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Actor and writer Stephen Fry explores his passion for the world's most controversial composer, Richard Wagner. As a life-long fan can Stephen, who is Jewish and lost family in the Holocaust, salvage Wagner's music from its dark associations with anti-Semitism and Hitler?
La Scala went all out for its 1986 production of this grandest of grand operas, with a strong cast and, most important for a video recording, a larger-than-life staging. The Triumph Scene in Act II is by no means Aida's only attraction, but it is the part that makes the strongest and most lasting impression and it is the visual and musical climax of this production. Stage director Luca Ronconi brings on a procession to dwarf all processions: looted treasures, heroic statuary, miserable captives struggling under the lash of whip-bearing slave drivers. On par with these visuals is Lorin Maazel's first-class performance of the popular Grand March with the outstanding La Scala chorus and orchestra. In Act III, the contrasting tranquility of the Nile Scene also gets a visual treatment to match the music's qualities.
Wagner's Lohengrin is the mythical tale of the mysterious Knight of the Grail, who appears to defend the princess Elsa - wrongly accused of the murder of her brother. Highlights of Wagner's most lyrical score include the famous Wedding March, which accompanies the marriage of Lohengrin and Elsa. Superstar tenor Jonas Kaufmann ("currently the hottest tenor in opera" - The New York Times) makes his role debut in this performance from 2009 and filmed in Munich. He is joined by German soprano Anja Harteros - a former winner of the prestigious Cardiff Singer Of The World competition.
Distinguished Bach specialist Sir András Schiff returned to the BBC Proms in 2018 to present Book II of The Well-Tempered Clavier. Bach's effortless brilliance and new-found sonorities push harmony and counterpoint further than ever with a combination of ancient and modern styles, church austerity and galant lightness. Schiff has said that no-one combines the sacred and the secular as Bach does, and this is comprehensively demonstrated in Bach's fascinating and challenging sequence. This performance in the Royal Albert Hall was described as a musical meditation for our troubled times by the Independent.
Anthony Minghella’s stunning production of Puccini’s opera opened the Met’s 2006–07 season and was seen by thousands of people around the world as part of the company’s Live in HD series. Patricia Racette is Cio-Cio-San, the trusting and innocent young geisha of the title, who disastrously falls in love with American Navy lieutenant B. F. Pinkerton (Marcello Giordani), only to be abandoned by him. Maria Zifchak is her loyal servant Suzuki and Dwayne Croft is Sharpless, the sympathetic American consul who does all he can but is unable to avert tragedy. Performance Date Mar 7, 2009
The story of young composer, Johannes Brahms, and his relationship with, Robert and Clara Schumann, the famous music couple that aided in his rise to fame.
Bluebeard, an opéra bouffe by Jacques Offenbach, premiered in Paris in 1866. Directed by Laurent Pelly, the National Opera in Lyon stages this musical comedy about a man suspected of murdering his wives. Hortense Schneider originally played Boulotka, a village girl who reforms Bluebeard. Yann Beuron and Héloise Mas star, with Christophe Gay as the alchemist Popolani.
A musical-plastic film based on the jazz opera "Porgy and Bess" by George Gershwin is a dramatic story of the unhappy love of the legless Porgy and the young beauty Bess.
Puccini s last and unfinished opera tells the tale of Turandot, the cruel daughter of the Chinese emperor, who demands that her suitors correctly answer three riddles. If they fail they are beheaded. Turandot does this in memory of a female ancestor who was brutally ravished and murdered by a marauding prince. Many have failed her test, the latest being the Prince of Persia who will be executed at moonrise. Watching is Calaf, son of the King of Tartary, who on seeing Turandot is captivated by her beauty and he takes up the challenge. With Rosario La Spina cast as Calaf, Susan Foster as the icy princess and Hyeseoung Kwon as the loyal slave girl Liù, the singing throughout is superlative. The choreography and direction of Graeme Murphy is visionary, add the set and costume designs of Kristian Fredrikson, and the lighting of John Drummond Montgomery and this production is glorious in its beauty.
After the destruction of Troy, the Trojan warrior Énée sets out on a journey to found a new dynasty. He meets Didon, Queen of Carthage, and falls in love. But will Énée's love for Didon prove stronger than his sense of duty? LES TROYENS ('The Trojans') is a tour de force of music that ranges from fiery military marches to intense choruses, passionate soliloquies – such as those of the prophetess Cassandre – and the lyrical love duets of Didon and Énée. It is Hector Berlioz's largest work and he wrote the libretto himself, drawing upon his intimate knowledge of Virgil's Aeneid. To the composer's disappointment, LES TROYENS was only performed once in full during his lifetime and was often presented in shortened form during the 20th century. The Royal Opera's production provides a rare chance to see this epic work in its entirety. David McVicar's staging is on an enormous scale, assembling one of the largest casts ever seen at Covent Garden.
David McVicar’s powerful Royal Opera House 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.
Nicholas McGegan conducts the Festspieleorchester Gottingen in this production of Handel's opera, recorded live at the Internationale Handel-Festspiele Gottingen, with performances from Tim Mead, Marie Arnet and Kirsten Blaise.
The Violin Sonatas visualizes Anne-Sophie Mutter's successful 2010 Brahms album (with Lambert Orkis), her first Deutsche Grammophon recording of this essential repertoire.
Members of an opera company performing Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor" find their lives parallel those of the characters.
