Part of Tutto Verdi series - Otello (2008) Salzburg. 'Otello' is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Shakespeare's play 'Othello'. It was Verdi's penultimate opera, and was first performed at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, on 5 February 1887.
This release contains the celebrated 2006 production of Mozart's Nozze di Figaro that was directed for the stage by Claus Guth at that year's Salzburg Festival. Ildebrando D'Arcangelo takes the title role, and gets support from Anna Netrebko as Sussanna, Bo Skovhus as Il Conte Di Almaviva, and Dorothea Roschmann as La Contessa. Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducts the orchestra.
The Salzburg Festival presents one of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's masterpieces: the opera Le Nozze di Figaro, in a new production staged by Sven-Eric Bechtolf and conducted by Dan Ettinger. Set-List: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Le nozze di Figaro, K. 492.
Felicity Lott, Anne-Sofie Von Otter, and Kurt Moll star in this production of Richard Strauss' opera, staged in Vienna in 1994. A romantic comedy of errors. Princess von Werdenberg must hide her affair with Octavian from her family; when he disguises himself as a chambermaid to avoid scandalizing the Princess, he is pressed into presenting a gift to Baron Ochs von Lerchenau, who has arrived to propose marriage to Sophie von Faninal. However, Ochs soon finds himself infatuated with the chambermaid, much to Octavian's chagrin, which proves to be only the first of a long series of romantic misunderstandings. This production of Der Rosenkavalier is performed by the Vienna State Orchestra and Chorus, under the direction of Carlos Kleiber.
The grand scale and magnificent acoustics of the Roman arena in Verona are ideally suited to the pageantry of Verdi's Egyptian opera, presented here in a staging that is true to the original 1913 production, framed by obelisks and sphinxes and filled with chorus and dancers. Chinese soprano Hui He has won international acclaim for her portrayal of the eponymous slave girl whose forbidden love for the war hero Radamés (Marco Berti, the experienced Verdi tenor) brings death to them both.
This performance of the Richard Strauss opera Frau ohne Schatten, recorded live and in high definition, features vocalists like Stephen Gould, Anne Schwanewilms, Michaela Schuster, and Wolfgang Koch in the leading roles.
The Bayreuth Festival Opera House mounted this production of Richard Wagner's 1865 opera Tristan und Isolde as part of the Bayreuther Festspiele. Staged by Heiner Müller, it stars Siegfried Jerusalem, Waltraud Meier, Poul Elming and Uta Priew, and features musical accompaniment by The Orchestra and Chorus of the Bayreuther Festspiele.
Any performance of Giuseppe Verdi’s Aida at La Scala, Milan, is guaranteed to be an experience – but, when it’s a new production, it becomes a major event, especially given the theatre’s notoriously critical audience. Legendary stage director Peter Stein succeeds in delivering a lucid production acclaimed in equal measure by the press and public: “a perfect coup de théâtre” (Giornale della musica). A “stellar cast” (La Stampa) contributes to the production’s success under the musical direction of Verdi specialist Zubin Mehta, who leads the orchestra in a “gorgeously colourful performance”, while “the entire ensemble is brilliant in its portrayal of the characters” (Die Presse).
Conducted by Daniel Barenboim, the Staatskapelle Berlin performs THE GAMBLER, Prokofiev's moody, roiling opera based on a story by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.
Premiered in Stockholm in 1978, the work is based on a play by Michel de Ghelderode (1898-1962) and unfolds in an imaginary land inspired by the famous Dutch painter Pieter Brueghel the Elder: Nekrotzar, the Grand Macabre, announces the end of the world; but in a land ruled by eros, alcohol and corruption, his plan to unleash the Apocalypse bursts like a soap bubble. LIVE RECORDING FROM THE GRAN TEATRE DEL LICEU, BARCELONA, 2011
This performance of Richard Strauss' opera Der Rosenkavalier (1979) features the vocal talents of Gwyneth Jones in the lead role; recorded at the National Theatre Munich.
The Count Di Luna believes that his younger brother was murdered years before by a vengeful gypsy but still hopes that he may be alive. When he attempts to court the beautiful Leonora, he is enraged to discover that she has a lover – the troubadour, Manrico. Manrico and the Count duel, and afterwards Manrico reveals to Azucena, the woman he believes to be his mother, that when he had the opportunity to kill the Count he felt something holding him back.
Rarely has a production of Verdi’s Otello been staged in such a prestigious location: the courtyard of the Palazzo Ducale in Venice! This special outdoor “event production” of the Teatro La Fenice takes place amidst genuine late-Gothic and Renaissance architecture highlighted by spectacular projections: “A set of singular fascination” (Il Corriere Musicale). Critics were full of praise for the musical performance, designating conductor Myung-Whun Chung as the “absolutely dominating force” of the performance (GB Opera). The lead role is sung by Gregory Kunde, who successfully interpreted both Verdi’s and Rossini’s Otello in one year, perhaps the first tenor ever to do so. He “reproduces every accent, every colour demanded by Verdi with sensibility and intelligence” (OperaClick).
Christian Thielemann conducts this Staatskapelle Dresden production of Richard Strauss' chamber opera. The opera follows events at the home of the wealthiest man in Vienna, who has booked both a comedy burlesque act and a serious opera group for entertainment. When the dinner runs long he declares that both forms of entertainment must take place at the same time - much to the chagrin of the opera's proud young composer. Filmed live in Baden-Baden on Feb. 25 by the veteran director Brian Large, Renée Fleming makes her debut in the role of Ariadne together with fellow key Strauss interpreters Sophie Koch and Christian Thielemann, following on from their Rosenkavalier triumph. Thielemann conducts the Staatskapelle Dresden, the orchestra to whom Strauss dedicated his Alpine Symphony and which premiered Feuersnot, Salome, Elektra, Der Rosenkavalier and Daphne.
At the peak of his career, Ivo Pogorelich was filmed at Racconigi Castle in Italy playing four major works by Chopin as well as sonatas by Haydn an dMozart. Director Horant H. Hohlfeld captures the pianist's virtuosity in revealing close-ups. The program includes: CHOPIN Polonaise in c op40/2; Nocturne in E♭ op55/2; Prelude in c♯ op45; Sonata in b op58 // HAYDN Sonata in A♭ H16.46 // MOZART Sonata in A K331 "alla turca".
This film tells the story of one of the greatest and most controversial conductors of the 20th Century. The Hungarian-born Georg Solti had huge drive, energy and ambition. A combination of willpower and extraordinary talent took him to the peak of musical power and prestige. This film includes remarkably candid interviews which Solti talked with great honesty about his life, challenges and achievements. It also includes new interviews with some of the artists and musicians who worked closely with him.
This grand opera, complete with ensembles and ballets, large choruses and orchestral set pieces, is given an appropriately grand treatment in this production by the renowned Catalan theater group "La Fura dels Baus" recorded at Valencia's Palau de les Arts. In the first part of the work, Padrissa plays with the present-day meaning of "Trojans" as computer viruses: his Trojan horse carries within it the infection that will cause system failures and, ultimately, destruction. In the second part, Carthage is presented as the mysterious seat of a future civilization, where human life is heading towards self-destruction through environmental disasters.
