GAETANO DONIZETTI
Donizetti: L'Ange de Nisida (complete opera recorded in 2019) BLU-RAY Donizetti Opera / Florian Sempey, Roberto Lorenzi, Konu Kim / Jean-Luc Tingaud (cond) [ Dynamic Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 16/Oct/2020 ] Gaetano Donizetti's L'Ange de Nisida was commissioned by the director of the Théâtre de la Renaissance in Paris. The libretto was entrusted to Gustave Vaëz and Alphonse Royer, and the opéra en quatre parties was completed in 1840. |
LEO DELIBES
Delibes: Coppelia (Complete ballet recorded at the Palais Garnier March 2011) BLU-RAY Paris Opera Ballet / Dorothee Gilbert, Mathias Heymann, José Martinez / Koen Kessels (cond) [ BBC / Opus Arte Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 20/Nov/2011 ] "Well worth watching…wonderment and terrific dancing…this is one that I will be returning to with anticipation and pleasure." (Blu-rayDefinition) |
GEORGES BIZET / OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II
Carmen Jones BLU-RAY Dorothy Dandridge [singing voice Marilyn Horne], Harry Belafonte [singing voice LeVern Hutcherson], Olga James, Joe Adams, Pearl Bailey [ 20th Century Fox Blu-ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 1/Jan/2018 ] Carmen Jones had its world premiere at the Rivoli Theatre in New York City on October 28, 1954. The following February, it opened in London and Berlin, and in both cities it played for more than a year in exclusive first-run engagements. |
Dream Theater
Breaking The Fourth Wall (Live From The Boston Opera House BLU-RAY) [ Roadrunner / Blu-ray Disc - released 26/Sep/2014 ] Progressive metal titans Dream Theater release BREAKING THE FOURTH WALL (LIVE FROM THE BOSTON OPERA HOUSE), a live DVD set of the band's one-of-a-kind performance from the Boston Opera House on March 25, 2014. BREAKING THE FOURTH WALL (LIVE FROM... |
JEAN PHILIPPE-RAMEAU
Rameau: Zoroastre (complete opera recorded in 2006) BLU-RAY Drottingholm Court Theatre / Anders J. Dahlin, Evgueniy Alexiev, Sine Bundgaard, Anna Maria Panzarella / Christophe Rousset (cond) [ Opus Arte Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 1/Dec/2008 ] "Christophe Rousset and his forces deliver an excellently paced reading and much of the singing is perfectly judged. Pierre Audi's production, while it moves the cast around efficiently enough, is at times obscure in its use of gesture…"(BBC Music) |
GIOACCHINO ROSSINI
Rossini: Mosè in Egitto (complete opera recorded in 2015) BLU-RAY Duomo di Milano / Ruggero Raimondi, Isabelle Kabatu, Bogdan Mihai, Filippo Polinelli, Luciano Ganci / Francesco Quattrocchi (cond) [ C Major BLU-RAY / Blu-ray Disc - released 1/Feb/2016 ] For the first time the opera "Mosè" by Gioachino Rossini is on stage inside a Cathedral in a semi-scenic performance at the Duomo di Milano. The Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo di Milano, in the wake of a centuries-old tradition of dialogue with the... |
SERGEI PROKOFIEV / JOBY TALBOT
Two Ballet Favourites by Christophen Wheeldon: Prokofiev: Cinderella / Talbot: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Recorded 2011 & 2012) BLU-RAY Dutch National Ballet / Royal Opera House / Anna Tsygankova, Matthew Golding, Lauren Cuthbertson, Sergei Polunin / Ermanno Florio & Barry Wordsworth ( [ Opus Arte Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 15/Oct/2017 ] "Lauren Cuthbertson, as Alice, is excellent, her every movement suggesting the actions and emotions of this curious, spirited pre-adolescent...Christopher Wheeldon's choreography is very imaginative and fitting for every character" MusicWeb on Alice |
ARNOLD SCHOENBERG
Schoenberg: Gurrelieder (Complete 'opera' recorded in 2016) BLU-RAY Dutch National Opera / Burkhard Fritz, Emily Magee, Anna Larsson, Markus Marquard / Marc Albrecht (cond) [ Opus Arte Blu-ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 10/Mar/2017 ] Begun in the year 1900, amidst the art nouveau curlicues of Klimt and the Jugendstil, Schönberg's grand cantata is written in a lush, late-romantic style indebted to Wagner and Mahler and pre-dating his pioneering atonal works. This setting of the... |
STEFANO LANDI
Landi: Morte d'Orfeo (complete opera recorded in 2018) BLU-RAY Dutch National Opera / Cecilia Molinari, Renato Dolcini, Alexander Miminoshvili, Gaia Petrone / Christophe Rousset, conductor [ Naxos Blu-ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 20/May/2020 ] La morte d'Orfeo is regarded as the first Roman-style secular opera and is considered a milestone in the development of the genre opera as a whole. The substantial ensemble numbers are typical of the Roman opera style. |
ENGLEBERT HUMPERDINCK
Humperdinck: Konigskinder [The King's Children] (complete opera recorded in 2022) BLU-RAY Dutch National Opera / Daniel Behle, Olga Kulchynska, Josef Wagner, Doris Soffel / Marc Albrecht (cond) [ Naxos Blu-ray / Blu-ray - released 11/Aug/2023 ] Hänsel und Gretel brought Humperdinck worldwide fame but his tragic fairy storybrought Humperdinck worldwide fame but his tragic fairy story KönigskinderKönigskinder ('The King's Children') offers a stark contrast to it and has only begun to be... |
