In this program, the DNSO let's you experience the fascinating world of John Williams' music in a concert that brings cinema to life. From the epic fanfares of Star Wars to the magical sounds of Harry Potter and E.T. to the touching melodies of Schindler's List, this program spans an impressive arc between adventure, fantasy, and deep emotion. An evening full of goosebumps, big emotions, and unforgettable film music that awakens memories and ignites new enthusiasm.

In this program, the DNSO let's you experience the fascinating world of John Williams' music in a concert that brings cinema to life. From the epic fanfares of Star Wars to the magical sounds of Harry Potter and E.T. to the touching melodies of Schindler's List, this program spans an impressive arc between adventure, fantasy, and deep emotion. An evening full of goosebumps, big emotions, and unforgettable film music that awakens memories and ignites new enthusiasm.

With his powerful voice and unmistakable stage presence, Anthony Clark Evans presents a dazzling panorama of the great 19th-century baritone repertoire on this recording. The program ranges from the passionate drama of Italian verismo to the elegance of French opera and the exalted sound world of Richard Wagner. Evans opens with Leoncavallo's famous Prologue from Pagliacci, a programmatic manifesto of verismo, and continues with Giordano's searing denunciation "Nemico della patria" from Andrea Chenier and Puccini's dark scene from Il Tabarro. Donizetti and Offenbach provide melodic refinement and brilliant color from the Italian and French traditions, while Thomas's drinking song from Hamlet adds charm and lightness. Particular highlights are the Wagner arias - the intimate "Song to the Evening Star" from Tannhauser and the great scene of the Dutchman - where Evans's voice reveals both lyrical depth and dramatic radiance. The program concludes with central Verdi roles, from Rigoletto to Il Trovatore and Luisa Miller, showcasing the full range of Italian bel canto drama.

The Big Band of the Deutsche Oper Berlin is celebrating it's 20th anniversary and dedicating itself to French jazz. During the German occupation, it stood for freedom and resistance, and in the post-war period it became the soundtrack of existentialism and an expression of the attitude to life of an entire generation. In the nightclubs of Saint-Germain-des-Pres, musicians such as Miles Davis and Sidney Bechet met Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, and Boris Vian. For many jazz musicians from the USA, Paris became a place of longing beyond racial segregation and the McCarthy era. The Deutsche Oper Berlin Big Band celebrates the spirit of those years with music by Michel Legrand, Jacques Brel, Boris Vian, and Django Reinhardt.

Lucia di Lammermoor is one of the most iconic works of the bel canto repertoire, showcasing Gaetano Donizetti's masterful blend of lyrical beauty and dramatic intensity. Based on Walter Scott's novel The Bride of Lammermoor, the opera tells a haunting tale of love, political rivalry, and psychological collapse. At it's heart lies the tragic heroine Lucia (Lisette Oropesa), caught between familial duty and a forbidden love, whose descent into madness culminates in one of the most famous and demanding scenes in all of opera-the legendary 'mad scene'. What sets Lucia di Lammermoor apart is it's emotional depth paired with extraordinary vocal virtuosity. The opera demands immense technical precision, agility, and stamina from it's singers. Lucia's role, in particular, is a tour de force for any soprano, requiring crystalline coloratura, seamless legato, and the ability to convey both fragility and inner turmoil.

Maestro Mikhail Pletnev performing his favourite composer and namesake of his Rachmaninoff International Orchestra: Sergei Rachmaninoff. Compare his playing of the Paganini Rhapsody with the Berlin Philharmonic, and with the Rachmaninoff International Orchestra nearly 30 years later. Edition contains 2 Blu-ray discs and 4 CDs, and features: Rachmaninoff International Orchestra / Berliner Philharmoniker / Mikhail Pletnev / Claudio Abbado /Kent Nagano

Explore distant galaxies with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra. These legendary film soundtracks from the world of science fiction will transport you to the infinite vastness of space with epic sounds and powerful choirs. Experience the music from Dune, Star Wars, Star Trek, and many other masterpieces: enjoy stirring solo passages and majestic themes with outstanding soloists Sinne Eeg, Isabel Schwartzbach, David Bateson, and Kristoffer Appel.

