Il trittico was premiered in New York on 14 December 1918, composed while the First World War was still raging in Europe. At first glance, the three one-act operas Gianni Schicchi, Il tabarro and Suor Angelica seem to have no connection with each other; their common denominator is solely the entanglement of man in a fateful destiny that only exceptionally, for a moment, seems to promise a happy outcome to the “adventure of life” - a set of themes that in its complexity seems to be in such good hands with few directors as with Christof Loy. The main female roles in the three opera acts are performed by the Lithuanian soprano Asmik Grigorian, a very rare and tremendous feat, but once again connects the works to each other.

La Perricholi – in reality, Micaela Villegas – was Lima’s leading theatrical lady in the 1770s, when Peru was a Spanish colony. Her life was fictionalised in a one-act play by Prosper Mérimée and a libretto was fashioned on which Offenbach created his opéra bouffe La Périchole, reflecting the creative mania in Paris at the time for Spanish life and art. La Périchole and Piquillo, her lover and companion in misfortune, are impoverished street singers. Meanwhile the Viceroy Don Andrès de Ribeira wishes to make her his lover. In music of vivacious rhythms including boleros, seguidillas and rich arias, Offenbach plays out their love against a broader social canvas.

Mussorgsky was inspired to compose his masterpiece Boris Godunov after reading Pushkin’s Shakespeare-inspired play of the same name. It features one of the most dramatically rewarding bass-baritone roles: a noble ruler who loves his children and his people, but whose thirst for power has led him to commit a terrible crime. Bryn Terfel is “a powerful new Boris” (The Observer) in Richard Jones’ new production of the original 1869 score. Antonio Pappano conducts an outstanding cast that also includes John Graham-Hall as the crafty Prince Shuisky and John Tomlinson as the vagabond monk Varlaam.

While love is breaking into the lives of two young people, an artificial being will challenge what they believed they knew about it…

Revisiting this classic of the Romantic repertoire, Jean-Christophe Maillot gives us, with an original musical score, a reflection on the search for the ideal partner in a technologically advanced society. Is it still the flesh and blood being with which we are familiar or a different being, making us question our allegiance to the human race?

Francesco Cavalli succeeded Monteverdi as the most influential composer of the new genre of opera that emerged in mid-17th-century Venice. Il Xerse is a fictitious dramma per musica that tells of Persian King Xerxes’ love for Romilda, who in turn is in love with his brother Arsamene. The plot is an entertaining and extremely intricate human comedy of crossed loves, court intrigues and disguises – the work’s popularity saw it staged in Paris at the wedding of Louis XIV and Maria Theresa of Spain. Since overshadowed by Handel’s later Xerxes, this Martina Franca production is the first in modern times.

Verdi´s Rigoletto, one of his most successful operas, is based on Victor Hugo’s play Le roi s’amuse, which for Verdi was the greatest drama of the present day. The “spectacular production“ (La Vanguardia) at the Gran Teatre del Liceu “under excellent musical direction by Riccardo Frizza“, "the dramatic depth of Carlos Álvarez and the triumphant debut of Javier Camarena as Duke of Mantua“ (El Periodico) made it a "top-class Rigoletto“. (bachtrack.com) "A production with this simplicity requires outstanding direction, which is achieved here“ (Seen and Heard International) and is crowned by the colourful costumes of the Oscar-winning Sandy Powell.

Anne-Sophie Mutter is one of the greatest musicians of our age and for the last five decades has appeared at the world’s leading concert venues. In addition to premiering 31 new works from leading composers, she is an inspiring mentor, has promoted top young musicians and fostered numerous charitable projects. In this documentary, she meets figures she admires, such as tennis star Roger Federer, as well as Daniel Barenboim, legendary film composer John Williams and others. Anne-Sophie Mutter talks candidly about her personal life and the demands of her international career. This unprecedented portrait of a socially active artist is supplemented by archive material from her stellar career.

