Un Ballo in Maschera (Verdi) - Arena di Verona

Amadeus

Disciplined Italian composer Antonia Salieri becomes consumed by jealousy and resentment towards the hedonistic and remarkably talented young Viennese composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

The Golden Cockerel

‘A beautiful song – a shame that it shows such disrespect to the Mayor!’ This remark from the score of The Golden Cockerel highlights the delicious ambiguity of this work. Principally inspired by Washington Irving and Pushkin, Rimsky-Korsakov called on the talents of Vladimir Belsky, an author of other libretti of a fairy-tale, legendary nature and an expert on Russian folk literature. The composer, a genius at orchestration, has given us sparkling music, with oriental touches, that creates fully rounded characters. This is the perfect occasion for Alain Altinoglu to direct his first opera in his new role as Music Director of La Monnaie. After the success of his Don Quichotte and Cendrillon, Laurent Pelly returns to La Monnaie to stage this exuberant political satire, an adventure in unrestrained rhythm. More than a century has passed since its first performance, yet the opera has lost none of its boisterous sarcasm.

MeTube 2: August Sings Carmina Burana

The sequel to the 2013 short, August sings Carmen 'Habanera'. After Elfie and her nerdy son August successfully proved themselves on their home webcam in MeTube 1, the odd pair venture onto the street to present the biggest, boldest, and sexiest operatic flash mob the internet has ever witnessed!

Tristan Und Isolde

Christian Thielemann conducts the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra in this production of Wagner's opera recorded in 2015. Starring Stephen Gould as Tristan and Evelyn Herlitzius as Isolde, the cast also includes Georg Zeppenfeld, Iain Paterson, Raimund Nolte and Christa Mayer.

Carmen

High Definition recording June 2014, Arena di Verona. This opulent production was directed by Franco Zeffirelli and sung by an international cast of excellent singers: Russian mezzo-soprano Ekaterina Semenchuk, soprano Irina Lungu, tenor Carlo Ventre and Carlos Alvarez. The famous opera is staged as a colourful feast for the eyes, true to its source and convincingly acted by soloists, chorus and ballet alike. Conducted by Henrik Nánási it is a gloriously sung musical experience.

Maria Callas: At Covent Garden, 1962 and 1964

Maria Callas’ legendary live performances from the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, from 1962 and 1964 celebrate her triumphant return to the Covent Garden stage. Repertoire from these performances include Verdi: Tu che le vanità (Don Carlo), Bizet: Habanera & Séguedille (Carmen) and Puccini: Tosca (Act II complete). Her vivid portrayals of the tragic Elisabeth de Valois, the tantalising Carmen, and her vulnerable Tosca (directed by Franco Zeffirelli) captured the hearts of the London audiences. This is Maria Callas as the world remembers her. Renato Cioni, Tito Gobbi, Robert Bowman, Dennis Wicks Orchestra & Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden- Conducted by Georges Prêtre & Carlo Felice Cillario.

The Metropolitan Opera: Rigoletto

Michael Mayer’s acclaimed production, first seen in the 2012–13 season, sets the action of Verdi’s masterpiece in 1960 Las Vegas—a neon-lit world ruled by money and ruthless, powerful men. Piotr Beczała is the Duke, a popular entertainer and casino owner who will stop at nothing to get what he wants. Željko Lučić sings Rigoletto, his sidekick and comedian, and Diana Damrau is Rigoletto’s innocent daughter, Gilda. When she is seduced by the Duke, Rigoletto sets out on a tragic course of murderous revenge. Štefan Kocán is the assassin Sparafucile and Michele Mariotti conducts.

Bizet Carmen

This spectacular opera film was taped in 1967 and is based on the 1966 Salzburg Festival production directed by Herbert von Karajan himself, who also conducts the fabulous Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. The production features the three greatest exponents of their respective roles at the time: Grace Bumbry’s magnificently seductive-toned Carmen, Mirella Freni’s ineffably lovely, touching Micaëla and Jon Vickers’s thrillingly manic-depressive Don José. On its release the film was hailed by Die Presse, (Vienna) as a “unique artistic event”, while Le Monde felt that Karajan’s production brought “a whole new dimension” to the opera, “combined with a magisterial interpretation”. A classical and utterly dramatic approach to probably the world's most beloved opera – Karajan’s Carmen is as much a delicacy for opera fans as it is a perfect starter for newcomers.

Die Zauberflöte

Recorded in 1992 at the Ludwigsburger Schlosstheater, this release from Art Haus Musik features a performance of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's two-act opera Die Zauberflote. The production stars Deon Van Der Walt as Tamino and Ulrike Sonntag as Pamina and includes music by The Ludwigcburger Festspiele

Bastien a Bastienna

Únos ze Serailu

Libuše

Verdi: Don Carlo

Elizabeth of Valois is promised in marriage to Don Carlos of Spain, as part of a peace treaty between the two kingdoms. They meet and fall in love – but no sooner have they declared their love than news comes that the terms of the treaty have changed: Elizabeth is to marry Carlos’s father Philip instead. Politics and religion are dangerously entwined in Giuseppe Verdi’s Don Carlo. Performed on November 30th, 2016, at the Opéra national du Rhin, Strasbourg.

Mozart and Salieri

Film version of the Rimsky Korsakov opera from the Pushkin story. Motsart i Salyeri (Mozart and Salieri), based on a legend that Salieri poisoned Mozart, meditates on the nature of creativity while introducing, in brilliantly compressed speeches, what was to be one of the important Russian themes—metaphysical rebellion against God.

Portrait of a Knight

Portrait of a Knight is a musical romance about the way in which historic ideals inform contemporary urban life. Rachel is a young archivist living and working in Wellington, New Zealand. Feeling alone and disconnected from life, she projects her romantic fantasies onto the paintings she loves, until one day her song brings Reginald - a Knight of the Realm - to life. His carefree innocence and zest for life begin to open Rachel up to the beauty around her, but the fates have a way of making trouble when miracles occur...