Featuring Gezim Mishketa; Elisaveta Martyrosian; Enrica Fabbri; Filippo Adami; Maurizio Lo Piccolo; Omar Montanari; Daivde Rocca; Massimo Pagnoni; Asia D’Arcangelo; Fabio Vichi.

Orchestra Sinfonica Carlo Coccia
Fabrizio Dorsi/Rosetta Cucchi, directors

NTSC All Region; Stereo, Dolby 5.1
Subtitles: Italian, English, Japanese
Running time: 85 minutes

ARRIGHETTO, A SENTIMENTAL FARCE
Madama Beritola, finding two goats on an island, having lost two sons goes to the Lunigiana: there one of her sons is with her Master and he sleeps with his daughter and is put in prison. Cicilia rebelling against king Carlo and the son recognized by the mother, marries the Master’s daughter, and finding his brother, in grand style they return. (Giovanni Boccaccio, Decameron, second day, sixth novella). Thus begins the Story of the novella from which Angelo Anelli tells us he took his libretto. It is the eternal edifying topos He who suffers may hope. Often in the past this Lombard poet as others before him had considered Boccaccio’s novelle as a mine from which to “extract subjects” in alternative to the noble French theatre, at the time much in vogue for this use. Suffice one title as example: Griselda, an oppressed married woman whose virtue finally triumphs over fate, taken from Apostolo Zeno but rewritten by Anelli in 1793. Obviously the story is semi-serious, even larmoyante, a genre halfway between tragic, comic and pathetic which at that time had become a favorite with audiences. It is precisely what the author so eloquently wrote down on the title page of the score: a “sentimental farce”.

She crosses boundaries and loves to explore new territory. Barbara Hannigan is one of the most fascinating and multi-facetted artistic personalities of our time. She sets new standards as a singer, conductor, and performance artist. The intimate portrait “I’m a creative animal” takes the viewer into the world of an exceptional musician – a world of both passion and discipline. Her performances possess a breathtaking intensity because of her exquisite vocal technique and virtuosity, musical and theatrical expressivity, and uncompromising engagement. In this concert with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Hannigan both sings and conducts to effortlessly build bridges linking different musical epochs. With a phenomenal performance of Ligeti’s Mysteries of the Macabre, a work for which she is famous, she once again confirms her reputation as the performer of contemporary music – “The audience went wild.” (Neue Zürcher Zeitung)

“She is one of the best musicians out there.”
(Simon Rattle in The New York Times)

DOCUMENTARY
I’m a creative animal –Barbara Hannigan
A film by Barbara Seiler

CONCERT
Mahler Chamber Orchestra
Barbara Hannigan (soprano/conductor)
Concert Hall of KKL Luzern, August 2014

Gioachino Rossini
Overture to La scala di seta

Wolfgang A. Mozart
Vado, ma dove? O Dei!
Un moto di gioia
Misera, dove son?
György Ligeti
Concert Românesc
Mysteries of the Macabre

Gabriel Fauré
Pelléas et Mélisande, op. 80

Languages: English, Italian
Subtitles: English, Italian
Bonus: documentary I’m a creative animal – Barbara Hannigan
Bonus Running time: 51:17 min
Bonus Languages: English
Bonus Subtitles: German, French
Disc Formats: DVD-9
Number of Discs: 1 (DVD)
Picture Formats DVD: 16:9 NTSC
Sound Formats DVD: PCM Stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS 5.1
Running time: 71:38 min

Quartetto Gelato - a Concert in Wine country is the first DVD from the critically acclaimed chamber ensemble. Having already aired on PBS affiliates across the USA in over 50 markets big and small, the program will be repeated many times over the next year on digital as well as standard definition PBS affiliates. The group recently lost founding member Cynthia Steljes to cancer, however the remainder of the group continue to tour including dates in the USA in fall 2007.