Pious restraint comes face to face with sensuous hedonism in Camille Saint-Saens’s grand-opera retelling of the Bible story of Samson and Delilah. Multi-Olivier Award winning director Richard Jones returns to The Royal Opera to stage this spectacular fin-de-siecle masterpiece, not performed at Covent Garden since 2004. Elina Garanca stars as the Philistine Dalila, SeokJong Baek as the inspiring Jewish hero Samson and Antonio Pappano conducts the full forces of the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House. With superb singing in solos and duets of great intimacy and fervour, gorgeous music with thrilling orchestral interludes, and splendid choral numbers for the Royal Opera Chorus – this is a performance to remember.

Der fliegende Holländer was one of the operas that allowed Wagner to assert his place as the foremost German operatic composer of the time and to develop the foundations of his visionary mature works. Premiered in Dresden in 1843 its story is of the Flying Dutchman – the ghostly sea captain doomed to wander the seas eternally unless redeemed by love. This new staging was praised by seenandheard-international.com and for being ‘a triumph in faithfully presenting Wagner’s opera with an innovative production which was both exciting and created special effects’.

Despite the triumphant reception of his first opera, Gaetano Donizetti was young and inexperienced when he was commissioned to write Chiara e Serafina in 1822 for La Scala. Composed in haste, it was met with disapproval at its premiere and subsequently disappeared without a trace. Thanks to this revival at the Bergamo Donizetti Festival, after exactly 200 years Chiara e Serafina has returned to the stage with a fine production that brings to life an entertaining tale of pirates, lovers, disguises, deceit and peril in 17th-century Majorca.

This box set includes a special collection of classic performances from The Royal Ballet. In the feature-length documentary Essential Royal Ballet, Katie Derham introduces carefully curated excerpts from productions that span the history of ballet and goes behind the scenes to see what it takes to be a dancer in The Royal Ballet as they prepare to take to the stage.

With stunning solos, passionate pas de deux and jaw-dropping numbers for the corps de ballet, Essential Royal Ballet is a chance to see the Company’s much-loved dancers past and present up close. Including many favourites from the likes of Carlos Acosta, Marianela Nuñez, Natalia Osipova, Steven McRae, Francesca Hayward and Matthew Ball, the artists share stories of their life on the stage and thoughts on what these celebrated ballets mean to them. In Pas de Deux: the ‘steps for two’ so central to the form of ballet are celebrated further in 16 exceptional examples from The Royal Ballet’s repertory. A collection from across the Company’s heritage and contemporary classics, Pas de Deux demonstrates the choreographic diversity, technical brilliance, show-stopping spectacle and artistry for which The Royal Ballet is acclaimed around the world.

Inspired by the novel of the same name by Abbé Prévost, Puccini achieved his first great triumph with Manon Lescaut. The story of the rise and fall of the courtesan Manon was written with a haunting music, faithful to the principles of the verisme. In this production Liudmyla Monastyrska "one of the most important voices of today" (Beckmesser.com) has a "magnificent voice" (Operawire), Gregory Kunde’s Des Grieux "is genuinely Puccinian" (opera online) and "Carlos Chausson … offered a masterful performance" (bachtrack). Conductor Emmanuel Villaume "provides a vehement and passionate musical reading." (El Mundo)

The Christopher Wheeldon Collection showcases three of Wheeldon's most acclaimed recent productions for The Royal Ballet, including Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (2018), The Winter's Tale (2014) and Like Water for Chocolate (2022).

Lewis Carroll’s ever-popular story provides the basis for Wheeldon’s spectacular production of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Bob Crowley’s vivid sets and costumes take us down the rabbit hole into a colourful world full of curious creatures and captivating characters. Joby Talbot’s original score is full of sweeping melodies and contemporary sounds. Lauren Cuthbertson stars as the inquisitive Alice, with Federico Bonelli as the charming Knave of Hearts, Steven McRae as the tap-dancing Mad Hatter and Laura Morera as the formidable Queen of Hearts. This exuberant and engaging ballet is spectacular entertainment for the whole family.

