Cassio reminds us that this young American tenor is already singing Donizetti at the Metropolitan Opera. Leading the vocal ensemble and the Wiener Philharmoniker with commanding presence is the great Riccardo Muti, whose conducting is "the motor of this Verdi opera" (Wiener Zeitung).
With its "enlightened realism" (Die Welt), Stephen Langridge's...
Poplavskaya's Desdemona shares the limelight on the stage of Salzburg's Grosses Festspielhaus with her partner Aleksandrs Antonenko, an up-and-coming Latvian tenor with an impressive stage presence and a light, heady timbre that gives his Otello a youthful note.
Particularly noteworthy are Carlos Alvarez, a powerful, charismatic baritone who infuses his manipulating Iago with criminal energy and threatening darkness; and Stephen Costello, whose sensitive, elegant Cassio reminds us that this young American tenor is already singing Donizetti at the Metropolitan Opera. Leading the vocal ensemble and the Wiener Philharmoniker with commanding presence is the great Riccardo Muti, whose conducting is "the motor of this Verdi opera" (Wiener Zeitung).
With its "enlightened realism" (Die Welt), Stephen Langridge's...
Verdi's drama of revenge, in its stunning new production by David McVicar, is filled with some of the composer's most celebrated music. Edward Downes conducts the Orchestra and Chorus of the Royal Opera House with a cast which includes Marcelo Alvarez, Christine Schäfer and Paolo Gavanelli. Contains nudity.
Bonus features :
- Illustrated synopsis
- Verdi through the looking glass - a BBC documentary
- Director David McVicar talks about his production of Rigoletto
Bonus features :
- Illustrated synopsis
- Verdi through the looking glass - a BBC documentary
- Director David McVicar talks about his production of Rigoletto
Renaissance Italy has never been portrayed more opulently and more realistically than in Jean-Pierre Ponnelle's film of Verdi's Rigoletto , the composer's first true masterwork for the stage. Towering over the production is Luciano Pavarotti as the cynical, dissolute Duke of Mantua, one of the famed tenor's greatest vocal and dramatic roles. Rigoletto is magnificently portrayed by the Swedish baritone Ingvar Wixell. His beautiful daughter Gilda is interpreted by Edita Gruberova, one of the leading coloratura sopranos of our time. Director Jean-Pierre Ponnelle, "whose stage and television work has brought a new and grandly colorful vitality to opera interpretation" (The New York Times), acclaimed Italian cameraman Pasqualino de Santis (Death in Venice) and architect Gianni Quaranta have created a spellbindingly unique atmosphere.
The drama unfolds with a powerful authenticity highlighted by the historic locations in which it was filmed: Parma's Teatro Farnese of 1628, Mantua's Palazzo Te, famed for its frescoes by Giulio Romano, and the Palladian-style Teatro Olimpico in Sabbioneta. Riccardo Chailly's vibrant interpretation of Verdi's score, with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra responding magnificently to his conducting, is a perfect complement to Jean-Pierre Ponnelle's...
The drama unfolds with a powerful authenticity highlighted by the historic locations in which it was filmed: Parma's Teatro Farnese of 1628, Mantua's Palazzo Te, famed for its frescoes by Giulio Romano, and the Palladian-style Teatro Olimpico in Sabbioneta. Riccardo Chailly's vibrant interpretation of Verdi's score, with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra responding magnificently to his conducting, is a perfect complement to Jean-Pierre Ponnelle's...
One of the lesser known works by Giuseppe Verdi, Simon Boccanegra is regarded by most opera lovers as one of his finest. The action takes place in the 14th century and deals with the political and personal rivalry between the corsair Simon Boccanegra, who has been elected Doge of Genoa with the help of the plebeian vote, and the local nobleman, Jacopo Fiesco.
The staging was directed by one of the giants of the European theatre, Peter Stein, who ran the Berliner Schaubühne between 1970 and 1985, and later became theatre director at the Salzburg Festival. His production of Simon Boccanegra was first seen at the 2000 Salzburg Easter Festival. Two years later he developed the production in Vienna, using the same sets and costumes as in Salzburg. His fondness for atmospherically dense spaces in which the characters can fully develop is particularly well brought out in his Vienna production, not least because he had at his disposal two remarkable singing actors for the principal male roles - American baritone Thomas Hampson as Simon Boccanegra and Ferruccio Furlanetto who plays Jacopo Fiesco.
The staging was directed by one of the giants of the European theatre, Peter Stein, who ran the Berliner Schaubühne between 1970 and 1985, and later became theatre director at the Salzburg Festival. His production of Simon Boccanegra was first seen at the 2000 Salzburg Easter Festival. Two years later he developed the production in Vienna, using the same sets and costumes as in Salzburg. His fondness for atmospherically dense spaces in which the characters can fully develop is particularly well brought out in his Vienna production, not least because he had at his disposal two remarkable singing actors for the principal male roles - American baritone Thomas Hampson as Simon Boccanegra and Ferruccio Furlanetto who plays Jacopo Fiesco.
Once regarded as Verdi's lost opera because of early censorship and controversy, Stiffelio has now established its rightful place in Verdi's canon. In this 1993 recording from the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Jose Carreras, as the Protestant minister whose faith is shattered when he discovers his wife's adulterous liaison with a family friend, leads a fine cast that includes Catherine Malfitano, Gregory Yurisich, Gwynne Howell and Robin Leggate under the baton of Edward Downes.
We all identify Traviata with the corrupt, led-astray heroine of Verdi's opera; with those women whose fatal sensuality incriminated families, threatening the social order, and compromising a morality where desire, with its subversive powers, was to be eliminated.
However, every myth benefits from a fresh perspective. And from the bedside of a repentant Madeleine, the guilty conscience of the XIXth century’s hypocritical honesty, Peter Mussbach sees this myth differently. He sees it from a closer perspective. Perhaps his very contemporary vision of this past era can shed some
light on our vision of the modern woman.
The only performance from the eventful 2003 Festival d'Aix, this Traviata is carried all the way through by a radiant Mireille Delunsch, who, as always, pushes the limits of her art. Appearing in a wedding dress, evoking the sacrificed icon reminiscent of both Marylin and Lady Di, trapped by tragedy, Mireille Delunsch is Violetta.
Filmed by Don Kent, a master in the domain, Peter Mussbach's brilliant production is one long flashback, which leaves the spectator breathless. A truly remarkable director of actors, Mussbach focuses on the psychology of the opera’s characters, and knows how to get the best out of his singers. For him, La Traviata...
However, every myth benefits from a fresh perspective. And from the bedside of a repentant Madeleine, the guilty conscience of the XIXth century’s hypocritical honesty, Peter Mussbach sees this myth differently. He sees it from a closer perspective. Perhaps his very contemporary vision of this past era can shed some
light on our vision of the modern woman.