Seven DVD set. What made Claudio Abbado stand out was his unpretentious, noble character, his democratic understanding of music making and his ability to celebrate the live moment on stage. Claudio Abbado empathized with his musicians. In order to be able to maintain contact with each individual during the conducting, he usually conducted from memory. "I am Claudio - for everyone" quickly became Abbado's oft-quoted statement.

Seven DVD set. What made Claudio Abbado stand out was his unpretentious, noble character, his democratic understanding of music making and his ability to celebrate the live moment on stage. Claudio Abbado empathized with his musicians. In order to be able to maintain contact with each individual during the conducting, he usually conducted from memory. "I am Claudio - for everyone" quickly became Abbado's oft-quoted statement.

CONDUCTS SHOSTAKOVICH LENINGRAD PHILHARMONIC ORCH

An extraordinary 4 DVD box set that brings together three of America's most lauded contemporary opera productions that collectively are a brilliant introduction to the astonishing diversity of 20th-century opera : John Adams' Dr. Atomic directed by librettist Peter Sellars, a riveting morality drama about the father of the atomic bomb, J. Robert Oppenheimer. Philip Glass', The Perfect American, like the book from which it is based, seeks to reveal an unvarnished Walt Disney, based on an imagined series of reflections and memories that might have occurred during the icon's dying months; and finally the 2001 cinematic film version of Trouble in Tahiti, Leonard Bernstein's satire on American suburban married life, with the characteristically jubilant conjoining of jazz and musical comedy; lyric art with popular entertainment. A marvelous collection of consummate direction, compelling designs, a collection of inspired musical performances by the Netherlands Philharmonic, Madrid's Orquesta de Teatro Real and City of London Sinfonia along with brilliant casting and stand-out performances - among them Gerald Finley's Oppenheimer and Christopher Purves' Walt Disney. Filmed in High Definition and recorded in true Surround Sound.

Contemporary British Operas

Don't muck around with these two-fisted mother truckers! Enjoy hours of 18-wheelin' action in the Convoy Collection! Three trucker classics, perfect to get your gears shifting! First up is "The Trucker's Women," a beer-guzzling, gal-snatching and bar-fighting classic. Followed by "Moon Fire Trucker," a wild and crazy ride for two of the toughest truckers in a battle against killer Mexicans and Nazis too! Then it's on to the country comedy, crooning and clench-fist fighting of "The Concrete Cowboy" - never has so much Convoy-busting action been hauled together in one place like this!

This exciting Dynamic DVD features the complete recording of the critically acclaimed concert given by International superstars Franco Corelli and Renata Tebaldi at the NHK Auditorium in Tokyo on 21st November 1973. This concert includes no less than five encores.

'The school for lovers', Mozart's alternative title for Cos� fan tutte, is given a playful, theatrical treatment by German director Jan Philipp Gloger, who sets this new production for The Royal Opera in a theatre. The four lovers are performed by a cast of young rising stars, with Sabina Puertolas as the fun-loving Despina and acclaimed German baritone and comic genius Johannes Martin Kranzle as the impresario Don Alfonso, who leads the lovers on a role-playing journey full of picturesque settings. Semyon Bychkov conducts the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House in one of Mozart's most beautiful scores, packed with wonderful arias and ensembles. "Ensemble singing is strong; the standout is Daniel Behle's gorgeous tenor as Ferrando. Above all, Semyon Bychkov's impeccable balance and pacing in the pit allows it full space to blossom." (The Independent) "Semyon Bychkov gives an enthralling lesson in Mozart from the outset. Conducting his first Mozart opera in 20 years, he has a style might be said to belong (in the best sense) to the old school. But, Bychkov draws glowingly warm playing, and the textures are lithe and lively. The score's darker colours are all brought out in a performance that bristles with dramatic tension." (The Daily Telegraph)

