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Erich Wolfgang Korngold regarded Das Wunder der Heliane as his greatest work, but the opera has been neglected since its premiere in 1927. This 2018 production from the Deutsche Oper Berlin features the American soprano Sara Jakubiak as Heliane, and the American tenor Brian Jagde as The Stranger in the award-winning director Christof Loy’s acclaimed staging. The Orchestra and Chorus of the Deutsche Oper Berlin deliver the large forces required for this hyper-Romantic opera, under the baton of Dutch National Opera’s chief conductor Marc Albrecht.

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REVIEWS:

Das Wunder der Heliane is Korngold’s most extravagant stage work and one that he considered to be his greatest score. Written for a huge ensemble, masterfully used, the music possesses voluptuous sweep and hyper-Romanticism. Its intensity is emphasised through an intoxicating array of effects, propulsive rhythms and glorious vocal lyricism, its arc of climaxes building from one act to another. This revelatory new Berlin staging in 2018 enjoyed an unprecedented 20-minute ovation at its premiere.

– Opera Lounge

The performance is conducted with all the necessary full-blooded fervour by Marc Albrecht, and Korngold’s score emerges in all its richly chromatic, glittering tonality and overheated intensity.

– Telegraph (UK)

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The premiere of Korngold's Die tote Stadt at the Bayerische Staatsoper in 2019 was praised both by press and audiences. Marlis Petersen (Marie/Marietta) and Jonas Kaufmann (Paul) sang the main roles, with the Bayerisches Staatsorchester under Kirill Petrenko's baton, in the intense staging by Simon Stone. After opening night, Joshua Barone wrote in the NY Times: “[The] work's comeback may have reached its peak at the Bavarian State Opera. It’s difficult to imagine a better case for Die tote Stadt than was made in Munich.” The boundary between dream and reality dissolves as Paul, mourning his dead wife Marie, meets the dancer Marietta. With her looks so similar to Marie’s, Marietta becomes the object of the projection of Paul’s erotic desires. Following a nerve-racking “vision”, Paul is finally reeled back to reality and he can leave Bruges as the place of his death cult. The original title of the piece, “Triumph des Lebens”, is symbolic of the main character’s personal development. Just a few weeks before the successful world premiere of Die tote Stadt, none other than Puccini himself described Korngold as the “greatest hope of new German music”. Because of their melodic urgency, arias such as “Glück, das mir verblieb (Marietta's Lute Song)” and “Mein Sehnen, mein Wähnen (Pierrot's Song)” have found a home among the concert repertoires of many opera singers and radiate far beyond the fame of Die tote Stadt. This production is the first AV release on our newly launched label.

L'occasione fa il ladro ('Opportunity Makes a Thief') was composed by the young Rossini in just eleven days, working alongside his librettist Luigi Prividali. The tale presents a comedy of multiple confusions in one act. Count Alberto, travelling to marry a fianc�e he has yet to meet, leaves an inn with the wrong suitcase. Left holding the Count's papers and possessions, Don Parmenione audaciously adopts Alberto's identity intent on taking the bride for himself. Jochen Sch�nleber's acclaimed production adapts Rossini's swift and deftly plotted moral drama to give present-day relevance to Rossini's exuberant ensemble burletta.

Luciano Pavarotti and Mirella Freni's incomparable partnership as Rodolfo and Mimi, the tragic lovers in Puccini's much-loved bittersweet opera, is captured for posterity in this live recording from the San Francisco Opera. Francesca Zambello's production

Fromental Hal�vy's five-act grand opera La Juive ('The Jewess') is one of the most popular operas of the 19th century, captivating audiences ever since it's debut at the Op�ra de Paris in 1835. Set in the 15th century and full of pageantry, the subject is the forbidden love between a Christian man and a Jewish woman, and the tragedy that ensues. Oper Frankfurt's contemporary staging won great acclaim, with Ambur Braid being lauded for her 'luminous soprano' as the heroine Rachel, and 'vocal phenomenon' John Osborn heralded in the role of her father �l�azar as 'immensely moving'.

