Wagner: Das Rheingold (2009)

Hadrian

Rufus Wainwright's original opera finds Emperor Hadrian devastated after his lover Antinous drowns in the Nile River. While matters of state encroach on his grief, and advisors clamour for war against a radical new threat to the Empire, Hadrian slips out of time to re-encounter the vision and reality of Antinous—and learn the truth about what happened on the Nile.

Mozart: Idomeneo Teatro Real de Madrid

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Verdi: Don Carlo

Teatro Regio’s 2013 revival of their highly successful 2006 production of Verdi’s Don Carlo celebrates the 40th anniversary of the theatre’s reopening in 1973. With traditional staging and lavish costume design, the production garnered high acclaim in the national and international press, with GB Opera commending the ‘sumptuous’ setting and French online music magazine ResMusica praising director Hugo de Ana’s decision to revive the show ‘in all its splendour’. Shown here in the four-act version, Don Carlo is the fascinating tale of father-son power struggles, adultery and love that borders on incest. The cast – under the powerful baton of Gianandrea Noseda – is headed by renowned Mexican tenor Ramón Vargas, and also features Ludovic Tézier, who has been hailed as ‘one of the best Verdian singers of our time’

The Metropolitan Opera: Otello

In Verdi’s retelling of Shakespeare’s towering tragedy, Renée Fleming gives a captivating performance as the innocent Desdemona, a role long considered one of her calling cards. Johan Botha as the title hero delivers an imposing portrayal of a proud warrior brought down by jealousy, and Falk Struckmann is thrilling as the villainous Iago. James Morris sings Lodovico. Elijah Moshinsky’s production is conducted by Semyon Bychkov.

Amadeus

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

Richard Strauss - Ariadne Auf Naxos

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Verdi: La Traviata

Alfredo, a young man from the provinces, falls in love with Violetta, the stylish toast of Paris. But she’s not the marrying kind – at least not until now. However, their dreams are threatened by both a merciless society that condemns Violetta’s racy past and an equally merciless disease. Russian soprano Venera Gimadieva portrays the iconic role of Violetta, alongside American tenor Michael Fabiano as Alfredo. The visual beauty of Tom Cairns’s opulent production aptly echoes the irresistible allure of this beloved opera.

Giacomo Meyerbeer - Les Huguenots (Die Hugenotten)

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Wagner: Parsifal

German composer Richard Wagner wrote Parsifal, which is a three-act opera that tells the story of the title character's quest to save the Knights of the Holy Grail by returning the Holy Spear, healing King Amfortas, and carrying out the sacred ceremony of uncovering the Holy Grail.

Die Meistersinger Von Nürnberg

James Morris leads an all-star cast including Karita Mattila, Ben Heppner, Thomas Allen and René Pape, in this production of Wagner's comic opera, recorded live at New York's Metropolitan Opera in 2001. James Levine conducts.

Gluck: Iphigenie en Aulide / Iphigenie en Tauride

Before the Trojan War, Agamemnon gathered the Greek armies at the port of Aulis. The goddess Diane sent unfavorable winds to prevent the Greeks from sailing. Her oracle set a condition for Agamemnon: to earn the right to sail forth and destroy an innocent country, he would have to sacrifice his own daughter. Agamemnon accepted these terms and killed his young daughter Iphigénie on the altar. In his play Iphigenia in Tauris Euripides imagines that Diane plucked Iphigénie from that altar and delivered her to a temple in distant Tauride, where Iphigénie began to serve the enemy Scythians as Diane’s high priestess—all the while Iphigénie’s family believing her dead.

Farinelli

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

Giuseppe Verdi - Un Ballo in Maschera

Verdi - Un ballo in maschera / Domingo · Barstow · Quivar · Jo · Nucci · Rydl · Chaignaud · Wiener Phil. · Solti · Schlesinger · Salzburg Festival 1900

The Metropolitan Opera: The Tempest

Composer Thomas Adès conducts the Met premiere of his powerful opera based on Shakespeare’s last play, in Robert Lepage’s brilliantly inventive production. Simon Keenlyside is the magician Prospero, who conjures the storm that shipwrecks his enemies and sets in motion the course of events. Rising Met stars Isabel Leonard and Alek Shrader are the young lovers, Miranda and Ferdinand, Alan Oke sings the sinister Caliban, and Audrey Luna gives a memorable performance as the sprite Ariel.

The Metropolitan Opera: Cavalleria Rusticana & Pagliacci

Director David McVicar’s new production brings opera’s favorite double bill to new life, setting the two operas in the same Sicilian setting, separated by two generations. Marcelo Álvarez takes on the rare feat of singing both leading tenor roles. In Cavalleria, he is Turiddu, the young man who abandons Santuzza (Eva-Maria Westbroek) in his pursuit of the married Lola (Ginger Costa-Jackson)—and ends up being killed in a duel with her husband, Alfio (George Gagnidze). In Pagliacci, Álvarez is Canio, the leader of a traveling vaudeville troupe. Patricia Racette sings Nedda, his unfaithful young wife, whose plans to run away with her lover are foiled by her spurned admirer Tonio (George Gagnidze)—with equally tragic consequences. Met Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi is on the podium.

Semiramide - Teatro La Fenice - du 19 octobre au 27 octobre

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Fuoco sacro – Suche nach dem heiligen Feuer des Gesangs

What drives men and women to risk their own lives to save those of others? Fuoco Sacro tells the story of the Vigili del Fuoco, the Italian fire department, and does it through the voices of the people who, over half a century of history, have tackled with competence and a spirit of self-sacrifice the greatest calamities that Italy has tragically had to experience at firsthand.

Rodelinda

With this DVD and Blu-ray of Rodelinda, one of Handel’s most emotionally complex operas, conductor Emmanuelle Haïm adds to her impressive Erato catalogue of the composer’s works. The imaginative production, by Jean Bellorini, was seen at the Opéra de Lille in Autumn 2018, and the cast features soprano Jeanine De Bique in the title role, countertenor Tim Mead as her husband Bertarido and another countertenor, Erato’s rising star Jakub Józef Orliński as Unulfo. Reviewing the production, Le Monde noted Emmanuelle Haïm’s “intimate connection with this music, which she knows how to unleash in all its violence, passion and heart-wrenching expressivity.”

Massenet: Thaïs

When the most voluptuous, sought-after courtesan in the world meets an ascetic monk whose life is devoted to God, you know erotic sparks are going to fly. And when the clash takes place in a glorious, but rarely performed, opera by Massenet, it’s a delight to the ear just as much as to the eye. Renée Fleming is every inch the glamorous Thaïs, swathed in elegant gowns designed by Christian Lacroix. Thomas Hampson is Athanaël, the tortured man of God. This production by John Cox, which premiered in December 2008, brilliantly sets the stage for a confrontation as old as civilization itself.

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.

Die Walküre

The gorgeous and evocative Otto Schenk/Günther Schneider-Siemssen production continues with this second opera in Wagner’s Ring cycle. Hildegard Behrens brings deep empathy to Brünnhilde, the favorite daughter of the god Wotan (James Morris) who nevertheless defies him. Morris’s portrayal of Wotan is deservedly legendary, as is Christa Ludwig, as Fricka. Jessye Norman and Gary Lakes are Sieglinde and Siegmund, and Kurt Moll is the threatening Hunding. James Levine and the Met orchestra provide astonishing color and drama. (Performed April 8, 1989)

Siegfried

Siegfried is the third of the four operas that constitute Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung), by Richard Wagner.