The only performance from the eventful 2003 Festival d'Aix, this Traviata is carried all the way through by a radiant Mireille Delunsch, who, as always, pushes the limits of her art. Appearing in a wedding dress, evoking the sacrificed icon reminiscent of both Marylin and Lady Di, trapped by tragedy, Mireille Delunsch is Violetta.
Filmed by Don Kent, a master in the domain, Peter Mussbach's brilliant production is one long flashback, which leaves the spectator breathless. A truly remarkable director of actors, Mussbach focuses on the psychology of the opera’s characters, and knows how to get the best out of his singers. For him, La Traviata...
Verdi's best-loved work is performed here by a star cast in a revival of Richard Eyre's highly acclaimed 1994 production. Music Director Antonio Pappano conducts La traviata for the first time at Covent Garden. American soprano Renée Fleming returns to Covent Garden to sing Violetta for the first time with The Royal Opera. La traviata was first performed at the Teatro La Fenice, Venice in March 1853.
Within only a few years, Anna Netrebko has become one of the most acclaimed performers of our time, whose popularity transcends by far the boundaries of classical music. With her CDs garnering phenomenal sales and her stage appearances causing worldwide box-office stampedes, Anna Netrebko is on her way to becoming the new diva assoluta.
This recording of Verdi's La Traviata from the 2005 Salzburg Festival – the uncontested and hopelessly sold-out highlight of the festival season – captures the triumphal performance not only of Anna Netrebko as Violetta Valery, but also of Rolando Villazon as her lover Alfredo. The glamorous Russian soprano and the heartthrob Mexican tenor have become the new dream team of the opera world.
The international press was unanimous in praising the singers' phenomenal range, heavenly timbre, musical finesse and powerful, charismatic stage presence. Portraying Alfredo's father is one of the leading baritones of our time, Thomas Hampson. The Austrian Broadcasting Corporation's (ORF) simultaneous telecast of the premiere scored a phenomenal 29% market share. Willy Decker's stark, elegantly stylish stage production makes Anna Netrebko the center of attention at all times. The sets and costumes are by Wolfgang Gussmann. La Traviata...
This recording of Verdi's La Traviata from the 2005 Salzburg Festival – the uncontested and hopelessly sold-out highlight of the festival season – captures the triumphal performance not only of Anna Netrebko as Violetta Valery, but also of Rolando Villazon as her lover Alfredo. The glamorous Russian soprano and the heartthrob Mexican tenor have become the new dream team of the opera world.
The international press was unanimous in praising the singers' phenomenal range, heavenly timbre, musical finesse and powerful, charismatic stage presence. Portraying Alfredo's father is one of the leading baritones of our time, Thomas Hampson. The Austrian Broadcasting Corporation's (ORF) simultaneous telecast of the premiere scored a phenomenal 29% market share. Willy Decker's stark, elegantly stylish stage production makes Anna Netrebko the center of attention at all times. The sets and costumes are by Wolfgang Gussmann. La Traviata...
A fascinating production of La Traviata formed this year's opera highlight at one of Europe's most important open-air festivals: the Opera Festival St. Margarethen. The dazzling production, set in a rustically romantic Roman quarry, already boasts 100,000 visitors this season. Recorded live in July 2008, this video captures the beauty of the open-air production. Stage designer Manfred Waba sets the tragic story about the demi-mondaine Violetta Valéry and her admirer Alfredo Germont in an evocative replica of the Parisian Opéra Garnier. His and Robert Herzl's unique interpretation is intelligent and effective. In the lead roles, Austria's promising opera talent Kristiane Kaiser and Jean-François Borras, a young French tenor, provide for a musically and visually attractive viewing.
Norah Amsellem as Violetta leads a cast of outstanding talent in Pier Luigi Pizzi's beautiful production. Jesus Lopez Cobos conducts the Chorus and Orchestra of the Teatro Real (Madrid Symphony Orchestra and Chorus) in an acclaimed reading of one of Verdi's greatest works.
Bonus features:
- Illustrated synopsis
- Insights from Jesus Lopez Cobos, Norah Amsellem, Jose Bros and Renato Bruson
Bonus features:
- Illustrated synopsis
- Insights from Jesus Lopez Cobos, Norah Amsellem, Jose Bros and Renato Bruson
A gigantic blood-red monster, made of steel and flames, floating on the still waters of Lake Constance - this is Robert Carsen's unconventional vision of the setting of Verdi's masterpiece Il Trovatore for the 60th anniversary of the Bregenz Festival. In this threatening set of fire and metal, designed by Paul Steinberg, the characters burn with the passions they experience – love, hatred, sexual desire and revenge – and which eventually destroy them. The live recording of this most spectacular outdoor production combines astonishing images, relevant reflections on today's world and superb musical expression from the soloists and the world-renowned Wiener Symphoniker Orchestra, inspired by musical director Thomas Rosner.
Bonus features:
- A Stage on a Lake - a documentary including interviews with the stage director and set designer
- Illustrated Synopsis
Bonus features:
- A Stage on a Lake - a documentary including interviews with the stage director and set designer
- Illustrated Synopsis
Jose Cura leads the star cast of Verdi's blazingly passionate opera in Elijah Moshinsky's new Royal Opera House production co-produced with Teatro Real Madrid, with sets by the noted Italian film designer Dante Ferretti. With Dmitri Hvorostovsky as Count di Luna, Veronica Villarroel as Leonora, and Yvonne Naef as Azucena, the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, is conducted by Carlo Rizzi.
Bonus features:
- Illustrated Synopsis
- The cast and their characters
- Designing Il Trovatore
- All about Schläger duelling
Bonus features:
- Illustrated Synopsis
- The cast and their characters
- Designing Il Trovatore
- All about Schläger duelling
Les vêpres siciliennes , like the similarly epic Don Carlos , was conceived as a grand opéra for Paris and is driven by the tensions between private passions and public politics. Originally set during Sicily’s 13th-century uprising against French rule, in Christof Loy’s staging for the Netherlands Opera the action is transposed to a 1940s world of sudden violence and shadowy double-dealing. Imaginatively cast and idiomatically conducted, the performance presents this magnificent score in its entirety, including the allegorical ballet The Four Seasons .
Many consider Claude Vivier the greatest composer Canada has yet produced. Gyorgy Ligeti once called him 'the finest French composer of his generation'. A pupil under Gilles Tremblay and Karlheinz Stockhausen, he soon created his own dazzling vocal and orchestral language, profoundly marked by his travels to the Far East. The interweaving of his personal and professional life, of the real and the imaginary, reveals a compelling global awareness, deep human compassion and a universal quest for ultimate enlightenment. Vivier himself pursued this journey of discovery, until his tragic murder in Paris at the age of thirty-four.
The two parts of Reves d'un Marco Polo are like shadow and light, forming a dreamlike ritualistic experience and encompassing stage productions of his finest compositions. Pierre Audi's superb and moving staging is complemented by refined, passionate musical direction from Reinbert de Leeuw, leading the soloists, the Asko Ensemble and the Schonberg Ensemble to great heights.