A collaboration between American filmmaker Sofia Coppola and Italian haute couture king Valentino Garavani comes in the form of a revival of Giuseppe Verdi's classic opera, La Traviata. Sofia Coppola joined this production of La Traviata when Valentino personally invited her to direct. It has become one of the most successful revivals of "La Traviata", immediately selling out it's 15 performances in Rome. Coppola brings new life into Verdi's 1853 opera that tells the story of tempestuous love and heartbreak. Violetta Val�ry is a well-known courtesan in Paris whose life appears to be glamorous. But she's suffering from a serious illness and living on the money given to her by her male patrons. She ends up meeting and falling in love with Alfredo Germont, a young man from a good family, through tragic circumstances they are torn apart.

Acclaimed dancer-choreographer Akram Khan 'speaks tremendously of tremendous things' (Financial Times) and this new Giselle reimagines the classic narrative ballet for the 21st Century. Giselle had become a former garment factory migrant worker, Albrecht, a member of the wealthy factory-owning class. An abandoned 'ghost factory' haunted by the memory of female migrant workers, many of them victims of industrial accidents, replaces the traditional glade of Act II. There, Giselle's desire to break the cycle of violence will lead her to reconciliation with Albrecht and his release from the retributive justice of the Wilis. "Giselle has been transformed for the ENB by Akram Khan into the ballet event of the year. Staggeringly beautiful and utterly devastating, it is an electrifying triumph which any dance or theatre fan must not miss." (The Daily Express)

Stefano Landi was an influential early opera composer, and La morte d'Orfeo is regarded as a milestone in the development of the genre. The narrative starts where Monteverdi's L'Orfeo ends, taking us through the remaining adventures of Orpheus in the underworld. Beaten to death and torn apart by the fearsome maenads, Orpheus survives as a wandering soul and is finally reincarnated as a star in the sky. Landi succeeded in turning Greek tragedy into timeless music-drama, the starting point of all opera, and Seen and Heard International declared that it had 'never before encountered such technical perfection' in Pierre Audi's Amsterdam production.

Rued Langgaard's remarkable opera 'Antikrist' confronts the decline and fall of Western civilisation, critiquing modern lifestyles and ways of thinking, which resonates with our times more than ever before. Never performed in the composer's lifetime, 'Antikrist' blends Romantic and contemporary styles to create a score that is both seductive and opulent, while the lack of a conventional plot creates space for an ironic and sarcastic expos� of contemporary civilisation's weaknesses. This spectacular Deutsche Oper Berlin production was acclaimed in 'The New York Times' as a 'riotously colourful, boldly stylised staging [in] a near-breathless swirl'.

Barrie Kosky, one of the most innovative opera directors of our time, creates a new interpretation of Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro at the Vienna State Opera with a very young ensemble: Andre Schuen and Hanna-Elisabeth Muller in the roles of Count and Countess Almaviva, Peter Kellner as Figaro, Patricia Nolz as Cherubino. Susanna's role is interpreted by both Ying Fang (acting) and Maria Nazarova (singing), as Ying Fang could not sing due to a vocal cord illness. Philippe Jordan conducts the Orchestra of the Wiener Staatsoper and together they "deliver an ideal mixture of elegant lyricism and concentrated expression - each and every one" (Wiener Zeitung) // "Beauty and pointedness are combined in the noblest way. " (Der Standard) // "A triumph of Barrie Kosky's directorial brilliance - hilarious yet deeply engaging and thought-provoking. " (klassik-begeistert. De)