Wheeldon drew on the same music and design team to create an evocative reimagining of The Winter's Tale, Shakespeare's enduring story of jealousy, compassion and forgiveness. The staging effortlessly captures the work's profound emotional trajectory, with powerful designs by Crowley, Talbot's skilful score and Wheeldon’s constantly inventive choreography. Strong company performances—among them Edward Watson's Leontes, Zenaida Yanowsky's Paulina and Sarah Lamb's Perdita—put the finishing touches to a gleaming production.

In Like Water for Chocolate, a modern Mexican classic provides the basis for a theatrical tale of love, jealousy, repression, and revolution. The 2022 production reunited Wheeldon with Talbot and Crowley, now an established and stellar creative team. Inspired by Laura Esquivel’s novel, the central character’s emotions spill out through cooking to influence everyone around her in startling and dramatic ways. The full Company, led by Francesca Hayward as Tita and Marcelino Sambe as Pedro, reshape this captivating family saga into a richly layered and engrossing new ballet where passion, mystery and magic combine.

“La Scala’s season opens with a powerful Tosca” (Financial Times). Premiered in 1900 with huge success, Puccini’s “melodramma” Tosca is one of the most dramatic thrillers in the history of opera. In this performance Riccardo Chailly conducted “a magnificent orchestra and a sonorous choir” (NMZ) while Anna Netrebko had sung “phenomenally. She still has one of the most beautiful voices today.” (Deutschlandfunk) With “Francesco Meli, probably unsurpassable in this role at the moment: lyrically soft, and then again impressively expressive”, and Luca Salsi also “very convincing as the slick, power-conscious Scarpia” (BR Klassik), La Scala has engaged the highest-calibre partners imaginable.

Jean-Philippe Rameau’s Platée is a masterpiece of the French operatic repertoire and was highly regarded by critics during the composer’s lifetime. Composed for the marriage of the Dauphin Louis, son of Louis XV, to the Infanta Maria Teresa of Spain, it was first performed at Versailles in 1745 and became an instant hit. The plot concerns the ugly and conceited frog Platée, the victim of a machination of the gods who make her believe that she is loved by Jupiter. Is this Rameau mocking Princess Maria Teresa of Spain – reputedly a woman of little beauty? Or the French court, which saw itself as a new Olympus? This classic production from the Opéra de Paris by Marc Minkowski and Laurent Pelly returns to the stage with an entirely new cast, featuring Julie Fuchs, Mathias Vidal, Jean Teitgen and Lawrence Brownlee.

Doktor Faust was left incomplete at the time of Busoni’s death. Intended as his masterpiece, the opera’s genesis was complex and long. Based on Goethe’s tragic play, the story of Faust’s pact with the devil is well known but the opera’s structure represents Busoni’s unique conception, cast in two Prologues, a beautiful orchestral Intermezzo and three scenes. Exploring ideas of rationality and metaphysical doubt as well as the concepts of artifice and pretence inherent in operatic performance, the result is one of the most creative and unsettling of Busoni’s works.

In this enchanting concert, Jonas Kaufmann, one of today's finest tenors, brings his passion for film music to life. Accompanied by the renowned Czech National Symphony Orchestra, Kaufmann takes his audience on a cinematic journey that transcends the silver screen. From the romantic strains of "Where Do I Begin" from Love Story and the poignant "What a Wonderful World" from Good Morning, Vietnam to the evocative "Strangers in the Night" from A Man Could Get Killed, each performance embodies the essence of cinema's most iconic moments. Spanning decades of cinematic history, this unforgettable program promises to captivate film and music lovers alike. "As an ardent film buff and singer I am naturally very receptive to all the vocal numbers that have been heard in soundtracks all over the world, which is why it was a particular pleasure for me to rummage in the treasury of film music in search of the most beautiful pieces. The result is The Sound of Movies, a collection of wonderful songs from over eighty years of cinematic history. Whether they are accompanied by moving pictures or treated as pure music, they have all found a place in my heart." Jonas Kaufmann

