Lohengrin is staged by the enfant terrible Hans Neuenfels, and offers a thought-provoking production of brilliant visual clarity. The performance with Klaus Florian Vogt in the title role is staggering and impressive. There is beauty and purity in his voice, but in this role in particular, one truly senses something other-worldly, which fits superlatively both with the work and the production. Conductor Andris Nelsons brings out the best in the festival chorus and orchestra. It is a Lohengrin one does not easily forget and puts Bayreuth back in the vanguard of Wagner interpretation. "Great Wagner performances such as this give the sensation of looking down at the world from a sadly omniscient height... Vogt...gave a dreamlike performance... Dasch... was sweetly impassioned throughout. Petra Lang was a properly searing Ortrud... Andris Nelsons... conducted with blazing intensity." (Alex Ross, The New Yorker) ‘‘A magic moment of music theatre.’’ (Handelsblatt) ‘‘Bayreuth's incomparable chorus really deserves a medal for its performance here.’’ (International Record Review) ‘‘All six solo singers are musically excellent and dramatically persuasive, with Petra Lang's excoriating Ortrud and George Zeppenfeld's grave yet warm-toned King Henry particularly memorable...’’ (Gramophone)

Launched by its prologue Das Rheingold (8660374-75), Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung) - one of the supreme works in the history of music - continues with Die Walküre. Part II of the tetralogy centres on the young lovers Siegmund and Sieglinde, whose relationship angers Ficka, goddess of marriage, and on the disobedience of the Valkyrie Brünnhilde who is sent to carry out Fricka’s wishes. Performed by an all-star international cast, the work features thrilling set-pieces such as Wotan’s Farewell and the Ride of the Valkyries.

This album of 11 tracks presents some of classical musics favorites, appropriately programmed to give children a healthy and exciting overview of some of the best music ever written. Favorites like Saint-Saen's The Swan, Mozart's Rondo alla turca, and Beethoven's Fur Elise will plant seeds into growing minds to continue to love classical music. Artists include Lang Lang, Placido Domingo, Jonas Kaufman, Joshua Bell, The cellists of the Berlin Philharmonic, and many more.

With a tradition going back to its formation in 1941, The United States Air Force Band has long been the Air Force’s premier musical organisation, inspiring audiences in America and all over the world. Many of the works on this album demonstrate the history and importance of flying, from Philip Wilby’s vision of a bygone era in Dawn Flight, Bruce Yurko’s Red Tail Skirmish dedicated to the heroism of Tuskegee Airmen in WWII, and the futuristic excitement of Asimov’s Aviary by Joel Puckett. The spectacular virtuosity of The United States Air Force Band can also be heard in Time Travels by the band’s chief arranger, Senior Master Sgt. Robert Thurston, and in the superb arrangement of three movements from Holst’s The Planets.