Bonus features:
- Claude Vivier - a spellbinding and insightful 60-minute documentary by Cherry Duyns, from his acclaimed contemporary composer portrait series, on the life and work of Claude Vivier, including rare footage, interviews with conductor Reinbert de Leeuw and...
The two parts of Reves d'un Marco Polo are like shadow and light, forming a dreamlike ritualistic experience and encompassing stage productions of his finest compositions. Pierre Audi's superb and moving staging is complemented by refined, passionate musical direction from Reinbert de Leeuw, leading the soloists, the Asko Ensemble and the Schonberg Ensemble to great heights.
Bonus features:
- Claude Vivier - a spellbinding and insightful 60-minute documentary by Cherry Duyns, from his acclaimed contemporary composer portrait series, on the life and work of Claude Vivier, including rare footage, interviews with conductor Reinbert de Leeuw and...
For his production of The Flying Dutchman , premiered in 1978, Harry Kupfer chose the original Dresden version of 1843, which has a rougher, more muscular texture than the subsequent editions. When The Flying Dutchman was performed in Zurich and Munich, Wagner himself revised the work, softening the instrumentation and appending the "redemption" conclusions to the overture and the third act. What was the reason for the heated disputes which took place between the conservative Bayreuth Wagnerians and the more progressive lovers of the composer's music? Harry Kupfer's production presents the entire story of the Flying Dutchman as a hallucination, a figment of Senta's disturbed imagination. She is seen by the director as a highly neurotic, even schizophrenic young girl, whose yearning for the eternally wandering Dutchman puts her into a trance-like state, in which her own internal drama is acted out in the form of a vision. By having the character leap through the window to her death at the end of the opera, Harry Kupfer has placed a highly personal interpretation on Wagner's notion of "redemption".
Austrian director Martin Kušej's pioneering vision brings a challenging and provoking insight to Wagner's opera of love and redemption, with his singular ability to connect characters and their actions to the score. Martin Zehetsgruber's spacious, multi-layered sets define the settings through which Daland (Robert Lloyd), Senta (Catherine Naglestad), The Dutchman (Juha Uusitalo) and the chorus move to great effect fulfilling the fine conducting of Hartmut Haenchen, who elicits from the orchestra an unmatchable performance of detail and clarity.
A bleak wind chord of E flat minor opens Richard Wagner's Götterdämmerung . It establishes the dominant atmosphere of the piece from its first bar: twilight, a deceptive half-light, prevails. Shadowy figures stumble towards the abyss. The last evening of the Ring is one of plotting and betrayal, of ominous oaths, a chilling lust for power, abuse and humiliation – and, also, of a superbly staged apocalypse, when the beings and things destined for destruction shine brightly for one last time. The leitmotivs and thematic ideas from throughout the whole tetralogy recur in Götterdämmerung , intensified and woven into a musical web from which there can be no escape. Everything appears to fit together fatally with everything else. There is nothing more to be done. The net of catastrophe is knotted too fatefully for that, both musically and dramatically. When Wagner sat down to write a prose outline of what turned out as the last part of the Ring , he called it Siegfried's Death . That was in the year of revolutions, 1848. The new title, usually translated as Twilight of the Gods , came later (Bernard Shaw called it Night Falls on the Gods but that never caught on). All the threads of the drama run now towards the hero's fall. The death of Siegfried precipitates the...
In the fourth and final part of the epic cycle, Der Ring des Nibelungen , the treachery and betrayal which leads to Siegfried's death also heralds the downfall of the gods and the return of the gold to the Rhine. This stunning production of The Ring from Het Muziektheater Amsterdam blends the lyrical, mythical and philosophical qualities of Wagner's work into a profound unity. Pierre Audi's stage direction is inspired and amazing sets by George Tsypin and wonderful costumes by Oscar-winning Eiko Ishioka complement singing and playing of great intensity from the cast and the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra under Hartmut Haenchen's visionary musical direction. This is a Ring to remember. This production of The Ring of the Nibelung is based on the new Complete Edition of the works of Richard Wagner.
Bonus features
- Illustrated synopsis
- Introduction to Gotterdammerung
Bonus features
- Illustrated synopsis
- Introduction to Gotterdammerung
In the final part of Wagner's epic cycle, Der Ring des Nibelungen , Siegfried's world descends into falsehood and betrayal before his cursed life is ended by a single spear. Fate ignites the final conflagration, which sets the world to await its new beginning. Filmed at Barcelona's Gran Teatre del Liceu in 2004, Harry Kupfer's stunning production, first staged in Berlin, numbers among the greatest productions of modern times.
Bonus feature:
- Illustrated synopsis
Bonus feature:
- Illustrated synopsis
"This production quite possibly shows us the path that musical theater will be taking in the future" (Die Zeit). Indeed, the Catalan city of Valencia is setting new accents in 21st-century opera not only with its spectacular, futuristic opera house, the Palau de les Arts "Reina Sofía" designed by Santiago Calatrava, but also with the visually transfixing production of Wagner's Ring staged there by Carlus Padrissa and his theater group La Fura dels Baus. The Barcelona-based Fura became known internationally when it designed and carried out the opening ceremonies of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, and made its breakthrough in the classical world with its production of Berlioz's La damnation de Faust at the 1999 Salzburg Festival.
The Fura's trademark is its spellbinding fusion of movement, sound, music, dance, acrobatics and technology into unforgettable stage events of sometimes raw but always captivating power. In the world of opera, the ensemble has defined its personal style through its exploitation of large-screen projections, the extraordinary mobility of the performers, and the magical use of human beings to create organic structures that evoke objects such as Valhalla (in this Ring production). Indeed, La Fura was predestined for Wagner's visionary world: his dream...
The Fura's trademark is its spellbinding fusion of movement, sound, music, dance, acrobatics and technology into unforgettable stage events of sometimes raw but always captivating power. In the world of opera, the ensemble has defined its personal style through its exploitation of large-screen projections, the extraordinary mobility of the performers, and the magical use of human beings to create organic structures that evoke objects such as Valhalla (in this Ring production). Indeed, La Fura was predestined for Wagner's visionary world: his dream...
This recording of Gotterdammerung forms the fourth and final part of Wagner's masterpiece, his epic Ring Cycle. The Stuttgart Opera gave it revolutionary treatment in a staging by Peter Konwitschny, a celebrated interpreter of Wagner, whose opera stagings have always been regarded as trendsetters within the Wagner community. He chooses to ignore the wider myth-bound associations of the work and concentrates on the immediate motivations, emotions and obsessions of the characters. Gone are the gods awaiting nightfall in their imposing hall; the action instead is set on a simple wooden stage of a touring theatre company. The performances of Richard Wagner's Ring cycle in Stuttgart created a sensation unheard of since the monumental "century" Ring in Bayreuth in the late seventies. "Four operas – four stage directors" was the artistic idea behind the 1999/2000 cycle under the musical direction of Lothar Zagrosek. Appreciating the individual operas of Der Ring des Nibelungen without having to relate to previous or subsequent storylines enabled the stage directors – handpicked among the successful Stuttgart Opera team surrounding Artistic Director Klaus Zehelein – to express their individual insights into the well-known drama of Siegfried and Wotan. In...