A 2012 live recording of Baldassarre Galuppi's "Il Filosofo di Campagna". Born on an island in the Venice lagoon, Galuppi was an intensely prolific and highly esteemed composer of the Venetian Baroque era. His works included sacred music, sacred and profane cantatas, instrumental works, oratorios and operas, many of which are comic. Among the latter, of particular importance are those born of his collaboration with Carlo Goldoni. The deeply 'Venetian' aspects of Goldoni and Galuppi together created a body of 18th century comic opera of which Il Filosofo di Campagna (The Country Philosopher) is arguably Galuppi's best known. With the Ensemble Barocco della Filarmonica del Veneto led by Fabrizio da Ros and a pan-European cast of young singers mount a lively production.

Also available on Blu-ray

John Cranko’s mastery of the art of the pas de deux finds its climax in Onegin, one of the most successful full length ballets of the 20th century. Set to sweeping music by Tchaikovsky, it tells Alexander Pushkin’s tragic love story of the world-weary aristocrat Onegin and the naïve country girl Tatiana in a superbly nuanced way. Featuring world stars Friedemann Vogel and Alicia Amatriain, this production is a must for all lovers of dramatic – and romantic – ballets. With Onegin, John Cranko secured his place in the pantheon of great 20th century choreographers. He created the three act work for the Stuttgart Ballet – of which he was Director – in 1965 and revised the ballet two years later. Over the last 50 years, the ballet has entered the repertoire of almost every leading ballet company in the world, including the Paris Opera Ballet, the Royal Ballet in London, the Bolshoi Ballet, the Ballet of the Teatro alla Scala and the American Ballet Theatre. Friedemann Vogel and Alicia Amatriain – the leading couple of the Stuttgart Ballet who have been showered with international prizes and accolades demonstrate here why they are deemed the elite of the dance world. But it is legendary Marcia Haydee who creates the night’s special magic: Once Cranko chose her to be the very first Tatiana, now she guest stars as nurse; the close bonds between Haydee and the ensemble are palpable throughout and it is a truly touching moment when the original Tatiana meets the current one.“Onegin is the perfect Ballet” (Marcia Haydée) “Onegin is so good, that it can easily hold its own against any Broadway show!” (Newsday)

MUSICAL JOURNEY: CZECH REPUBLIC
A Musical Visit to Prague and Lednice castle

The Places
The churches and palaces of Prague are seen, with the great River Vltava (the Moldau), which flows through the city, the outline of city buildings reflected in its waters. The Strahov Monastery and the Villa Bertramka are practical examples of Mozart’s contact with Prague. On a visit to the monastery he improvised on the organ, and at the Villa Bertramka he and his wife Constanze were guests of the Czech composer Dušek. There is also a visit to Southern Moravia and Lednice, with its Neo-Gothic castle, its folly, a slender minaret, in its English gardens, with its trees and artificial lakes.

The Music
Mozart had happy memories of Prague. When, during the last ten years of his life, circumstances in Vienna proved increasingly difficult, he was always welcome in the Bohemian capital. It was for Prague that he wrote his opera Don Giovanni in 1787 and for Prague that he wrote one of his last operas, La clemenza di Tito, commissioned for the coronation of Leopold II as King of Bohemia, and for his unappreciative wife, who described the work as 'porchería tedesca', German porkery. Prague continues to honour Mozart in various festivals, concerts and memorabilia.

Picture format: NTSC 4:3
Sound format: Dolby Digital / DTS Surround
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Running time: 54 mins
No. of DVDs: 1

The Places
The visit to the Czech Republic starts with Hluboká Castle, a massive building that for over three hundred years belonged to the Schwarzenberg family. The present building is modelled in part on England's Windsor Castle. Other sites visited include Konopiště Castle, the picturesque town of Telč, and Vranov Castle.

The Music
Music for the visit is by Mozart and consists of his four Horn Concertos, written during the last decade of his life, when he was in Vienna. They were intended for his old Salzburg friend Ignaz Leutgeb, who had also settled in Vienna, prudently married there, and, in tandem with his musical activities, had become the owner of a small cheese-shop. The concertos, one of them unfinished at the time of Mozart's death, represent his work at its height.