A world-premiere recording. Maestro Mikhail Pletnev conducts his own, never before published composition: the 14 Memoires musicales (2024). He set his childhood memories to music in 14 musical images that captivate the listener like a colorful kaleidoscope. Mikhail Pletnev's trumpet concerto is dedicated to trumpeter Sergei Nakariakov, who is also the soloist in this concert recording.

First performed in Rome in 1934, now ignited to spectacular effect in Berlin. The timeless, rarely performed drama about witch-hunts, power games between wife and husband, mother-in-law and daughter-in-law and prejudice is brought to life in a captivating way on the stage of the Deutsche Oper. Impressive singing and colossal tableaux accompany a story of intrigue, power struggles and an affair between stepmother and son in Ottorino Respighi's last great opera. Surrounded by political struggles, the characters become entangled in personal conflicts that mercilessly lead to catastrophe and end with a cruel outcome at the stake.

The Danish National Symphony Orchestra transforms the stage into enchanted musical landscapes inspired by legendary video games such as The Legend of Zelda and League of Legends, with Nordic singer Eivør as special guest in Legends Never Die and more. Experience the captivating sounds of epic game worlds brought to life by 150 musicians and singers at DR Koncerthuset. Featuring the music of Halo, World of Warcraft, League of Legends and much more: enjoy epic choir songs and magical solo tracks with the star from the Faroe Islands, Eivør, as well as Isabel Schwartzbach and Adam Riis.

Spectacular western movies and moments to remember from and with the Maestro himself. Ennio Morricone composed over 400 scores for cinema and television, as well as over 100 classical works. This concert from 2004 with the Munchner Rundfunkorchester is one of the very few recordings where he conducts his own music. The album contains a representative collection of his most famous film music including The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Once Upon a Time in the West, A Fistful of Dynamite, Once Upon a Time in America, Cinema Paradiso, The Untouchables and many more.

Music is a crucial element in every Oscar-winning film. In this concert you will be taken on a musical journey through the sounds of the greatest Oscar winners of all time, from classics like Casablanca and Citizen Kane to monumental cinematic works like The Godfather and blockbusters like Forrest Gump - blockbusters with music that for almost a century have made us shudder, melt and cry in the darkness of the cinema. The DN Symphony Orchestra, DN Concert Choir, solo singers and hosts are ready on stage to bring this classics and blockbusters to life with Music from Robin Hood, James Bond, The Mission, Apocalypse Now, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Dances with Wolves and more.

I Puritani is the last great masterpiece of the exceptional Italian composer Vincenzo Bellini. The intelligently conceived and thoroughly thrilling historical drama, written by the Italian librettist Conte Carlo Pepoli (1796-1881), concerning the fiery romantic intrigue between Elvira, the daughter of a Puritan and the royalist Arturo - Bellini's rapturous music, full of melancholic intensity, is a delight to listen to, as performed by Lisette Oropesa and Lawrence Brownlee. The opera is considered a showcase piece for soprano and tenor and holds it's own in the rich operatic landscape of the 19th century, especially with it's high-pitched passages and bel canto pleasure at it's finest, to this day.

Zarzuela was born as a court genre in the 17th century, and became a mass spectacle in the mid-19th century, spreading throughout the whole of Spain. The success of zarzuela was in having sprung from Hispanic society, addressing an immense public of diverse social levels. It has made Hispanics laugh, cry, yearn and dream, with a musical language that arose from the very heart of the people. Zarzuela embraces Hispanic and European music, urban and rural, popular song and bel canto, traditional and urban dances. Zarzuela filled hundreds of theatres throughout Spain and America. This magnificent album is masterfully interpreted by Lisette Oropesa who carries this music in her heart. Her multi-faceted voice masters even the most demanding vocal passages with impressive ease.

Sanderling conducts Shostakovich: Two names which, in this combination, really make you sit up and notice. With his recordings of the Russian's great symphonies, Michael's father Kurt Sanderling left the ultimate reference recordings. A legacy too for Michael Sanderling, just as the 15th, Shostakovich's final symphony, was a legacy from the composer himself. As Dmitri Shostakovich began his 15th and final symphony, he was already physically ailing, but he was able to summon up all his powers for one last time. Compared to many of his earlier symphonies, the work's instrumentation is almost reminiscent of chamber music. Bonus: Interview with Michael Sanderling.

