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Selene Zanetti
Mimi
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Alexandre Duhamel
Marcello
Stefano Salvatori
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
An Egyptian military commander, Radamès, struggles to choose between his love for the enslaved Ethiopian princess Aida, and his loyalty to the Pharaoh. To complicate the story further, the Pharaoh's daughter Amneris is in love with Radamès, although he does not return her feelings.
Members of an opera company performing Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor" find their lives parallel those of the characters.
This John Dexter production, designed by Desmond Heeley, was a parting gift to the great American soprano Beverly Sills, who bid farewell to the Met as Norina, the smart young widow at the center of Donizetti’s comedy. The sensational Alfredo Kraus sings her beloved Ernesto. Håkan Hagegård, in his Met debut role and season, is Dr. Malatesta, the man who helps the young couple trick the crusty old bachelor of the title (Gabriel Bacquier at his comical best) into a fake marriage. This being a Donizetti comedy, it all turns out perfectly well at the end—and getting there is pure operatic fun.
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.
Met Music director James Levine conducts a cast of youthful stars in Mozart’s sophisticated comedy about testing the ties of love. Susanna Phillips and Isabel Leonard are the sisters Fiordiligi and Dorabella, who are led to believe their fiancés have gone off to war. Matthew Polenzani and Rodion Pogossov are Ferrando and Guglielmo, the lovers who return in disguise to test their girls' fidelity. Danielle de Niese sings the scheming maid Despina and Maurizio Muraro is Don Alfonso, the philosopher and mastermind pulling the strings.
The hero Siegfried reforges his father’s shattered sword, embarking on a quest for the greatest prize of all – the love of the valkyrie Brünnhilde, who lies trapped in a ring of fire. Siegfried is the third opera in Richard Wagner’s four-opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen. Wagner broke off composition at the end of Act II of Siegfried to write Tristan und Isolde and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, returning to Siegfried seven years later. Longborough Festival Opera, known as the British Bayreuth, calls on renowned Wagnerian Anthony Negus to conduct and Amy Lane to stage this new production of Siegfried in the bucolic English Cotswolds.
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.
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.
Fatherless barrio Puerto Rican Rico is a menial car mechanic by day, but lives for the nights, when he dances and dates hot dancing girls, cockily convinced the title of Salsa king in fancy nightclub La Luna's upcoming contest is to be his. He encourages his best friend, courteous gentleman Ken, to date his sister Margarita so he gets a free hand with her flirtatious classmate Lola. The reigning salsa queen Luna's interest in Rico as dance-partner threatens his on-off relationship with Vicki. More jealous trouble follows when Ken and Margarita fall in true love.
After losing his job at a coffee shop, Charlie Rogers finds employment at a struggling carnival, but his attempted romance with a teenager leads to friction with her father.
Laura and Harrison have the picture-perfect romance built on the foundation of a shared love of music. After a deadly accident, Laura gets the chance to save the love of her life when she discovers that their mixtape can transport her back in time.
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."
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.
A teenage rapper must use his musical talent to help a friend and win the girl of his dreams while overcoming self-doubt and the expectations of his strict religious parents.
When Brooke’s boyfriend, Ethan, breaks up with her just before the holidays, she agrees to go home with Joel, an actor who will pose as her boyfriend.
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.
A pair of star-crossed dancers in New York find themselves at the center of a bitter rivalry between their brothers' underground dance clubs.
After enjoying a holiday romance, high school students Danny and Sandy are unexpectedly reunited when she transfers to Rydell High, where she must contend with cynical Rizzo and the Pink Ladies.
Mutual attraction leads two married couples to swap bedtime partners.
To Jane Falbury's New England farm comes a troup of actors to put up a show, invited by Jane's sister. At first reluctant she has them do farm chores in exchange for food. Her reluctance becomes attraction when she falls in love with the director, Joe, who happens to be her sister's fiance.
Faced with a holiday cheer crisis, the North Pole knows there's only one person who can save the day: Santa's great friend Mariah Carey. The Queen of Christmas creates a fabulous and star-studded spectacular to make the whole world merry!
Following the death of their miller father, his eldest son inherits the mill, the middle one a donkey, and the youngest a cat. While initially disappointed, the lad soon learns not only that the cat can talk but is quite resourceful.
When Sarah needs to impress a corporate bigwig in order to help her sister's catering business, she finds herself agreeing to be his son’s pretend date to a family wedding
Rhea lives with her tight-knit multigenerational family. After her mother’s death, she has been her father’s emotional rock, and her life revolves around her family’s restaurant, her eclectic group of friends, and her after-school coding club. Everything changes when she falls for aspiring DJ Max and a long lost passion for music is reignited. Rhea discovers that she has a natural gift for creating beats and producing music that blends her Indian heritage, but must find the courage to follow her true inner talent.
Angelique is saved by the king of the cutthroats when she is endangered in the streets of Paris. After her hero is killed, she has many amorous affairs and becomes a successful businesswoman.
A veteran call girl and a runaway prostitute witness a murder which sends them on an out-of-control roller coaster ride through the twilight zone of sex-for-sale.
Raimund Gregorius, having saved a beautiful Portuguese woman from leaping to her death, stumbles upon a mesmerizing book by a Portuguese author, which compels him to suddenly abandon the boring life he has led for years and to embark on an enthralling adventure. In search of the author, Gregorius acts as detective, pulling together pieces of a puzzle that involves political and emotional intrigue and the highest possible stakes. His voyage is one that transcends time and space, delving into the realms of history, medicine and love, all in search of true meaning to his life.