With powerful conviction, Nikolaus Lehnhoff interprets Wagner's Lohengrin as the dramatic struggle of masculine and feminine, revenge and compassion. Powerfully acted, almost like a Strindberg play, and musically of the highest order, this Lohengrin from the Festspielhaus in Baden-Baden will be a benchmark production for decades. With his extraordinarily transparent interpretation of the title role, Klaus Florian Vogt leads an inspired cast to visionary realms that are rarely touched. The monumental sets by Stephan Braunfels and Kent Nagano’s sublimely well-balanced musical interpretation complete a deeply moving total-theatre experience.
Bonus features:
- Illustrated Synopsis
- Never Shalt Thou Ask of Me - A documentary film by Reiner E. Moritz, including interviews with Nikolaus Lehnhoff, Stephan Braunfels, Bettina Walter, Kent Nagano and leading members of the cast
Bonus features:
- Illustrated Synopsis
- Never Shalt Thou Ask of Me - A documentary film by Reiner E. Moritz, including interviews with Nikolaus Lehnhoff, Stephan Braunfels, Bettina Walter, Kent Nagano and leading members of the cast
"[Munich's] National Theater was filled with pure, exquisite Wagnerian vocal bliss; the Bavarian State Opera was a Valhalla on earth" (Die Welt). With Jonas Kaufmann's long-awaited role debut as Lohengrin and Anja Harteros as Elsa, Wagner's epic of love and loss was not only the opening premiere of the Munich Opera Festival, but its uncontested highlight as well. Which is why the performance was followed not only by a long-sold-out house, but also by tens of thousands of spectators at a live public viewing event in Munich and Vienna.
Under General Music Director Kent Nagano, the ensemble of the Munich Opera triumphantly confirmed that, with this production at the latest, it belongs in the pantheon of the great Wagner houses of our time. Commanding the public's attention with every note, especially in the incredible pianissimi of the Grail Narrative, tenor Jonas Kaufmann gave eloquent proof of his reputation as "one of the most important, and versatile, singers of our age" (The Times). Fully matching Kaufmann's consummate artistry is Anja Harteros, an imposing, charismatic beauty who has been at home on the world's largest stages since her spectacular Met debut. Renowned director Richard Jones "gives each character the required psychological depth" (La Libre Belgique).
Under General Music Director Kent Nagano, the ensemble of the Munich Opera triumphantly confirmed that, with this production at the latest, it belongs in the pantheon of the great Wagner houses of our time. Commanding the public's attention with every note, especially in the incredible pianissimi of the Grail Narrative, tenor Jonas Kaufmann gave eloquent proof of his reputation as "one of the most important, and versatile, singers of our age" (The Times). Fully matching Kaufmann's consummate artistry is Anja Harteros, an imposing, charismatic beauty who has been at home on the world's largest stages since her spectacular Met debut. Renowned director Richard Jones "gives each character the required psychological depth" (La Libre Belgique).
Ostensibly Richard Wagner's opera Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg tells a humorous tale about artistically inclined craftsmen. Goldsmith Veit Pogner promises his daughter Eva's hand in marriage to the winner of a song contest, to which three men are potentially eligible. But upon closer inspection, what is at first glance a harmless farce in a middle-class setting emerges as a profound social analysis. Wagner uses his protagonists to show how a community deals with tradition and those who break with it and just how much innovation and deviation from the norm it can tolerate – as well as to examine what value society places, and should place, on art.
Bonus features :
- The Making of Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg
Bonus features :
- The Making of Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg
Wagner's Meistersinger is a festive opera in its own right, but at the reprise of the work at the Vienna State Opera in January 2008, the festive spirit literally leapt out into the audience as well. Vienna's dailies exploded with praise such as "A feast of singers" (Der Standard), "A feast ... grandiose" (Die Presse) and "Nearly six hours of pure enjoyment" (Kurier). The plaudits applied to all the singers, from Hans Sachs to the night watchman, as well as to the chorus and orchestra.
Conductor Christian Thielemann deserves a great deal of the credit for fashioning a multi-faceted drama that is anything but black-and-white in its musical depiction of the characters. Innate in Thielemann is both the grand gesture, the broad arch and sweep of a scene, as well as a meticulous attention to subtle details. Since his Bayreuth Festival debut in 2000 with this very work, Thielemann has established himself as one of the world's leading Wagner conductors. Among the vocal surprises of this live recording is Adrian Erod as Beckmesser, a fully fleshed-out character whose every gesture and every note reflects a well-rounded concept of the usually unsympathetic role of the critic. Erod is on a par with the great Wagner baritone Falk Struckmann as Hans Sachs, who injects earthy humor into...
Conductor Christian Thielemann deserves a great deal of the credit for fashioning a multi-faceted drama that is anything but black-and-white in its musical depiction of the characters. Innate in Thielemann is both the grand gesture, the broad arch and sweep of a scene, as well as a meticulous attention to subtle details. Since his Bayreuth Festival debut in 2000 with this very work, Thielemann has established himself as one of the world's leading Wagner conductors. Among the vocal surprises of this live recording is Adrian Erod as Beckmesser, a fully fleshed-out character whose every gesture and every note reflects a well-rounded concept of the usually unsympathetic role of the critic. Erod is on a par with the great Wagner baritone Falk Struckmann as Hans Sachs, who injects earthy humor into...
Parsifal, Wagner's last opera, was premiered in Bayreuth in 1882. In the fifty years of his artistic life Wagner did not only mature and outline more and more clearly the aesthetic ideals that formed the intellectual substratum of his composing activity but definitely upset the course of the history of music and of the music theatre. The wide range of his cultural interests, his operational daring, ability to blend elements of different origin, complete rejection of any form of operatic routine and grandiosity of conception make of each and every opera that he wrote a sort of artistic case in its own, where the experiences of previous works are salvaged or abandoned according to the expressive needs, which are never subordinate to contingent necessities. Performing this complex work is no simple task, but the cast on stage at Teatro La Fenice in Venice did so with flying colours.
Outside Germany, the name Weimar tends to evoke mixed feelings and pictures of German history of the last hundred years. Within Germany, Weimar means a town in the state of Thuringia arguably saturated with the "Deutsche Kultur" of the "Weimarer Klassik", the legendary Bauhaus, and finally the life and work of Franz Liszt and his son in law Richard Wagner. In Weimar Richard Wagner began composing the first part of his Ring Cycle, Das Rheingold. In 2008 the Nationaltheater Weimar started a new production of this unique tetralogy. The conductor is Carl St. Clair, a former student of Leonard Bernstein. With Michael Schulz' fine and highly intelligent staging this new Ring production becomes an outstanding document of contemporary opera theatre.
