The Merry Widow (2005)

L'Orfeo, Favola in musica

First seen at La Monnaie in Brussels on 13 May 1998, this production of Monteverdi’s L’ORFEO seen through the eyes of Trisha Brown and René Jacobs has become an operatic classic in a few short years. This is doubtless because it offers a total symbiosis of music, text and movement – described by the critic of the Daily Telegraph of London as being ‘as close to the perfect dance opera as I have ever seen’. Or to quote Gilles Macassar in Télérama: ‘In the pit and onstage, the Brussels production has only one watchword: mobility, nimbleness, dexterity. The singers run, fly, whirl like dancers defying gravity. From the flies down to the footlights, the whole theatre is under a fantastic spell.’ For Christophe Vetter, on ConcertoNet: ‘This Orfeo can be seen again and again with immense pleasure. . . . René Jacobs’s conducting continues to arouse admiration for its precision, its stylistic rigour, its inexhaustible inventiveness and its feeling for the contrasts so vital to this repertoire.’

John Adams: Nixon in China

Besides the landing on the moon by the Apollo 11 mission in 1969, Richard Nixon’s meeting with China’s leader Mao Zedong in February 1972 then represented one of the biggest media spectacles in history. Nixon himself established the reference between the two events: “We came in peace for all mankind” not only marked the lunar module Eagle’s landing spot – Nixon also spoke of it into the microphones just before his departure to China. It was not John Adam’s aim to create a superficial or even a caricaturing representation of Nixon’s visit when composing his opera. He attempted to create a “heroic opera” about the construction of modern myths by using archetypical characters and situations. Director Marco Štorman stages Adams’ minimal music opera as a deconstruction review about the power of images, the politics of staging and the staging of politics.

Lohengrin

This performance of the Richard Wagner opera Logengrin was filmed in high definition for the Bayreuth Festival in 2011, and features vocalists like Georg Zeppenfeld, Klaus Florian Vogt, and Anette Dasch in the leading roles.

Die Frau ohne Schatten

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.

Tristan und Isolde

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.

Parsifal: The Search for the Grail

Richard Wagner's operatic retelling of the story of the search for the Holy Grail receives a lavish production in this video, which records performances held in Bayreuth, St. Petersburg, and Ravello, Italy. Internationally renowned tenor Placido Domingo leads the distinguished cast; Tony Palmer directs.

The Desert Song

Live television version of the classic musical.

The Passion of Scrooge

Is this a film about Scrooge? About a composer’s life? An opera within an opera? The Passion of Scrooge blurs these lines between performance, documentary, and fiction, into a cinematic concert experience that’s seasoned with magical reality. Composer Jon Deak has adapted Charles Dickens’ timeless tale into a contemporary opera that melts the heart, but doesn’t avoid the darkness in Scrooge that’s still resonant with the material concerns of our time. Using neither period costumes, nor set pieces to reconstruct old England, the film invites you to experience A Christmas Carol with the imaginative possibilities of a radio play. And then, to meet those visions in your head, filmmaker H. Paul Moon‘s floating camera intimately captures musicians performing the score as characters themselves, in this ageless haunted redemption story about “us, every one.”

Falstaff

It is to composer and librettist Arrigo Boito and his constant pestering of the octogenarian Verdi that there remained within him one last great comedy fighting to get out that we owe this absolute miracle of an opera. Produced in 1893 as Verdi turned 80 there is much in this masterpiece that can be identified as a modernist neoclassical work. The use of short motifs instead of long arioso melodic lines, the spry and reduced orchestral textures and the lack of a single 'stand and deliver' dramatic declamatory aria all serve to make this more of a 20th century work than an example of 19th century late-Romanticism.

Eugene Onegin

In Trelinski's timeless production he leads a superb, first-class young cast headed by Artur Ruzinski as Onegin and Kristīne Opolais as Tatyana. Mariusz Trelinski, Polish filmmaker and theater director, has created a series of dream-like, surrealist tableaux of great suggestive beauty.

In War and Peace - Harmony Through Music

Recorded live in June 2017 at the magnificent Liceu Theatre in Barcelona, this DVD is the companion to Joyce DiDonato’s award-winning album In War and Peace: Harmony through Music. Seeking answers to the existential question “In the midst of chaos, how do you find peace?”, it makes a compelling piece of music theatre as DiDonato journeys through arias by Handel, Purcell, Monteverdi, Leo and Jommelli with Il Pomo d’Oro and conductor Maxim Emelyanychev. On stage, In War and Peace: Harmony through Music makes a compelling piece of music theatre. In Barcelona, as on the European and North American tours she made in late 2016, DiDonato was joined by the baroque orchestra Il Pomo d’Oro and its principal conductor Maxim Emelyanychev. May and June 2018 bring further performances in Portugal, France, Germany, Turkey and Hungary.