This Blu-ray sampler with carefully selected-concerts accompanies Seiji Ozawa's impressive career over 3 decades. Seiji Ozawa was not only Japan's best-known conductor but also the founder of the Saito Kinen Festival in Matsumoto, which in 2015 was renamed the Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto Festival. Special feature included in this edition from Matsumoto: on the occasion of Maestro Ozawa's 80th birthday, Martha Argerich and Matthias Goerne joined the orchestra to perform Beethoven's Choral Fantasy, Op. 80, plus a rendition of 'Happy Birthday' - a deeply emotional moment for the Maestro! Included in this sampler: the first Seiji Ozawa concert, ever recorded in Europe, from 1989 with Maestro Ozawa and Kazuyoshi Akiyama conducting the Saito Kinen Orchestra at the Alter Oper Frankfurt. Supported by the Marcus Roberts Trio, conductor Seiji Ozawa presented An American in Paris, Rhapsody in Blue and the Concerto in F, turning the Waldb�hne inta a vast, swinging jazz club. The collaboration between Maestro Ozawa and Violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, with the members of the Vienna Philharmonic gave a very refreshing and energetic lively and beautiful performance of the Beethoven Violin Concerto - a fitting tribute to the late Maestro von Karajan.

The legendary recordings with the M�nchner Philharmoniker: Tchaikovsky, Schumann, Dvorak, Ravel, Prokofiev and Debussy on one Blu-ray Sampler. The M�nchner Philharmoniker and Sergiu Celibidache share an impressive legacy. Celibidache was principal conductor of the orchestra between 1979 and 1996, a time in which the orchestra gained great international reputation and became renowned worldwide. This legendary recording, includes the performances of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 Op. 23 together with pianist Daniel Barenboim and the rehearsal of Prokofiev's Piano Concerto. Celibidache shunned publicity, and his demand for extensive rehearsal periods for any one concert was something that radio-station orchestras could usually only sanction. The exception, on a regular basis, was the Munich Philharmonic, of which Celibidache was music director from 1979 til his death. By choice Celibidache made very few commercial recordings (and those date from the 1950s). Yet, perhaps paradoxically, he allowed his concerts to be broadcasted, filmed and archived and also for rehearsals to be recorded, so that we can follow the maestro's work even today.

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Franz Léhar
THE MERRY WIDOW
(Sung in English)
(Blu-ray Disc Version)

Anna Glawari – Yvonne Kenny
Count Danilo Danilovitch – Bo Skovhus
Valencienne – Angelika Kirchschlager
Camille de Rosillon – Gregory Turay
Baron Mirko Zeta – Carlo Hartmann
Vicomte Cascada – Curtis Sullivan
Raoul de St. Brioche – Jonathan Boyd
Kromow – Bob Amaral
Olga – Marnie Breckenridge
Pritschitch – William Saetre
Praskowia – Jayne Taini
Bogdanovitch – Peter Strummer
Sylviane – Colleen McGrath
Njegus – Elijah Chester
Zozo – Janice Lynde
Maître d’hôtel – Matt Logan

San Francisco Opera Ballet
San Francisco Opera Chorus
San Francisco Opera Orchestra
Erich Kunzel, conductor

Lotfi Mansouri, stage director

Recorded live at the War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco on 8 December 2001.

Bonus:
- Illustrated synopsis and cast gallery
- Impressions - Lotfi Mansouri, Yvonne Kenny, Bo Skovhus, Angelika Kirchschlager and Gregory Turay discuss The Merry Widow.

Picture format: 1080i High Definition
Sound format: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 and 4.0
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Menu language: English
Subtitles: French, German, Spanish
Running time: 189 mins
No. of DVDs: 1 (BD 50)

This Blu-ray box contains legendary concerts from 1977 – 1990 of Leonard Bernstein conducting the Wiener Philharmoniker, Orchestre National de France and the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks. The set also includes the Centennial Celebration Concert at Tanglewood, featuring John Williams, Yo-Yo Ma, Andris Nelsons, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Tony Yazbeck and many more, performing works by Bernstein, Williams, Mahler and Copland. Notable compositions include Jean Sibelius’s Symphonies 1, 2, 5, and 7, Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 16, Haydn’s Missa in tempore beli, Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique, and many more.