Richard Wagner's tetralogy Der Ring des Nibelungen , in which Power and Love are presented as mutually exclusive ideas, is always a huge challenge for any opera house. Das Rheingold is the opening of this extraordinary production of The Ring from Het Muziektheater Amsterdam, with the orchestra taking its place both in the pit and on the astonishing stage.
The fantastic stage direction by Pierre Audi succeeds in forging a profound unity combining the lyrical, mythical and philosophical qualities of Wagner's work. Breathtaking sets by George Tsypin, superb costumes by Oscar-winner Eiko Ishioka and the passionate performances of the soloists and Residentie Orchestra under the inspired guest conductor Hartmut Haenchen all contribute to an intense total experience that will leave a permanent impression. This production of The Ring of the Nibelungen is based on the new collected works of Richard Wagner.
Bonus features:
- The forging of the Ring - a documentary introduction to Wagner's Ring from Het Muziektheater Amsterdam, including interviews with Hartmut Haenchen, Pierre Audi and the principal cast
- Illustrated Synopsis
The fantastic stage direction by Pierre Audi succeeds in forging a profound unity combining the lyrical, mythical and philosophical qualities of Wagner's work. Breathtaking sets by George Tsypin, superb costumes by Oscar-winner Eiko Ishioka and the passionate performances of the soloists and Residentie Orchestra under the inspired guest conductor Hartmut Haenchen all contribute to an intense total experience that will leave a permanent impression. This production of The Ring of the Nibelungen is based on the new collected works of Richard Wagner.
Bonus features:
- The forging of the Ring - a documentary introduction to Wagner's Ring from Het Muziektheater Amsterdam, including interviews with Hartmut Haenchen, Pierre Audi and the principal cast
- Illustrated Synopsis
The prologue to Wagner's giant masterpiece Der Ring des Nibelungen unfolds the beginning of an epic journey when Alberich seizes the ring of gold, its awesome power unleashing an unstoppable story of deceit, destruction, death and transfiguring love. Filmed at Barcelona's Gran Teatre del Liceu in 2004, Harry Kupfer's stunning production first staged in Berlin numbers among the greatest productions of modern times.
Bonus feature:
- Illustrated synopsis
Bonus feature:
- Illustrated synopsis
"This production quite possibly shows us the path that musical theater will be taking in the future" (Die Zeit). Indeed, the Catalan city of Valencia is setting new accents in 21st-century opera not only with its spectacular, futuristic opera house, the Palau de les Arts "Reina Sofía" designed by Santiago Calatrava, but also with the visually transfixing production of Wagner's Ring staged there by Carlus Padrissa and his theater group La Fura dels Baus. The Barcelona-based Fura became known internationally when it designed and carried out the opening ceremonies of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, and made its breakthrough in the classical world with its production of Berlioz's La damnation de Faust at the 1999 Salzburg Festival.
The Fura's trademark is its spellbinding fusion of movement, sound, music, dance, acrobatics and technology into unforgettable stage events of sometimes raw but always captivating power. In the world of opera, the ensemble has defined its personal style through its exploitation of large-screen projections, the extraordinary mobility of the performers, and the magical use of human beings to create organic structures that evoke objects such as Valhalla (in this Ring production). Indeed, La Fura was predestined for Wagner's visionary world: his dream...
The Fura's trademark is its spellbinding fusion of movement, sound, music, dance, acrobatics and technology into unforgettable stage events of sometimes raw but always captivating power. In the world of opera, the ensemble has defined its personal style through its exploitation of large-screen projections, the extraordinary mobility of the performers, and the magical use of human beings to create organic structures that evoke objects such as Valhalla (in this Ring production). Indeed, La Fura was predestined for Wagner's visionary world: his dream...
Not since the so-called "100-Year Ring" (Bayreuth, 1976-1980) has a performance of Richard Wagner's monumental cycle created such a sensation as the Stuttgart productions. "Four operas – four stage directors" was the artistic idea behind the 1999/2000 cycle. Appreciating the individual operas of Der Ring des Nibelungen without having to relate to previous or subsequent storylines enabled the stage directors – handpicked by the successful Stuttgart Opera team surrounding Artistic Director Klaus Zehelein – to express their individual insights into the well-known drama of Siegfried and Wotan. In 2002 German critics voted Stuttgart's Staatsoper "Opera House of the Year" for the fourth time in five years. This recording pays tribute to the artistic and musical achievement of the Stuttgart Opera House and a cast of wonderful singers. Recorded live at the Stuttgart Staatsoper in 2002, it was directed by Joachim Schlomer.
Richard Wagner's Ring of the Nibelung reflects the composer's autobiography as much as the political turmoil of his times. As work progressed, another figure grew to be as important as the hero Siegfried, the god Wotan, the mouthpiece for Wagner's ideas. "He's exactly like us: he is the sum of today's intellectual consciousness, whereas Siegfried is what we hope the human being of the future will be, but who cannot be fashioned by us, and who must make himself by means of our destruction!" Our own doom as the basis of a happier future?
Siegfried is the second 'day' – and third part – of Richard Wagner's Ring, the musical saga that its author spent more than a quarter of a century composing. It follows the rise of a young hero, Siegfried, the illegitimate son of the twins whose story we were told in Die Walküre. On the one hand, there is learning about life, glorying in nature and in the emotions, as opposed to those of calculation and greed on the other. This episode shows how Wagner was intent on changing society, on showing that a different kind of man can exist, that the mercenary petit bourgeois world can be replaced by greater humanity and freedom.
Siegfried is the second 'day' – and third part – of Richard Wagner's Ring, the musical saga that its author spent more than a quarter of a century composing. It follows the rise of a young hero, Siegfried, the illegitimate son of the twins whose story we were told in Die Walküre. On the one hand, there is learning about life, glorying in nature and in the emotions, as opposed to those of calculation and greed on the other. This episode shows how Wagner was intent on changing society, on showing that a different kind of man can exist, that the mercenary petit bourgeois world can be replaced by greater humanity and freedom.
In the third part of the epic cycle, Der Ring des Nibelungen , Siegfried pursues his path to manhood. As parental love dissipates and is replaced by romantic love and desire, Wagner reflects on the experience of human life and the fact of mortality. This remarkable production of The Ring , from Het Muziektheater Amsterdam, in which Pierre Audi places the orchestra on the symbolically ring-shaped stage, blends the lyrical, mythical and philosophical qualities of Wagner's work into a profound unity. Astonishing sets by George Tsypin and fabulous costumes by Oscar-winning Eiko Ishioka, combined with passionate singing from the soloists and dramatic playing from the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra under the rigorous control of Hartmut Haenchen, create an intense and highly memorable experience. This production of The Ring of the Nibelung is based on the new Complete Edition of the works of Richard Wagner.