DVD-01. The Look Of Love DVD-02. I'll Never Fall In Love Again DVD-03. Love Is Still The Answer DVD-04. A House Is Not A Home DVD-05. Stronger Than Before DVD-06. Don't Make Me Over DVD-07. This House Is Empty Now DVD-08. Walk On By DVD-09. (They Long To Be) Close To You DVD-10. Anyone Who Had A Heart DVD-11. Any Day Now DVD-12. Who'll Speak For Love DVD-13. Waiting For Charlie (To Come Home) DVD-14. Do You Know The Way To San Jose? DVD-15. This Girl's In Love DVD-16. God Give Me Strength DVD-17. Alfie DVD-18. Falling Out Of Love DVD-19. What The World Needs Now DVD-20. That's What Friends Are For DVD-21. I Say A Little Prayer
When Strauss and Hofmannsthal wrote «Der Rosenkavalier» – setting it in an imaginary Rococo Vienna and yet closely linked to the decadent fin de siècle – they created a profound social comedy. It is not without melancholy that the Marschallin lets her young lover Octavian go when he falls head over heels with Sophie, who hails from Faninal’s bourgeois household. As voluptuous as Strauss' score is, it contains tender moments of dream and melancholy. Director Lydia Steier stages Strauss’ opera according to an aesthetic concept by Austrian artist Gottfried Helnwein. Diana Damrau sings the Marschallin. Joana Mallwitz, chief conductor at the Konzerthaus Berlin, conducts the Orchester der Oper Zürich.
Screen adapatation of Mozart's greatest opera. Don Giovanni, the infamous womanizer, makes one conquest after another until the ghost of Donna Anna's father, the Commendatore, (whom Giovanni killed) makes his appearance. He offers Giovanni one last chance to repent for his multitudinious improprieties. He will not change his ways So, he is sucked down into hell by evil spirits. High drama, hysterical comedy, magnificent music!
In the town of Normal Valley, an eccentric magician named Maestro entertains the local children every day in his spooky mansion. One stormy night, the town's mayor leads a group of angry citizens to the mansion in an attempt to run Maestro out of town.
The origin story of one of Italy's greatest rock stars, Gianna Nannini, who chased her dream despite obstacles from her family and the music industry.
The Marx Brothers take on high society and the opera world to bring two lovers together. A sly business manager and two wacky friends of two opera singers help them achieve success while humiliating their stuffy and snobbish enemies.
A successful DJ named Darrel, managed to rescue a powerful mobster one night. In order to repay Darrell, the mobster, Frank Pacelli, gives him the task of protecting his daughter, Dolly.
A melancholy poet reflects on three women he loved and lost in the past: a mechanical performing doll, a Venetian courtesan, and the consumptive daughter of a celebrated composer.
This film follows the remarkable and inspirational true story of Paul Potts, a shy, bullied shop assistant by day and an amateur opera singer by night.
Americans Jeff and Tommy, hunting in Scotland, stumble upon a village - Brigadoon. They soon learn that the town appears once every 100 years in order to preserve its peace and special beauty. The citizens go to bed at night and when they wake up, it's 100 years later. Tommy falls in love with a beautiful young woman, Fiona, and is torn between staying or going back to his hectic life in New York.
Captain EO and his crew journey to a dark, mechanical world to deliver a gift to the tyrannical Supreme Leader, using the power of music and dance to transform her realm from darkness into light.
In the tradition of Fantasia, Make Mine Music is a glorious collection of musically charged animated shorts featuring such fun-filled favorites as "Peter and the Wolf", narrated by the beloved voice behind Winnie the Pooh. In addition you'll enjoy such classic cartoon hits as "Casey at the Bat," "The Whale Who Wanted to Sing at the Met" and "Johnnie Fedora and Alice Bluebonnet."
Talented USO entertainer Dixie Leonard and comedian Eddie Sparks deal with their relationship over the course of 5 decades from World War II to the Vietnam War era to their twilight era in the 90's.
After the death of her mother, Sara moves to the South Side of Chicago to live with her father and gets transferred to a majority-black school. Her life takes a turn for the better when befriends Chenille and her brother Derek, who helps her with her dancing skills.
Michael Jackson's Dangerous album once again rocketed the global superstar to mega-platinum success! "Dangerous - The Short Films" captures the visual and musical highlights of his most recent string of hit singles. As well as extensive behind the scenes profiles of the making of Michael's state of the art short films.
A talented young singer and aspiring songwriter’s Christian faith and family ties are tested when she defies her worship-pastor father and pursues pop-music stardom in GRACE UNPLUGGED, a moving and inspiring new film that explores the true meaning of success.
Gertrude Lawrence rises to stage stardom at the cost of happiness.
Kevin, Nick, and Joe Jonas face a series of escalating obstacles as they struggle to make it from London to New York in time to spend Christmas with their families.
A down-on-his-luck coach is hired to prepare a team of the best American dancers for an international tournament that attracts all the best crews from around the world, but the Americans haven't won in fifteen years.
A detective is hired to protect the life of a singer, who has recently inherited a department store, from the store's crooked manager.
When the beloved cellist of a world-renowned string quartet is diagnosed with a life threatening illness, the group's future suddenly hangs in the balance as suppressed emotions, competing egos and uncontrollable passions threaten to derail years of friendship and collaboration. As they are about to play their 25th anniversary concert — quite possibly their last — only their intimate bond and the power of music can preserve their legacy.
In honor of the 30th anniversary of the animated classic, this animated and live-action blended special showcases the fan-favorite movie, along with new musical performances, sets and costumes inspired by the classic story.