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These two pinnacles of Italian opera, Pagliacci and Cavalleria rusticana have it all – love, infidelity, betrayal, jealousy and murder. Both are classic examples of verismo operas that dramatise the lives of ordinary people: Pagliacci fuelled by the tension between everyday life and the aesthetic world of the stage, Cavalleria rusticana juxtaposing unbridled passion with profound faith. Robert Carsen’s widely acclaimed 2019 production plays a masterful game of theatre-in-theatre, avoiding clichés and calling into question the nature of reality.

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Premiered on May 21st, 1892 at Milan’s Teatro Dal Verme under the baton of Arturo Toscanini, Pagliacci was immediately a huge success, and today it’s Leoncavallo’s most represented operas as “Vesti la giubba” is perhaps one of the most famous operatic arias of all times. The composer drew inspiration from a real incident that had occurred in a Calabrian town, an incident steeped in love and death, which inspired him to write his personal contribution to the new stylistic-aesthetic trends of Italian opera. In the Prologue, Leoncavallo inserted an outright manifesto of Verismo (“real theatre”). His aim was to “paint a scene from real life” and since “the artist is a person, […] he should write for the people. Therefore, he took inspiration from real life.” In the story of Nedda, Tonio and Canio we therefore find a well combined mix of art and reality, operatic theatre and life, with the second almost taking over the first, to the extent that the chorus, towards the end, exclaims, “This scene seems so real!” This production was recorded at Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in September 2019 and it was acclaimed as a great success by the critics. Conductor Valerio Galli “reads the score with the proper technique, succeeding in enhancing all the various shades for each scene … Pagliacci is conducted with passion… a careful eye to the dramatic development of the story and the sound is rendered with a variety of shades and colors”.

With Ruggero Leoncavallo’s rarity Zazá, the Theater an der Wien scored a coup with the grandiose house debutante Svetlana Aksenova in the title role. Christof Loy delivers a striking staging of the Verismo drama and conductor Stefan Soltez spiritedly leads the ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien through the highly acclaimed evening. “It would take a whole newspaper page to praise all the performers appropriately”, praises Der Standard. Of particular note is Svetlana Aksenova as Zazá who “suffers the whole spectrum from intimate affection to raging jealousy and mute despair”, Nikolai Schukoff (Milio) “shows himself as a daredevil and a depressed mourner”, Christopher Maltman as Cascart “leads energetically and touchingly his already lost fight for his beloved.” An evening worth seeing and hearing!

Offenbach goes Hollywood: Mariame Clement's production of Les Contes d'Hoffmann transforms ist titular character into a storyteller of a different kind. The different acts, which are based on short stories by E.T.A. Hoffmann, take the audience on a journey through the world of cinema, from a 70s sci-fi flick over a costume drama to a feverish experimental sequence. The three love interests Olympia, Antonia and Giulietta are portrayed by American soprano Kathryn Lewek, who "impresses with brilliantly assertive coloratura, melting cantilenas and pulsating drama" (Drehpunktkultur). At the centre of this tragic tale of unrequited love is Hoffmann himself, stepping into the role of a script writer and film director in this production. The incredibly charismatic Benjamin Bernheim "splendidly cele brates the invasive tragedy of his character. Sound, expression and presence could not be better combined" (Der Standard). Kate Lindsey, who portrays the muse disguised as Hoffmann's friend Niklausse is a joy to watch and listen to as she "absorbs Clement's energy of ideas and gilds her vocal tour de force with scenic exuberance" (Der Standard). An opera evening that spans the emotional spectrum from hilarious comedy to deeply felt heartbreak.