Bonus features:
- Illustrated Synopsis
- Introduction to Siegfried - with presenter Michael Zeeman, composer Peter-Jan Wagemans and pianist Stefan Mickisch
Bonus features:
- Illustrated Synopsis
- Introduction to Siegfried - with presenter Michael Zeeman, composer Peter-Jan Wagemans and pianist Stefan Mickisch
In the third work of Wagner's epic cycle, Der Ring des Nibelungen , Siegmund's shattered sword is forged once again and kills the dragon that guards the ring. When Siegfried seizes the ring, he also receives its curse as he continues his fiery adventure of discovery and love. Filmed at Barcelona's Gran Teatre del Liceu in 2004, Harry Kupfer's stunning production, first staged in Berlin, numbers among the greatest productions of modern times.
Bonus feature:
- Illustrated synopsis
Bonus feature:
- Illustrated synopsis
"This production quite possibly shows us the path that musical theater will be taking in the future" (Die Zeit). Indeed, the Catalan city of Valencia is setting new accents in 21st-century opera not only with its spectacular, futuristic opera house, the Palau de les Arts "Reina Sofía" designed by Santiago Calatrava, but also with the visually transfixing production of Wagner's Ring staged there by Carlus Padrissa and his theater group La Fura dels Baus. The Barcelona-based Fura became known internationally when it designed and carried out the opening ceremonies of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, and made its breakthrough in the classical world with its production of Berlioz's La damnation de Faust at the 1999 Salzburg Festival.
The Fura's trademark is its spellbinding fusion of movement, sound, music, dance, acrobatics and technology into unforgettable stage events of sometimes raw but always captivating power. In the world of opera, the ensemble has defined its personal style through its exploitation of large-screen projections, the extraordinary mobility of the performers, and the magical use of human beings to create organic structures that evoke objects such as Valhalla (in this Ring production). Indeed, La Fura was predestined for Wagner's visionary world: his dream...
The Fura's trademark is its spellbinding fusion of movement, sound, music, dance, acrobatics and technology into unforgettable stage events of sometimes raw but always captivating power. In the world of opera, the ensemble has defined its personal style through its exploitation of large-screen projections, the extraordinary mobility of the performers, and the magical use of human beings to create organic structures that evoke objects such as Valhalla (in this Ring production). Indeed, La Fura was predestined for Wagner's visionary world: his dream...
In this live recording of the third part of the tetralogy, Jon Fredric West's Siegfried is joined by Lisa Gasteen as Brunnhilde. Jossi Wieler's direction of the opera is set among designs by Anna Viebrock. The production is marked by the unprecedented power of suggestion in the gloomiest of all comedies; one which makes laughter die in the throat, and yet the only truly negative figure to emerge from the opera is the Wanderer, Wotan. The performances of Richard Wagner's Ring cycle in Stuttgart created a sensation unheard of since the monumental "century" Ring in Bayreuth in the late seventies. "Four operas – four stage directors" was the artistic idea behind the 1999/2000 cycle under the musical direction of Lothar Zagrosek. Appreciating the individual operas of "Der Ring des Nibelungen" without having to relate to previous or subsequent storylines enabled the stage directors – handpicked among the successful Stuttgart Opera team surrounding Artistic Director Klaus Zehelein – to express their individual insights into the well-known drama of Siegfried and Wotan. In 2002 German critics voted Stuttgart's Staatsoper "Opera House of the Year" for the fourth time in five years. This series was recorded live at revival performances in 2002 and 2003, and it pays...
The double title of the opera Tannhäuser oder der Sängerkrieg auf der Wartburg , which had its grand premiere on 19 October 1845 under Wagner's direction in the Hoftheater in Dresden, is already an indication of how Wagner's work unites two circles of material whose tradition stems from separate sources. The figure of the minnesinger is an historical fact and his episodes are documented with the Tannhäuserlied as far back as 1520. In a musical sense, the contrast between diatonicism and chromaticism is symbolic of two different worlds. Wagner revised the original work in 1847 by changing the finale, among other things, and then adapted the opera once again for a Paris production in 1861 (this is the "Parisian version" with additions).
David Alden's new production by the Bavarian State Opera at the National Theater in Munich, which premiered at the opera festival on 6 July 1994, was celebrated by audiences and music journals alike as a milestone of contemporary Wagner adoptions. Zubin Mehta conducted this focused yet enchanting musical interpretation.
David Alden's new production by the Bavarian State Opera at the National Theater in Munich, which premiered at the opera festival on 6 July 1994, was celebrated by audiences and music journals alike as a milestone of contemporary Wagner adoptions. Zubin Mehta conducted this focused yet enchanting musical interpretation.
This is the first complete television production recorded at the annual Wagner Festival in Bayreuth. Director Gotz Friedrich sees the minstrel Tannhauser as a rugged artistic individualist, much as Wagner was himself, misunderstood by his contemporaries who seek to throttle his inalienable right of expression. He turns his back on a regulated, stifling society and retreats into the world of his own impossible dreams. Whereas other productions of Tannhäuser show the minstrel acutally biding time in the court of Venus, in Friedrich's version Tannhauser's harp triggers an imaginary Venusberg, in which the strings become a tangled web of pure sensuality. Tannhauser discovers that a completely anything-goes society is just as restrictive in the end, and he returns to the real world. But Tannhauser can't go home again. Once again he lashes out at his hypocritical associates, who condemn him. His only defender is the saintly Elisabeth, who in this production is played by the same soprano who sings Venus – two sides of the coin in the eternal feminine. She prays for her own death, so that thereby Tannhauser's soul leaves this restrictive world for a better one in which his genius is appreciated.
"There are no bounds to the longing, the desire, the bliss, and the anguish of love. The world, power, fame, glory, honor, chivalry, loyalty, friendship… all are swept away. Only one thing is left alive… yearning, yearning, insatiable desire…" Richard Wagner
Of all operas, perhaps the one that least needs ingenious extramusical assistance is ‚ Tristan und Isolde, an aurally erotic work that speaks so vividly to the listener's inner eye. Wagner's score is simply more illustrative and sensuously pictorial than any series of stage pictures could be. Golo Berg’s passionate conducting of the Dessau Philharmonic continually presses that truth home. He leads the orchestra in a lithe and propulsive performance that shows unusual consideration for the wonderful voices of the singers. A sensational opera night at a small German opera company.
Of all operas, perhaps the one that least needs ingenious extramusical assistance is ‚ Tristan und Isolde, an aurally erotic work that speaks so vividly to the listener's inner eye. Wagner's score is simply more illustrative and sensuously pictorial than any series of stage pictures could be. Golo Berg’s passionate conducting of the Dessau Philharmonic continually presses that truth home. He leads the orchestra in a lithe and propulsive performance that shows unusual consideration for the wonderful voices of the singers. A sensational opera night at a small German opera company.
