23-year-old Gioachino Rossini completed his masterpiece IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA incredibly quickly – legend has it in just 13 days – which Rossini attributed to ‘facility and lots of instinct’. The opera, characterized by youthful energy and bold wit, has all the ingredients for comic chaos: an imprisoned young woman, her lecherous guardian and a young noble suitor. Skilfully plotting behind the scenes is Figaro, an irrepressible and inventive character in whom many have seen a resemblance to the young Rossini himself. The score fizzes with musical brilliance, from Figaro’s famous entrance aria to the frenzy of the Act I finale. This recording sees Joyce DiDonato (Rosina) bring literal meaning to the old theatrical motto Break a leg! She did just that in an earlier show but was determined to finish her commitment and was re-staged into the production to allow for the additional challenges that come when a leading lady in a lively physical role must wheel around the other performers...
Three arias from Antonín Dvořák´s fairytale opera Rusalka turned in to a movie, sung by Gabriela Beň...
Mezzo-soprano Aigul Akhmetshina headlines a winning ensemble as the feisty heroine, Rosina, alongsid...
Siegfried is the third of the four operas that constitute Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the N...
Although he is unanimously credited with having democratised opera, making it accessible to the grea...
Who loves whom in Così fan tutte, Mozart’s and Da Ponte’s cruelly comic reflection on desire, fideli...
Macbeth, the Thane of Glamis, receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will become...
Star soprano Anna Netrebko created a sensation in her first Met performances as the malevolent Lady ...
A destitute, crippled child and his mother are visited late one night by three traveling strangers w...
The life and work of stage designer ADOLPHE APPIA, originator of the most profound agitations in con...
A musician is offered a job in Vienna as stage director, but his disagreements with the aristocratic...
Two years prior to the opening scene, the nobleman Florestan has exposed or attempted to expose cert...
Car Men is a collaboration between the renowned choreographer Jíri Kylían and filmmaker Boris Paval ...
Count Almaviva lives with his Countess on their estate near Seville. The Count has his eye on his wi...
Renée Fleming sings one of her signature roles, the title character in Dvořák’s sumptuously melodic ...
A live recording of Carl Orff's world-famous musical masterpiece Carmina Burana, performed by more t...
Richard Strauss's opera, from the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
A film version of the famous Bizet opera, where a soldier (Don Jose) falls in love with a beautiful ...
Cio-Cio-San, a young Japanese geisha, seeks to fulfill her dreams through marriage to an American na...
Shortly after WWII, the DEFA Studios produced a series of operas and operettas which belonged to the...