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...

Running through Bartók’s disenchanted tale, whose haunting music was initially condemned as unplayab...

Disciplined Italian composer Antonio Salieri becomes consumed by jealousy and resentment towards the...

A godforsaken village in Germany shortly after the Thirty Years’ War: The young scrivener Max loves ...

Wagner’s mystic masterpiece Parsifal at the Staatsoper Berlin, staged by Dmitri Tcherniakov and cond...

Axel Köhler’s production of Der Freischütz at the Dresden State Opera was described by Die Presse as...

Jean-Marie Villegier's modern interpretation of Handel's "Rodelinda" – filmed live at the world-reno...

A return to its roots for Castor et Pollux, Jean-Philippe Rameau’s lyric tragedy first performed in ...

A production of Mozart's opera recorded live at Zurich Opera House in 2000. Cecilia Bartoli leads an...

In the awe-inspiring Teatro Olimpico,Vicenza, Cecilia Bartoli, recognised as one of the best singers...

Viva Vivaldi! is a concert by the Italian mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli interspersing arias from the...

The celebrated mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli joins Bryn Terfel for a recital of arias and duets reco...

John Eliot Gardiner conducts Gluck’s 1776 French version of “Alceste” at the Théâtre du Châtelet in ...

This is a joy from beginning to end. Although there are many tricks and ideas from Laurent Pelly, as...

Officers Ferrando and Guglielmo are certain that their lovers Dorabella and Fiordiligi are faithful ...

The complete version of Verdi's Otello performed by Placido Domingo and Kiri Te Kanawa, at the Royal...

Inspired by one of the twentieth century's greatest novels, composer Lorin Maazel evokes Orwell's to...

What happened to Figaro and his friends after the events told in Rossini’s and Mozart’s operas? One ...

A musical drama based on Giuseppe Verdi's opera Rigoletto.

Dynamic are proud to present, for the first time on Blu-ray, Rossini’s La Gazza Ladra ‘The Thieving ...