W. A. MOZART
Die Zauberflote [The Magic Flue] (completeopera recorded in 2014) BLU-RAY Dutch National Opera / Maximilian Schmitt, Christina Landshamer, Thomas Oliemans, Brindley Sherratt, Íride Martínez / Marc Albrecht (cond) [ Opus Arte Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 20/May/2015 ] "Subtle touches ease what we now find chauvinist and racist in the original...Ingenious. Recommended." (Gramophone Blu-ray of the Month May 2015) |
RICHARD STRAUSS
Strauss: Ariadne auf Naxos (complete opera / original 1912 version recorded in 2012) BLU-RAY Salzburg Festival / Emily Magee, Elena Moșuc, Jonas Kaufmann / Wiener Philharmoniker, Daniel Harding (conductor), Sven-Eric Bechtolf (director) [ Sony Blu-ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 17/Feb/2014 ] Jonas Kaufmann made his highly acclaimed debut as Bacchus in this 2012 Salzburg Festival production of Ariadne auf Naxos, leading a cast including Emily Magee and Elena Mosuc, with Daniel Harding conducting. Director Sven-Erich Bechtholf's staging is... |
JEAN-BAPISTE LULLY
Lully: Atys (complete opera recorded in 2011) Blu-ray Emmanuelle de Negri, Stéphanie d'Oustrac, Bernard Richter / Compagnie Fêtes Galantes, Les Arts Florissants, William Christie [ Naxos Blu-ray / Blu-ray - released 24/Sep/2021 ] "..the stage picture is consistently opulent, with even Atys and Sangaride dressed ornately, at least until the shattering final act." New York Times |
BENJAMIN BRITTEN
Death in Venice (Complete opera recorded in 2013) BLU-RAY English National Opera / John Graham-Hall, Andrew Shore, Tim Mead / Edward Gardner (cond) [ Opus Arte Blu-ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 10/May/2014 ] "Graham-Hall is a real stage-animal, convincing us utterly of his descent into obsession...every colour, timbre and texture of this richly imaginative score comes blazing through under Gardner's baton". (Gramophone Award Nomination 2015 - Opera) |
GIACOMO PUCCINI
Puccini: Turandot (complete opera recorded in 1983) BLU-RAY Vienna State Opera / Eva Marton, José Carreras, Katia Ricciarelli / Lorin Maazel (conductor) [ Arthaus Legendary Performances Blu-ray BLU-RAY / Blu-ray Disc - released 1/Jul/2015 ] The Hungarian soprano Eva Marton brought to the title role a voice of gleaming metal in which one senses the beautiful woman lying in wait to defeat her opponent but is also aware of her fears of man in general. |
PUCCINI
La Fanciulla del West [The Girl of the Golden West] (complete opera recorded in 2009) BLU-RAY Eva-Maria Westbroek / Lucio Gallo / Zoran Todorovich / Chorus of De Nederlandse Opera / Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra / Carlo Rizzi [ Opus Arte DVD / Blu-ray Disc - released 19/Dec/2010 ] "From her first entrance...Westbroek is captivating. She boasts the wonderfully meaty instrument required for Minnie (especially in the all-important middle voice), plus the right wholesome, strawberry-blonde appearance" (International Record Review) |
GAETANO DONIZETTI
Donizetti: Anna Bolena (complete opera recorded in 2013) BLU-RAY Federico Benetti, Marta Torbidoni, Laura Polverelli, Dionisos Tsantinis / Belcanto Chorus, Europa Galante, Fabio Biondi (conductor) [ Dynamic Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 1/Jul/2015 ] This production of Anna Bolena faithfully meets the musical vision proposed by Fabio Biondi. The mise-en-scène, therefore, excludes any explicit reference to the plot's historical time, and the events have been set at the beginning of the 1800s, when |
W. A. MOZART
Mozart: Don Giovanni, K527 (complete opera recorded in 2010) BLU-RAY Festival d'Aix-en-Provence / Bo Skovhus, Kyle Ketelsen, David Bizic, Colin Balzer / English Voices & Freiburger Barockorchester, Louis Langrée [ Bel Air Classiques Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 22/Jul/2013 ] A new 'Don Giovanni' in Aix from renowned Russian stage director Dmitri Tcherniakov, awarded best director at the International Opera Awards 2013, and conductor Louis Langrée. |
RICHARD STRAUSS
Elektra (complete opera recorded in 2013) BLU-RAY Festival d'Aix-en-Provence / Evelyn Herlitzius, Waltraud Meier, Adrianne Pieczonka, Mikhail Petrenko / Esa-Pekka Salonen (cond) [ Bel Air Classiques Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 1/Aug/2014 ] "There's nothing utilitarian about the cast, though, least of all its Elektra. Precise in pitch, unfailingly intense and charismatic, the German soprano Evelyn Herlitzius conquers every challenge." (Gramophone Award WINNER 2015 - Opera) |
GAETANO DONIZETTI
Donizetti: Pietro Il Grande, Kzar delle Russie (complete opera recorded in 2019) BLU-RAY Festival Donizetti Opera / Roberto De Candia, Loriana Castellano, Paola Gradina, Nina Solodovnikova / Rinaldo Alessandrini (cond) [ Dynamic Blu-ray / Blu-ray - released 22/Jan/2021 ] "Conducting, playing and choral singing are all terrific, sweeping you through the opera with their infectious precision and energy." Gramphone DVD/Blu-ray of the Month April 2021 |