Pianist Yuja Wang has become an integral part of the world's major stages, inspiring young and old alike. Her playing displays technical brilliance and a seemingly endless range of emotions. The Piano Recital from the Wiener Konzerthaus allows her to display her fiery virtuosity as well as her mature musicality and imagination with an eclectic, personally chosen program. It combines masterpieces from famous works by Ludwig van Beethoven and Alexander Scriabin to lesser-known compositions by Gyorgy Ligeti and Nikolai Kapustin, including also sublime musical miniatures by Christoph Willibald Gluck and Philip Glass. A historical milestone that is not to be missed! "The hall went wild!" (Der Standard)

Based on a play by Victor Hugo, Verdi’s Ernani was an immediate success, and as his most popular and frequently performed opera it became a cornerstone of his burgeoning reputation in the mid-1800s. Contemporary critics remarked that ‘coming out of the theatre, people were already singing [those] catchy tunes … Few scores have made a stronger, more powerful impression.’ Ernani is a dramatic and intensely memorable tale of rebellion and romance – the chilling presence of the man in black and the drama of a joyful wedding turned to intense tragedy remains one of Verdi’s most compelling operatic creations. This acclaimed production was the first to be staged at the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino since 1965.

First performed in 1896, Andrea Chénier is rightly regarded as one of the key works of verismo. With his melodrama about the historical poet André Chénier during the upheavals of the French Revolution, the composer Umberto Giordano created an undisputed masterpiece, an emotionally charged work in which a great love that triumphs over class differences and social discord finds fulfilment only in death. Previously unseen at Munich’s Nationaltheater, Giordano’s opera entered the repertory in 2017 in a production by Philipp Stölzl, who was making his debut with the Bayerische Staatsoper.

Stölzl’s is a household name in the German-speaking world both as a filmmaker (Baby, North Face, Goethe!, The Physician and Winnetou – Der Mythos lebt) and as a director of plays and operas, including Benvenuto Cellini at the Salzburg Festival, Rigoletto at the Bregenz Festival and Turandot at the Berlin State Opera. Both before and since then he has demonstrated his imaginative, detailed and powerfully expressive approach to direction. And it was this conviction that formed the basis of his concept for his Munich Andrea Chénier: “My ideas emerge from the piece itself. I work outwards from the inside. Any director needs to find something to latch on to in history. I want to narrate what’s there. I don’t need to invent anything. The characters function as they do because they act within fixed historical images. My aim as a director is to discover this panorama and reveal it to my audiences.”

The cast is a spectacular one. Jonas Kaufmann and Anja Harteros have been seen as the operatic dream couple since they appeared together in Lohengrin in 2009. This is the fourth time that they have worked together on a new production in Munich. A fortunate set of circumstances meant that it was possible to record two revivals later that same year. Like the first night, all were completely sold out. This record of a thrilling and inspiring operatic interpretation is now available on DVD and Blu-ray.

Janáček’s opera Káta Kabanová is set in a small Russian town and is based on the play The Storm by Aleksandr Ostrovsky. The story revolves around the central character, Káťa – sung by “the phenomenal Corinne Winters” (Neue Musikzeitung) – who is trapped in a loveless marriage to an abusive man named Boris. Despite her unhappiness, she is bound by the strict societal norms of her time and is unable to escape the situation. However, when she meets and falls in love with a young man named Vána Kudrjáš, she finally experiences happiness and passion. But their relationship is short-lived, as Boris finds out and forces Káta to confess her infidelity in front of the entire town.