Lettuce with the Colorado Symphony is a genre-defying, electrifying performance that captures the powerhouse fusion of funk, jazz, and orchestral grandeur. Recorded live with the Colorado Symphony in 2018, this album features Lettuce's signature groove-driven sound paired with the rich, sweeping power of a full orchestra. It's a unique and breathtaking experience that showcases the band's improvisational brilliance alongside orchestral precision. Available on digital, vinyl, CD and Blu-ray, this release is a must-have for fans of both Lettuce and orchestral music, offering a fresh, exciting take on the live performance experience. Get ready to groove to the rhythm of symphonic funk like never before!

Treading a tightrope between death, life and intense romance in the opulent world of 19th-century Habsburg royalty, Elisabeth tells the story of the beautiful Empress of Austria, from her wedding, to her tragic assassination by the hand of the Italian anarchist Luigi Lucheni. Ongoing dark obsessions and inner turmoil are undercurrents as family schisms flare up amidst a crumbling empire. These powerful themes and a potent score brimming with fabulous music have combined to establish Elisabeth as the most successful German-language musical of all time. This spectacular open-air event presents Elisabeth at the fabled empress’s real-life home – Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna.

Written on Water is a dance feature film about an artist whose happy and comfortable married life is upended when she unexpectedly falls in love with someone else. Featuring Paris Opera Ballet’s Aurélie Dupont, Ballet Zurich principal dancer Alexander Jones, and choreographer, dancer, writer and director Pontus Lidberg, Written on Water conveys the drama of desire and the turmoil of the creative process. Choreographer, filmmaker, dancer and recipient of a 2019 John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, Pontus Lidberg has firmly established himself as a creative and visionary artist, merging dance and film. As a choreographer for the stage, Lidberg has created works for dance companies including Paris Opera Ballet, New York City Ballet, Martha Graham Dance Company, Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo, Semperoper Ballet Dresden, Royal Swedish Ballet, Royal Danish Ballet, Le Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève, Acosta Danza, Balletboyz, Beijing Dance Theatre and the Wiener Staatsoper Ballet, as well as for his own concert group, Pontus Lidberg Dance.

Royal Ballet Principals Federico Bonelli, Laura Morera and Steven McRae dance the lead roles in Liam Scarlett's new ballet, based on the world's most famous work of horror fiction, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. This ambitious theatrical collaboration brings the novel to life with spectacular period sets and costumes by John Macfarlane and a newly commissioned score by Lowell Liebermann. Scarlett's choreography draws out the emotional power of this classic story. Passionate encounters between Victor, Elizabeth and the Creature express their torment, regret, anger, yearning and love.

Recorded Live in Albert Cummings Home Town Williamstown MA

Blu-ray pressing. Diana Krall has had a long time fascination with bossa nova, a type of music, which perfectly suits her sophisticated yet sensual style. This culminated in her 2009 studio album Quiet Nights and in this stunning concert filmed in the home of the Bossa Nova, Rio de Janeiro, in November 2008. Accompanied by her band and an orchestra, Diana delivers a superb set of standards in true Bossa Nova style but clearly bearing her unique stamp. This concert captures Diana Krall at her scintillating best.

The Wiener Staatsoper presents a Wagner classic staged by duo Jossi Wieler and Sergio Morabito, who showcase Lohengrin as a crime thriller with a twist. At the podium is Christian Thielemann, who more than proves his reputation as the Wagner-expert par excellence. On stage, David Butt Philip as the titular Lohengrin is a "heldentenor with radiance and stamina" (Kleine Zeitung), while Malin Bystrom portrays an Elsa who might not be as innocent as the libretto suggests and convinces with "dramatic furore" (Der Standard). Anja Kampe sings her Ortrud "beautifully, yet so expressively, with such diction" (Kurier) and Martin Gantner's Telramund is "flawless in it's precision" (News). / "When it comes to Wagner, Christian Thielemann really is in a class of his own" (Der Standard) / "The choirs were a force to be reckoned with, and the orchestra proved it's outstanding quality in harmony with the great Wagnerian Thielemann" (Salzburger Nachrichten)