Picture format: NTSC 4:3
Sound format: PCM Stereo / Dolby Digital 5.1 / DTS 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Running time: 53 mins
No. of DVDs: 1

With the magnificent sets of the Quartier Latin in Giancarlo del Monaco's La Boheme as a backdrop, the Teatro Real presents an invigorating Latin Jazz cross-pollination, featuring some of the world's greatest Jazz fusionists: Paquito d'Rivera and Chano Dominguez. Recorded live in high Definition video and true surround sound, this concert fires up the screen with virtuosic and electrifying performances of truly multi-dimensional Jazz, colored with Salsa, Flamenco, Tango, Bolero, African, and other Latin music elements.

Orange Mountain Music is proud to announce the release of the iconic 1979 work DANCE by choreographer Lucinda Childs, composer Philip Glass, and film by Sol LeWitt. "See the music, hear the dance." Never was the great George Balanchine's exhortation more fully realized than in DANCE. DANCE, American dancer and choreographer Lucinda Childs's first major show, is set to an especially commissioned score by Philip Glass, and framed by a video by the visual artist Sol LeWitt. Three exponents of Minimalism in their respective fields come together to create something that was once justly described as "close to stage heaven." A work of uncompromising purity, it's choreography meticulously follows every subtle nuance and shifting pattern of Philip Glass's score, so that you can see the music in the bodies of the 12-white clad dancers, the audiences two senses, sight and hearing, completely fused. LeWitt shot a film of the dance, and then cut, layered and floated it onto a scrim over the live performance. The dancers in Sol LeWitt's film, featuring Lucinda Childs herself, appear to flit through the live dancers. The result is one of the most popular ballets of the 20th century. Filmed in Paris in 2014 by the director Marie-Helene Rebois, produced by Daphnie Productions with the participation of France Televisions, the performance was produced by Pomegranate Arts.

A dance teacher from Boston (Charles Collins) is tricked into joining a band of pirates, which leads to him being fitted for a noose in California. He catches a break when the mayor's daughter demands the hanging be postponed until he teaches her to waltz, but his problems are only beginning! The Dancing Pirate (1936) received an Academy Award nomination for Best Dance Direction, and was billed as The first dancing musical in 100% new Technicolor.

Also available on Blu-ray

Frederic Chopin Year 2010 coincides with the 60th anniversary of Daniel Barenboim’s stage debut, and as a pianist he has decided to devote this year to the great Romantic master of the keyboard. Chopin was born on 1 March 1810 in a small village near Warsaw, and on the eve of the 200th anniversary of this date Barenboim gave this wildly acclaimed Warsaw recital as part of an extensive European tour. The program comprised some of the composer’s best-known works, including the great B flat minor Sonata with its famous Funeral March, which sounded to many “as the composer may well have imagined it”. While Chopin used to advise his piano scholars to take singing lessons, Barenboim, as an experienced conductor of operas is most familiar with the human voice as well. With his brilliant virtuosity, he lead the audience through a most colorful program, once again proving his talent for this composer.

"After almost six decades of experience on stage, Daniel Barenboim continues to need and to seek out contact with an audience. […] Musically speaking, those contacts have always been particularly intense when Barenboim has been able to display his ability to play quietly, an ability that continues to amaze, with its feeling for a velvet touch that is neither brittle nor saccharine but always characterized by a serious, substantial beauty." -- www.klassikinfo.de

Recorded live at the Filharmonia Narodowa, Warsaw, 28 February 2010.

