Beethoven’s only opera is a masterpiece, an uplifting story of risk and triumph. In this new production, conducted by Antonio Pappano, Jonas Kaufmann plays the political prisoner Florestan, and Lise Davidsen his wife Leonore (disguised as ‘Fidelio’) who daringly sets out to rescue him. Set in strong counterpoint are the ingredients of domestic intrigue, determined love and the cruelty of an oppressive regime. The music is transcendent throughout and includes the famous Act I Quartet, the Prisoners’ Chorus and Florestan’s impassioned Act II cry in the darkness and vision of hope. Tobias Kratzer’s new staging brings together the dark reality of the French Revolutionary ‘Terror’ and our own time to illuminate Fidelio’s inspiring message of shared humanity.
Adapted from the opera written by the composer Semen Hulak-Artemovsky.
The deformed Phantom who haunts the Paris Opera House causes murder and mayhem in an attempt to make...
Opera lies at the heart of Rimsky-Korsakov's colourful idiom, but performances are few and far betwe...
An Egyptian military commander, Radamès, struggles to choose between his love for the enslaved Ethio...
Franco Zeffirelli directs these two legendary La Scala productions telling tragic tales of jealousy...
Royal Opera favourite Bryn Terfel heads the cast for this new production of Donizetti’s comedy of do...
Simon Keenlyside smolders dangerously in the title role of Mozart’s version of the legend of Don Jua...
The water fairy Rusalka falls in love with an earthly prince. In vain, Father Aquarius warns her. He...
Franco Zeffirelli's magnificient staging of Puccini's final opera - a fairy tale set in a mythical C...
An interpretation of Georges Bizet's opera "Carmen," which is presented in an artful form with a twi...
Prince Abesalom runs into an orphaned Eteri while hunting, falls for her and brings the woman to his...
37-year-old Italian-American widow Loretta Castorini believes she is unlucky in love, and so accepts...
Richard Jones’ “La bohème” is an important weapon in the Royal Opera’s commercial arsenal. This is i...
When this sumptuous production by Giancarlo del Monaco opened in 1995, legendary tenor Plácido Domin...
Classics on a Summer's Evening is an outdoor concert for an enormous audience which was staged in an...
Opera by Harry Somers portraying Metis leader Louis Riel and his Northwest Rebellion. 1969 CBC-TV pr...
This DVD of a live 2005 performance from the Zürich Opera under the musical direction of Franz Welse...
La Cenerentola, ossia La bontà in trionfo (Cinderella, or Goodness Triumphant) is an operatic dramma...
Le convenienze ed inconvenienze teatrali (Conventions and Inconveniences of the Stage) is a two-act ...
With this performance of the Missa solemnis Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Honorary Guest Conductor of the Ro...