Since you are interested in Purcell: The Fairy Queen (complete opera recorded in 2009) BLU-RAY, here is a list of other items that you may find interesting.
BENJAMIN BRITTEN
Billy Budd (complete operetta recorded in 2010) BLU-RAY Glyndebourne Opera / John Mark Ainsley, Jacques Imbrailo, Phillip Ens / Mark Elder (cond) [ Opus Arte Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 1/Aug/2011 ] "..this is the most compelling Billy Budd on video, and superb in Blu-ray." (DVD Choice - July 2011 BBC Music *****) |
RICHARD STRAUSS
Strauss, (R.): Elektra (complete opera recorded in 2010) BLU-RAY Salzburg Festival / Irene Theorin, Waltraud Meier, Eva-Maria Westbroek, Robert Gambill, René Pape / Wiener Philharmoniker / Daniele Gatti [ Arthaus Musik Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 23/Jun/2011 ] "Among Elektras on DVD this, along with Karl Böhm's historical performance, must rank among the best; and on Blu-ray it is superb." BBC Music Magazine, October 2011 ***** (Award Finalist 2012) |
RICHARD WAGNER
Wagner: Siegfried (complete opera recorded in Valencia, 2008) BLU-RAY Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia / Lance Ryan / Jennifer Wilson / Juha Uusitalo / Gerhard Siegel / Zubin Mehta [ C Major Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 1/Mar/2010 ] In this production "the visual codes of the digital era become elemental and dazzlingly employed means of narration" (Opernwelt). |
ENGELBERT HUMPERDINCK
Humperdinck: Hansel und Gretel (complete opera recorded in 2008) BLU-RAY Royal Opera House, Covent Garden / Angelika Kirchschlager / Diana Damrau / Elizabeth Connell / Thomas Allen / Colin Davis, conductor [ Opus Arte Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 1/Aug/2009 ] "Diana Damrau, a plain-Jane Gretel with awkward pigtails, gets along famously with her brother, dancing, playing, being huffy. They work well off one another and their voices blend beautifully. The Sandman and Dew Fairy are lovely." 10/10 ClassicsTod |
LEOS JANACEK
Janacek: Jenufa (complete opera recorded in 2009) BLU-RAY Teatro Real Madrid / Amanda Roocroft, Deborah Polaski, Nikolai Schukoff / Ivor Bolton (cond) [ Opus Arte Blu-ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 20/Aug/2011 ] "Something in the composer's writing brings out the best in [Roocroft's] creamy voice and committed acting, and here she's superb as a young woman who forgives her stepmother for committing a terrible crime." (ClassicFM) |
FRANCIS POULENC
Poulenc: Dialogues des Carmélites (complete opera recorded in 2010) Bayerische Staatsoper / Alain Vernhes, Susan Gritton, Bernard Richter / Kent Nagano (conductor) [ Bel Air Classiques BLU-RAY / Blu-ray Disc - released 11/Jun/2011 ] "Tcherniakov's production is probably the most physically active Dialogues ever staged. Everyone is seemingly in constant motion...Sylvie Brunet is a memorably formidable and pitiable Croissy...Helen Guilmette's Constance, lively but never cloying or |
WAGNER
Parsifal (complete opera recorded in 2004) BLU-RAY Festspielhaus, Baden- Baden / Christopher Ventris, Waltraud Meier, Matti Salminen / Kent Nagano (cond) [ Opus Arte / BBC Blu-Ray / 2 Blu-ray Disc - released 1/Aug/2011 ] "Put simply, it is interpretively, vocally, instrumentally, visually and audibly a most impressive performance of Wagner's final opera." (Classical Net) |
GIUSEPPE VERDI
Verdi: Falstaff (complete opera recorded in 2009) BLU-RAY Glyndebourne Opera / Christopher Purves / Tassis Christoyannis / Dina Kuznetsova / Jennifer Holloway / Vladmir Jurowski (cond) [ Opus Arte Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 1/Aug/2011 ] "Francois Roussillon's direction, giving a due flavour of the theatrical ambience, results in a model of filmed opera." (BBC Music) |
GIUSEPPE VERDI
Verdi: Otello (complete opera recorded in February 2006) Gran teatre del Liceu, Barcelona / Jose Cura / Kressimira Stoyanova / Lado Ataneli / Vittorio Grigolo / Anotoni Ros-Marba (cond) [ Opus Arte DVD / 2 DVD - released 7/Feb/2007 ] G :- "…José Cura… sings and acts here with an inwardness and intensity which make a profound impression. So does Krassimira Stoyanova as Desdemona, not in the first flush of youth, but heartfelt and direct" (BBC Music) |
W. A. MOZART
Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail (complete opera recorded in 2008) BLU-RAY Netherlands Opera / Laura Aikin, Edgaras Montvidas, Kurt Rydl, Mojca Erdmann / Constantinos Carydis (cond) [ Opus Arte Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 2/Feb/2009 ] Blu-Ray - "Athenian wonder boy Constantinos Carydis has everything you could want from a Mozart conductor, combining manic energy with perfectionism and a profound sense of lyrical beauty." Bloomberg News |