Recorded live at the Bayreuth Festival in Summer 2009, this production marks the beginning of an exciting new long-term partnership between the Bayreuth Festival and Opus Arte. The prestigious music festival takes place each year in Northern Bavaria, Germany in a theatre for which Wagner personally supervised the design and construction. The festival has become a pilgrimage destination for Wagner enthusiasts, who often have to wait up to ten years to obtain a ticket! Katarina Wagner, the great-granddaughter of Richard Wagner, is currently co-director of the festival together with her sister Eva Wagner-Pasquier.
Tristan und Isolde was first performed in 1865 and provided inspiration to many composers, including Mahler, Strauss, Szymanowski and Berg. It is widely acknowledged as one of the peaks of the operatic repertoire and has been performed regularly since is premiere. This production by renowned director Christoph Marthaler stars leading Wagner exponents Robert Dean Smith and Iréne Theorin in the title roles, and they are supported by the Bayreuth Festival Chorus and Orchestra conducted by Peter Schneider.
Bonus features:
- Illustrated synopsis
- Cast gallery
- Kinder, macht was Neues! - The making of Tristan und Isolde
Tristan und Isolde was first performed in 1865 and provided inspiration to many composers, including Mahler, Strauss, Szymanowski and Berg. It is widely acknowledged as one of the peaks of the operatic repertoire and has been performed regularly since is premiere. This production by renowned director Christoph Marthaler stars leading Wagner exponents Robert Dean Smith and Iréne Theorin in the title roles, and they are supported by the Bayreuth Festival Chorus and Orchestra conducted by Peter Schneider.
Bonus features:
- Illustrated synopsis
- Cast gallery
- Kinder, macht was Neues! - The making of Tristan und Isolde
Glyndebourne's celebrated production of Nikolaus Lehnhoff's Tristan und Isolde is a supremely intelligent achievement; gravely beautiful, haunting and meditative, it is deeply reflective rather than visceral, fortified by Roland Aeschlimann's stunningly effective set, a womb-like space through which the protagonists move like gods. Conductor Jiri Belohlavek mirrors Lehnhoff's approach in his sophisticated plumbing of the score's depths, with every shift in texture carefully laid bare by an inspired London Philharmonic Orchestra. Nina Stemme's Isolde and Robert Gambill's Tristan, both gloriously lyrical, are matched by superb performances from Rene Pape as the betrayed and vulnerable King Marke and Bo Skovhus as Kurwenal, deeply touching in his helpless devotion to Tristan.
Bonus features:
- Trimborn on Tristan – a talk about the musicological and philosophical backgrounds of Tristan und Isolde.
- Do I Hear the Light? - A film by Reiner E. Moritz.
- Illustrated synopsis
Bonus features:
- Trimborn on Tristan – a talk about the musicological and philosophical backgrounds of Tristan und Isolde.
- Do I Hear the Light? - A film by Reiner E. Moritz.
- Illustrated synopsis
John Treleaven and Deborah Polaski lead an outstanding cast in Wagner's operatic tour de force based on the medieval voyager legend of Sir Tristan and Isolde, Princess of Ireland, who unknowingly offers the knight a love potion in place of the poison she had intended should kill them both. Bertrand de Billy conducts the Symphony Orchestra and Chorus of the Gran Teatre del Liceu in an acclaimed production.
Bonus feature:
- Illustrated synopsis
Bonus feature:
- Illustrated synopsis
Christian Thielemann, "by common consent the leading Wagner conductor of our time" (Die Presse), returns to Bayreuth for this radiant account of Die Walküre filmed at the 2010 Festival. Appearing on video for the first time, it provides the only audio-visual document of Tankred Dorst's Ring production, and follows the hugely successful release of the whole cycle on CD. Two new singers join the cast: Johan Botha as Siegmund, who was showered with praise by the press ("ideal vocal casting" in the words of the critic on the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung) and Edith Haller, with her "beautiful, strong soprano voice" (Süddeutsche Zeitung) as his sister and lover Sieglinde.
"The free man must be his own maker"
Richard Wagner's Ring of the Nibelung reflects the composer's autobiography as much as the political turmoil of his times. As work progressed, another figure grew to be as important as the hero Siegfried, the god Wotan, the mouthpiece for Wagner's ideas. "He's exactly like us: he is the sum of today's intellectual consciousness, whereas Siegfried is what we hope the human being of the future will be, but who cannot be fashioned by us, and who must make himself by means of our destruction!" Our own doom as the basis of a happier future?
Wagner dressed this Herculean task musically in the spreading, shimmering web of his leitmotivic working (there are approximately 20 distinct motives in Die Walküre). Dramaturgically, the conversational style of Das Rheingold gives way to the tone of bourgeois tragedy: incestuous passion, more than one form of deep-seated marital antagonism, and a lot of talk, a lot of self-justification in the form of recapitulation. This, the First Day of the tetralogy (Das Rheingold being a "preliminary evening"), was without doubt the "most moving, the most tragic" of all Wagner's works in the view of his wife Cosima, expressed in her diary on 31 August 1873. The text of Die Walküre was finished on 1 July...
Richard Wagner's Ring of the Nibelung reflects the composer's autobiography as much as the political turmoil of his times. As work progressed, another figure grew to be as important as the hero Siegfried, the god Wotan, the mouthpiece for Wagner's ideas. "He's exactly like us: he is the sum of today's intellectual consciousness, whereas Siegfried is what we hope the human being of the future will be, but who cannot be fashioned by us, and who must make himself by means of our destruction!" Our own doom as the basis of a happier future?
Wagner dressed this Herculean task musically in the spreading, shimmering web of his leitmotivic working (there are approximately 20 distinct motives in Die Walküre). Dramaturgically, the conversational style of Das Rheingold gives way to the tone of bourgeois tragedy: incestuous passion, more than one form of deep-seated marital antagonism, and a lot of talk, a lot of self-justification in the form of recapitulation. This, the First Day of the tetralogy (Das Rheingold being a "preliminary evening"), was without doubt the "most moving, the most tragic" of all Wagner's works in the view of his wife Cosima, expressed in her diary on 31 August 1873. The text of Die Walküre was finished on 1 July...
Die Walkure is the second part of Richard Wagner's gargantuan tetralogy, Der Ring des Nibelungen, concerning the irreconcilable struggle between Power and Love. The originality of this production from Het Musiktheater Amsterdam more than meets the perennial challenge of staging The Ring. Pierre Audi's stage direction, in which the orchestra is placed on the ring-shaped stage, succeeds in forging a profound unity between the lyrical, mythical and philosophical qualities of Wagner's work, complemented by George Tsypin's astonishing sets and wonderful costumes by Oscar-winning Eiko Ishioka. Impassioned singing and intensely dramatic playing by the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra under the energetic baton of Hartmut Haenchen create a vigorous, almost intimate performance that will leave an indelible impression. This production of The Ring is based on the new collected works of Richard Wagner.