Overwhelmed by the shame and guilt, she drowns herself in the nearby river. The opera explores themes of social conformity, oppression, and the consequences of forbidden love. Janáček’s use of musical leitmotifs and repetitive themes reflect the characters’ emotions and psychological states, adding depth and nuance to the story. Stage director Barrie Kosky managed to create an intimate but impressive setting in the magnificent Felsenreitschule. “Jittery and balletic, ecstatic and anxious, Winters has a child’s volatile presence, and her livewire voice conveys Kát'a’s wonder and vulnerability.” (The New York Times) “Corinne Winters is “Kát'a Kabanova”: a great, luminous longing from head to toe. With director Barrie Kosky and conductor Jakub Hruša, she makes the opera in Salzburg a triumph.” (Der Tagesspiegel)

Evgeny Kissin appeared in Salzburg in 2021 with compositions of the late Romantic and classical modern periods in the Großes Festspielhaus. Since his debut in 1987, the pianist has been a welcome guest at this festival, impressing with the maturity and brilliance of his playing. Kissin loves the dialogue with the audience and the direct power of the concert moment. PROGRAM Chopin: Scherzo Nos 1 & 2, Polonaise in A flat major, Op. 53 “Héroïque”, Nocturne in B major, Op. 62/1, Impromptu Nos 1-3; Berg: Piano Sonata, Op. 1; Khrennikov: Three pieces for piano, Op. 5: No. 3 Dance, Five pieces for piano, Op. 2; Gershwin: Three Preludes for Piano; Mendelssohn Bartholdy: Songs Without Words, Op. 38: No. 6 Duetto

From the headlong rush of the overture, Mozart’s timeless comedy is a breathless journey through one very eventful day in the life of an 1830s château. Figaro and his bride Susanna conspire to foil the unwanted advances of Count Almaviva, while the Countess has her heart stolen by a cross-dressing pageboy. Mozart’s music unfolds with beautiful solos and ensembles to amplify the deep emotions behind the seemingly farcical surface. Music Director of The Royal Opera Antonio Pappano brings his specialist perspective to Mozart’s effervescent score. A young and predominantly Italian cast, including Ricardo Fassi, Giulia Semenzato and Germán E. Alcántara, perform this revival of David McVicar’s sumptuous and hugely popular period staging.

Raising the curtain on a work of superlatives: the Staatsoper Unter den Linden represents the ultimate challenge for any opera house, Wagner's "Der Ring des Nibelungen". Christian Thielemann conducts the Ring tetralogy, and Dmitri Tcherniakov, highly praised for his psychologically sophisticated productions, led the playful all-star ensemble coherently through the panorama of characters, situations and events that unfolded like a universe and consistently interpreted the sheer vastness and the manifold twists and turns of the Ring cosmos. With the "Walkure" score, composed in the mid-1850s, Wagner reached new heights with his music, giving the orchestra remarkable communicative powers, layers of meaning were thus developed and incorporated into the work. "Enchanting magic of sound" (Die Zeit) / "Spectacular und breath-takingly precise, that's how Thielemann illuminates the Wagner score." (Neue Zurcher Zeitung) / "Velvety sound of unmatched beauty" (The Guardian)

The Subscription Concert Series of the Wiener Philharmoniker from the Golden Hall of the famous Musikverein, are special concerts reserved for subscribers, hence the name. But to become a subscriber, due to the exceptional quality of the concerts and the limited offer, the average waiting time is more than 10 years. With this series, these very special concerts are made available for the first time audiovisually to a wider audience worldwide. With Zubin Mehta and Martha Argerich "two veteran musicians gave rise to real storms of enthusiasm in the Musikverein." (Wiener Zeitung) "The power of true 'Old Masters' - Martha Argerich sat at the piano as spiritedly sparkling as ever. Just as Bruckner's Fourth subsequently succeeded in becoming a magnificent dialogue between orchestra and conductor: Bruckner impulsive, intimate, poignant, stirring." (Kronenzeitung) Program: Robert Schumann: Piano Concerto in A minor Robert Schumann: From Kinderszenen, Op. 15: No. 1 Von fremden Landern und Menschen Anton Bruckner: Symphony No. 4 "Romantic"