Verdi: Aida

With its cast of hundreds, thrilling score, and sweeping tale of love and heroics in ancient Egypt, Verdi’s Aida has long been a fixture on the stages of every major opera house in the world. For the 2018 revival of Sonja Frisell’s monumental production of this grand masterpiece, the Met assembled a truly all-star cast. Soprano Anna Netrebko takes on the title role for the first time at the Met, and mezzo-soprano Anita Rachvelishvili plays her rival, the conniving princess Amneris. Tenor Aleksandrs Antonenko is Radamès, the warrior that both women love, and Quinn Kelsey lends his robust baritone to Aida’s father, the fallen king Amonasro. Maestro Nicola Luisotti is on the podium to conduct this epic performance, filmed as part of the Met’s series of Live in HD cinema transmissions.

The Metropolitan Opera: Saint-Saëns's Samson et Dalila

A towering biblical epic, Saint-Saëns’s operatic take on the story of Samson and Delilah has many of the hallmarks of grand opera—show-stopping vocal displays, thrilling choruses, and an engrossing plot set against a sweeping, pseudo-historical backdrop. It’s fitting, then, that Samson et Dalila has been chosen to celebrate the opening of the Met’s season four times in the company’s history, including when Darko Tresnjak’s bold new production premiered on the first night of the 2018–19 season. A few weeks later, the opera was shown as part of the Met’s series of live cinema transmissions, featuring an exceptional cast. Tenor Roberto Alagna was the heroic Samson, who ultimately falls victim to the seductive power of Dalila—the captivating mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča. Bass-baritone Laurent Naouri sang the sinister High Priest of Dagon, with conductor Sir Mark Elder on the podium.

The Metropolitan Opera: La Fanciulla del West

Soprano Eva-Maria Westbroek sings Puccini’s gun-slinging heroine in this romantic epic of the Wild West, with the heralded return of tenor Jonas Kaufmann in the role of the outlaw she loves. Tenor Yusif Eyvazov also sings some performances. Baritone Željko Lučić is the vigilante sheriff Jack Rance, and Marco Armiliato conducts.

Metropolitan Opera Live — Marnie

Composer Nico Muhly unveils his second new opera for the Met with this gripping reimagining of Winston Graham’s novel, set in the 1950s, about a beautiful, mysterious young woman who assumes multiple identities. Director Michael Mayer and his creative team have devised a fast-moving, cinematic world for this exhilarating story of denial and deceit, which also inspired a film by Alfred Hitchcock. Mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard sings the enigmatic Marnie, and baritone Christopher Maltman is the man who pursues her—with disastrous results. Robert Spano conducts.

The Metropolitan Opera: La Fille du Régiment

Tenor Javier Camarena and soprano Pretty Yende team up for a feast of bel canto vocal fireworks—including the show-stopping tenor aria “Ah! Mes amis,” with its nine high Cs. Alessandro Corbelli and Maurizio Muraro trade off as the comic Sergeant Sulpice, with mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe as the outlandish Marquise of Berkenfield. Enrique Mazzola conducts.

Poulenc: Dialogues des Carmélites

Yannick Nézet-Séguin leads the classic John Dexter production of Poulenc’s devastating story of faith and martyrdom. Mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard sings the touching role of Blanche and soprano Karita Mattila, a legend in her own time, returns to the Met as the Prioress.

Farinelli

The life and career of Italian opera singer Farinelli, considered one of the greatest castrato singers of all time.

La forza del destino

Film version of the Verdi opera about lovers on the run after the accidental death of the girl's father.

Moonstruck

37-year-old Italian-American widow Loretta Castorini believes she is unlucky in love, and so accepts a marriage proposal from her boyfriend Johnny, even though she doesn't love him. When she meets his estranged younger brother Ronny, an emotional and passionate man, she finds herself drawn to him. She tries to resist, but Ronny, who blames his brother for the loss of his hand, has no scruples about aggressively pursuing her while Johnny is out of the country. As Loretta falls for Ronny, she learns that she's not the only one in her family with a secret romance.

Lucia di Lammermoor

Live from the Teatro Carlo Felice di Genova 2003

Attila

Part of Tutto Verdi series - Attila (2010) Parma. 'Attila' is an opera in a prologue and three acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Temistocle Solera, based on the 1809 play 'Attila, König der Hunnen' ('Attila, King of the Huns') by Zacharias Werner. The opera received its first performance at La Fenice in Venice on 17 March 1846.

Ernani

Part of Tutto Verdi series - Ernani (2005) Parma. 'Ernani' is an operatic dramma lirico in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, based on the play 'Hernani' by Victor Hugo. Ernani was first performed on 9 March 1844 at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice.