Picture format: NTSC 16:9
Sound format: PCM Stereo / Dolby Digital 5.1 / DTS 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Running time: 91 mins
No. of DVDs: 1 (DVD 9)

Always smile and always be cheerful, always satisfied, no matter what happens, smile in spite of your sorrows and a thousand aches and pains, sings Prince Sou-Chong, thus introducing the fundamentally melancholic tone of Das Land des Lachelns (The Land of Smiles), which has a tragic ending in store. For the new production of this operetta, world-class tenor Piotr Beczala returned to the Opernhaus Zurich as Sou-Chong. He has an equal partner in Julia Kleiter, who plays the role of Lisa. Fabio Luisi and Andreas Homoki also know that the genre of operetta requires particular care- which is why they have assumed personal responsibility for this production. Homoki let's the plot take place in a Paris Variete theater from the 1920s, complete with show staircase and heavy curtains. To emphasize the operatic elements, he condensed the piece, cutting several secondary roles and shortening dialogues. This production was recorded at the Opernhaus Zurich in June 2017.

The first entry in Richard Wagner’s legendary Ring Cycle, considered by the composer to be the “prelude” to the trilogy that follows. On Sebastian Weigle’s account of Wagner’s “Rienzi” on Oehms, The Guardian writes, “his interpretation… has an exhilarating momentum that at times pulls you in – despite yourself.” The two centuries old Frankfurt Opera and Museum Orchestra is one of the great German opera orchestras, with a conducting heritage that includes Louis Spohr and Sir Georg Solti.

The second volume of James Dashow’s SOUNDINGS IN PURE DURATION offers listeners a unique audiophile experience. The album of Dashow’s music for electronic sounds and instrumental soloists includes the last four works in the Soundings in Pure Duration series as well as the re-release of his Bourges Magisterium prizewinning work …at other times, the distances. The album is also available on DVD, giving listeners access to surround-sound (5.0) mixdowns of the pieces as well as composer-prepared stereo mixdowns that have been spatially enhanced to approximate a wider audio field. According to Dashow, this presentation of his octophonic and quadraphonic electronic music is second only to a live concert performance in terms of realizing his artistic vision for the music.

Live 1974 performance from the Wolfe Trap Festival starring Beverly Sills in her first complete operatic telecast. Directed by Lotfi Mansouri, with sets designed by Beni Montresor.

David Garrett plays the greatest soundtracks from the world of movies and games, alongside numerous global pop hits such as Happy, Stayin’ Alive, Let it Go, Shallow, Bella Ciao, and Thriller, among others. The repertoire includes selections from the worlds of metal, pop, rock, musicals, jazz and classical; he switches effortlessly between these genres.

Included is a bonus documentary on the star violinist. Starting as a so-called Wunderkind of classical music, he is now one of the most successful violinists of his generation. His recipe for success is his crossover of rock, pop and classical music: 4.5 million albums sold, 25 gold and platinum awards and enthusiastic fans on tours worldwide. By looking into an otherwise hidden world, interviews of companions, friends and family, archive and private material of previously unreleased material from his childhood underpin the picture of the violin genius showing very private glimpses of his life.

Star violinist David Garrett celebrates his ten-year spectacular crossover program with thousands of fans in the extraordinary atmosphere of the Arena di Verona, Italy. Performing his Greatest Hits of brilliant interpretations of rock classics like “We Are The Champions” or “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and world-famous pop songs like “Viva La Vida” or “Hey Jude” and his arrangements of classical melodies like Beethoven’s 5th Symphony, David Garrett left a thrilled audience in the Arena. Praised for pioneering the modern crossover trend as well as his exceptionally virtuous playing, David Garrett is equally at home at performing the most intricate classical compositions with the world’s leading conductors and orchestras as well as the most crowd-pleasing stadium rock hits. He combines rock star charisma with the kind of virtuosity innate only to the best instrumentalists of our time. Admired by all of his fans around the world, David Garrett has sold millions of tickets so far and earned 25 gold and 17 platinum awards in places as diverse as Hong Kong, Germany, Mexico, Taiwan, Brazil, Singapore, and many others.