Bonus features:
- Illustrated Synopsis
- Introduction to Die Walkure - with presenter Michael Zeeman, composer Peter-Jan Wageman and pianist Stephan Mickisch
Bonus features:
- Illustrated Synopsis
- Introduction to Die Walkure - with presenter Michael Zeeman, composer Peter-Jan Wageman and pianist Stephan Mickisch
In the second work of Wagner's epic cycle, Der Ring des Nibelungen , struggles of power mix with adulterous and incestuous love in an episode of dramatic vengeance. Filmed at Barcelona's Gran Teatre del Liceu in 2003, Harry Kupfer's acclaimed production, first staged in Berlin, numbers among the greatest productions of modern times.
Bonus feature:
- Illustrated synopsis
Bonus feature:
- Illustrated synopsis
"This production quite possibly shows us the path that musical theater will be taking in the future" (Die Zeit). Indeed, the Catalan city of Valencia is setting new accents in 21st-century opera not only with its spectacular, futuristic opera house, the Palau de les Arts "Reina Sofía" designed by Santiago Calatrava, but also with the visually transfixing production of Wagner's Ring staged there by Carlus Padrissa and his theater group La Fura dels Baus. The Barcelona-based Fura became known internationally when it designed and carried out the opening ceremonies of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, and made its breakthrough in the classical world with its production of Berlioz's La damnation de Faust at the 1999 Salzburg Festival.
The Fura's trademark is its spellbinding fusion of movement, sound, music, dance, acrobatics and technology into unforgettable stage events of sometimes raw but always captivating power. In the world of opera, the ensemble has defined its personal style through its exploitation of large-screen projections, the extraordinary mobility of the performers, and the magical use of human beings to create organic structures that evoke objects such as Valhalla (in this Ring production). Indeed, La Fura was predestined for Wagner's visionary world: his dream...
The Fura's trademark is its spellbinding fusion of movement, sound, music, dance, acrobatics and technology into unforgettable stage events of sometimes raw but always captivating power. In the world of opera, the ensemble has defined its personal style through its exploitation of large-screen projections, the extraordinary mobility of the performers, and the magical use of human beings to create organic structures that evoke objects such as Valhalla (in this Ring production). Indeed, La Fura was predestined for Wagner's visionary world: his dream...
The performances of Richard Wagner's Ring cycle in Stuttgart created a sensation unheard of since the monumental century Ring in Bayreuth in the late seventies. "Four operas – four stage directors" was the artistic idea behind the 1999/2000 cycle under the musical direction of Lothar Zagrosek. Appreciating the individual operas of Der Ring des Nibelungen without having to relate to previous or subsequent storylines enabled the stage directors – handpicked among the successful Stuttgart Opera team surrounding Artistic Director Klaus Zehelein – to express their individual insights into the well-known drama of Siegfried and Wotan. In 2002 German critics voted Stuttgart's Staatsoper "Opera House of the Year" for the fourth time in five years. This series was recorded live at revival performances in 2002 and 2003, and it pays tribute to the artistic and musical achievement of the Stuttgart Opera House and a wonderful cast of singers. The production was directed by the "psychoanalyst" Christoph Nel, who chose to reveal Wagner's characters, their ambivalences and their conflicts, using contemporary settings, situations and gestures – excellently supported by the some of the best Wagner singer-actors of our time, including Angela Denoke in her role debut...
Der Kobold (The Goblin), the first filmed production of an opera by Siegfried Wagner, was recorded at the Stadttheater Fürth, Germany from 8 November to 3 December 2005, and at Stadthalle Bayreuth, Germany on 21 November 2005.
Bonus features:
- The Making of Der Kobold – a film by Stephan Kelch (in German only)
- 3D animated version of the set model by Achim Bahr
Bonus features:
- The Making of Der Kobold – a film by Stephan Kelch (in German only)
- 3D animated version of the set model by Achim Bahr
After his success with Freischütz , Weber wanted to write a grand romantic opera and in the end the subject of Euryanthe was chosen, a tale inspired by a legend going back to the thirteen century. Euryanthe is music of inspiration and originality such as is rarely found in the history of German opera in the first half of the nineteenth century. The Italianisms that are occasionally glimpsed in Freischütz are eliminated almost completely. Euryanthe is set to music in its entirety, with accompanied recitative passages that are often of great beauty. We may say that in an opera that has many experimental features Weber sought for the first and only time in his life to overcome the traditional dichotomy between spoken and sung parts, between recitative and closed numbers, creating a highly supple musical structure. The present production features a cast of specialists of German opera and the outstanding direction of Pier Luigi Pizzi.
A hard-hitting new production of Kurt Weill's Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny by the Catalan collective La Fura dels Baus at the Teatro Real de Madrid.
Composed in the 1930s by Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht, this is a mordant satire on capitalism and the inexorable industrialisation of a society in which the ultimate crime is not having money. In twenty scenes the authors tell the story of a city lost in the middle of a desert and run by three thugs; in Mahagonny food, sex, gambling and violence rule supreme.
The production by Alex Ollé and Carlus Padrissa, both of La Fura dels Baus, combines enormous inventiveness, joy and energy with awe-inspiring ferocity.
Perfect casting brings together a group of singers – Measha Brueggergosman, Michael König, Jane Henschel and Willard White – who are also marvellous actors.
The Teatro Real Orchestra and Chorus are directed by young Spanish conductor Pablo Heras-Casado, who actually began his career at the Teatro Real. In November 2010, he received the El Ojo Crítico prize, awarded annually to Spain's most outstanding artists in the classical music field.
Composed in the 1930s by Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht, this is a mordant satire on capitalism and the inexorable industrialisation of a society in which the ultimate crime is not having money. In twenty scenes the authors tell the story of a city lost in the middle of a desert and run by three thugs; in Mahagonny food, sex, gambling and violence rule supreme.
The production by Alex Ollé and Carlus Padrissa, both of La Fura dels Baus, combines enormous inventiveness, joy and energy with awe-inspiring ferocity.
Perfect casting brings together a group of singers – Measha Brueggergosman, Michael König, Jane Henschel and Willard White – who are also marvellous actors.
The Teatro Real Orchestra and Chorus are directed by young Spanish conductor Pablo Heras-Casado, who actually began his career at the Teatro Real. In November 2010, he received the El Ojo Crítico prize, awarded annually to Spain's most outstanding artists in the classical music field.
Wolf-Ferrari's comic opera La vedova scaltra (The Cunning Widow), is among the works he based on plays by Goldoni. It matches closely the conventions of 18th-century opera buffa in its witty if sceptical look at the mechanisms governing the interplay of human relations. Four hopeful suitors, English, French, Spanish and Italian, vie for the hand of Rosaura, the cunning widow of the title, who disguises herself to meet each wooer, eventually choosing the only one who can demonstrate his sincerity. This production, filmed live at the Teatro La Fenice in February 2007 in celebration of the 300th anniversary of the birth of Goldoni in Venice in 1707, is the first to appear on DVD.