Verdi: Falstaff

Part of Tutto Verdi series - Falstaff (2011) Parma. 'Falstaff' is an opera in three acts by the Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901). The libretto was adapted by Arrigo Boito from Shakespeare's 'The Merry Wives of Windsor' and scenes from 'Henry IV, parts 1 and 2'. The work premiered on 9 February 1893 at La Scala, Milan

Giovanna d'Arco

This work predates Thchaikowsly’s for almost 4 years, and it is base don the Schiller play I have previously criticized for its lack of historical accuracy. It is essentially focused on three major voices, soprano, tenor and baritone, with a basso to spice it up. New Yorker Evan Bowers may not be a matinee idol, but he sails into the role with a bright, focused lyrico spinto tenor voice. Renato Bruson was 72 years old in 2008, when he took this role (first sung by him in1989) and it shows, with quite a wobble on many passages; yet his voice commands the stage and rises majestically in the ensembles. And then, Bulgarian Svetla Vassileva, who is not burned at the stake, as in “Maid”, but dies heroically in battle.

I due Foscari

Part of Tutto Verdi series - I due Foscari (2009) Parma

I Lombardi alla prima crociata

I Lombardi alla prima crociata (The Lombards on the First Crusade) was Verdi’s fourth opera and received its first performance at La Scala, Milan, in February 1843. The grandiloquent subject matter is fleshed-out with broad-brushed musical and dramatic effects and lavish choral scenes created a correspondingly impressive impact. A great success in Milan, it spread to the rest of Europe within a matter of only a few years.

Il corsaro

The caption on the DVD sleeve reads “This Is how Verdi should be played!” and I could not agree more. The trio of principals: Ribeiro, Lungu, and Dalla Benetta , offer youthful exhuberance and intensity, good looks and glorious voices. The rest of the cast is equally good. Superb conductor, traditional production, great staging. Anf of course, Verdi’s exquisite music. It has renovated my faith in the totality of the Verdi canon, not only its most performed titles.

La forza del destino

Director Stefano Poda set the action in the mid 19th century. There’s not a piece of furniture in the whole show. Just a lot of slabs which change position as the opera progresses. There were also a lot of non-singing characters in strange poses who popped up here and there. This sort of staging is not the usual for the Parma house which typically stays close to the traditional. There’s nothing wrong with the staging that a first rate musical effort couldn’t overcome. But that effort was not forthcoming.

Luisa Miller

As the release of the ‘Tutto Verdi’ series from the Teatro Regio progresses, one has begun to have fears that the later Verdi operas will fail to measure up to the standards that have been set on DVD by productions from international houses across the globe. The issues of the early and middle period Verdi works have been welcome, because these pieces are so rarely encountered in the opera house; but with Macbeth and Luisa Miller we are coming to operas that have been performed by major artists in major productions with superb orchestras and conductors.

Un ballo in maschera

Part of Tutto Verdi series - Un ballo in maschera (2011) Parma. Based on a Scribe libretto and begun as 'Gustavo III' set in Sweden, it became 'Una vendetta in dominò' set in Germany, and finally 'Un ballo', set not in Sweden but in Boston, Massachusetts during the colonial era. These changes were caused by a combination of censorship regulations in both Naples and Rome, as well as by the political situation in France in January 1858.

Un giorno di regno

Part of Tutto Verdi series - Un giorno di regno (2010) Parma. 'Un giorno di regno, ossia il finto Stanislao' ('A One-Day Reign, or The Pretend Stanislaus', but often translated into English as 'King for a Day') is an operatic melodramma giocoso in two acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto written in 1818 by Felice Romani. Originally written for the Bohemian composer Adalbert Gyrowetz, the libretto was based on the play 'Le faux Stanislas' written by the Frenchman Alexandre Vincent Pineu-Duval in 1808.

Verdi: Don Carlos

Luc Bondy's 1996 production of Don Carlos was staged, recorded and filmed at the Chatelet in Paris. These seven performances were blessed with an all-star cast, loaded with important singers either starting their careers (Roberto Alagna) or at the height of their dramatic powers (Karita Mattila, Jose Van Dam.)

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.

Salomé

Live from the Royal Opera 2008. David McVicar’s powerful 2008 production of Strauss's opera – based on a play by Oscar Wilde – takes the controversial and disturbing film 120 Days of Sodom as its visual reference. The action is set in a debauched palace, which has suggestions of Nazi Germany. Strauss’s ravishing and voluptuous score adds to the sexual alchemy that is conjured by an international cast led by Nadja Michael in the title role. Salome is filmed for the big screen with High Definition cameras and recorded in true surround sound.

Puccini Manon Lescaut

The French tale of a beautiful young woman destroyed by her conflicting needs for love and luxury.