JONATHAN DOVE
Dove: The Adventures of Pinocchio (Complete opera recorded in 2008) BLU-RAY Opera North / Victoria Simmonds, Jonathan Summers, Mary Plazas, Rebecca Bottone / David Parry, conductor [ Opus Arte Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 1/Apr/2009 ] "Plaudits should also go to the chorus, whose scenes are always visually and sonically spectacular, while the stunning surround sound of the DVD capturing every detail of Opera North's bold undertaking." (BBC Music Five Stars) |
FELIX MENDELSSOHN
Mendelssohn: A Midsummer Night's Dream, A (Choreographed by George Balanchine) BLU-RAY Pacific Northwest Ballet / BB Concert Orchestra / Stewart Kershaw [ Opus Arte Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 1/Aug/2008 ] "For anyone that wants to experience a demonstration quality production with electrifying sound and visuals that simply astonish, I cannot recommend this Blu-ray disc from Opus Arte highly enough." (MusicWeb Jan 2009) |
CHOPIN
La Dame aux Camelias (Complete ballet recorded in 2008) BLU-RAY Paris Opera Ballet / Agnes Letestu / Stephane Bullion / Michael Denard / Dorothee Gilbert / Michael Schmidtsdorff [ Opus Arte Blu-Ray / 2 Blu-ray Disc - released 20/Jun/2009 ] DVD Blu-Ray - "A full length ballet which does justice to the Dumas novel on which La traviata is more loosely based. John Neumeier's poetic choreography is blessed with Agnès Letestu's Marguerite." (BBC Music) |
TCHAIKOVSKY
Swan Lake (Complete ballet recorded in 2005) BLU-RAY Paris Opera Ballet / Agnes Letestu / Jose Martinez / Karl Paquette / Vello Pahn (cond) [ Opus Arte Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 1/Jun/2008 ] DVD Blu-Ray - "Nureyev has adjusted the already-impressive lines of swans in the older version into spectacular geometric shapes. There seem to be more swans than any production of the ballet I had previously seen." (Four Stars AudAud.com) |
GLUCK
Orphee et Eurydice (recorded at the Palais Garnier February 2008) BLU-RAY Paris Opera Ballet / Maria Riccarda Wesseling / Julia Kleiter / Sunhae Im / Agnes Gillot / Yann Bridard / Thomas Hengelbrock (cond) [ Bel Air Classiques Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 20/Dec/2009 ] G - Filmed in HD at the Palais Garnier February 2008 Orpheus and Eurydice is Pina Bausch's masterpiece and the ultimate symbol of the genius of this German choreographer, who died in June 2009, five days after being diagnosed with cancer. |
BIZET / MENDELSSOHN / MOZART / PUCCINI / STRAUSS 11 / RAMEAU
THE BLU-RAY EXPERIENCE: Opera and Ballet Highlights Paris Opera Ballet / Royal Opera House / Teatro Real, Madrid / Glyndebourne Opera / Pacific Northwest Ballet / Drottningholms Slottsteater [ Opus Arte Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 1/Jan/2009 ] Blu-Ray - Opera and Ballet Highlights from the Opus Arte catalogue at a very special price. |
GIUSEPPE VERDI
Verdi: Il Trovatore (complete opera recorded in 2002) BLU-RAY Royal Opera House, Covent Garden / Jose Cura / Dmitri Hvorostovsky / Veronica Villarroel / Yvonne Naef / Carlo Rizzi (cond) [ Opus Arte Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 1/Dec/2008 ] "Elijah Moshinsky's production is surely as lively and moving as Verdi's intricate masterpiece deserves. Jose Cura sizzles. Dimitri Hvorostovsky is everything one could want to see and hear in a Verdi baritone." (San Francisco Chronicle) |
DELIBES
Sylvia (complete ballet recorded live at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, 2005) BLU-RAY Royal Opera House, Covent Garden / Darcey Bussell, Roberto Bolle, Thiago Soares, Martin Harvey / Graham Bond, conductor [ Opus Arte Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 20/Jan/2010 ] "This DVD… shows the Royal Ballet at the top of its…form. …makes an imperious huntress and a commanding Bacchante" (BBC Music) |
HENRY PURCELL
Dido and Aeneas (complete opera recorded in 2009) BLU-RAY Royal Opera House, Covent Garden / Sarah Connolly, Lucas Meachem, Lucy Crowe, Sara Fulgoni / Christopher Hogwood (cond) [ Opus Arte Royal Opera House Collection Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 20/Jan/2010 ] G - 'Dido is perfectly integrated, and the expressively stylised movements that McGregor has devised for the singers make a fascinating contrast to the gyrations of the corps de ballet.' The Telegraph |
VARIOUS COMPOSERS
Opera, Ballet & Theatre: The Blu-ray Experience II Various singers, dancers and actors [ Opus Arte BLU-RAY / Blu-ray Disc - released 1/Dec/2010 ] The Blu-ray Experience II: Opera, Ballet & Theatre includes opera, ballet and theatre highlights from the Opus Arte catalogue, and gives everyone the opportunity to experience the stunning quality of High Definition picture and sound. |