Antonio Pappano and the Staatskapelle Dresden perform Sergei Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 2 in the spectacular Semperoper, a work that is particularly associated with the city of Dresden. Pappano also gives a comprehensive introduction to the work and plays the key passages of the symphony.

Mikhail Pletnev and the then newly formed Rachmaninoff International Orchestra (RIO) performed under the baton of Kent Nagano all four Rachmaninoff piano concertos and the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini in October 2023. In the piano repertoire there might be no more challenging task than performing Rachmaninoff's complete piano concertos - nor an artist more up to this task than the great Mikhail Pletnev. Rounding out this concert is legendary maestro Kent Nagano, who leads Pletnev and his ensemble with his usual deft hand and the unshakeable confidence required to unify these monumental works.

The first staging of this opera in 43 years is powerful, thanks to the voices of Matthew Polenzani and Isabel Leonard. (Houston Chronicle) Premiered in 1892 and based on Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther, the tragic opera about unrequited love returns to Houston Grand Opera for the first time since 1979 with this production from French director Benoit Jacquot, making his HGO debut. This opera features four artists making their long-anticipated Houston debuts: three-time Grammy Award-winning mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard, as Charlotte; tenor Matthew Polenzani, one of the most gifted performers of his generation, as Werther; soprano Jasmine Habersham, as Charlotte's sister Sophie; and baritone Sean Michael Plumb, a 2021 Tucker Grant recipient.

Experience the iconic music from movies and series such as Babylon Berlin, The Great Gatsby and Burlesque with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Danish Radio Big Band and guests. The Babylon Hotel is the concert where the upper class meets the underworld in a melting pot of euphoria and extravagance, nostalgia and pleasure with a carefree sinfulness only seen in the exuberant nightlife of the 1920s around the world. This concert evening takes you through the fictional Babylon Hotel, where the doors are opened to a world of music from movies like The Great Gatsby, Babylon, Burlesque, the TV series House of Dreams and Babylon Berlin and the operas Porgy and Bess and Mahagonny - and much more.

Experience the iconic music from movies and series such as Babylon Berlin, The Great Gatsby and Burlesque with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Danish Radio Big Band and guests. The Babylon Hotel is the concert where the upper class meets the underworld in a melting pot of euphoria and extravagance, nostalgia and pleasure with a carefree sinfulness only seen in the exuberant nightlife of the 1920s around the world. This concert evening takes you through the fictional Babylon Hotel, where the doors are opened to a world of music from movies like The Great Gatsby, Babylon, Burlesque, the TV series House of Dreams and Babylon Berlin and the operas Porgy and Bess and Mahagonny - and much more.

The legendary recordings with the Munchner Philharmoniker: Tchaikovsky, Schumann, Dvorak, Ravel, Prokofiev and Debussy on one Blu-ray Sampler. The Munchner 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.

Claudio Abbado was undeniably the supreme Mahler conductor of our time. With his Lucerne Festival Orchestra he has set new standards in the field of classical music, especially in the interpretation of works by Gustav Mahler. The core of the orchestra is provided by the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, itself an elite body of players. Soloists like violinist Kolja Blacher, clarinettist Sabine Meyer, oboist Albrecht Mayer, violist Wolfram Christ, cellist Natalia Gutman, the Hagen Quartet and members of the Alban Berg Quartet to name just a few, make the Lucerne Festival Orchestra a star-studded ensemble. This 4 Blu-ray Disc Box set is including the Mahler Symphonies Nos. 1-7 with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra and Claudio Abbado. An afficionado must-have! "Has there ever been a suaver, more transparent Mahler performance or one in which everything stays so beautifully in tune?... Abbado's music-making is a celebration of the purest joy." The Gramophone Magazine

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 Waldbuhne 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 Meistersaal Sessions are a 6-part series of chamber music theme concerts with the Freigeist Ensemble at the legendary Meistersaal Berlin, conducted by Joolz Gale. The series starts with arrangements of Schonberg, Strauss and Mahler. Each of the four sessions in this album features one musical work that represents the roots of Freigeist Ensemble's oeuvre. Linking the musical worlds of Berlin and Vienna, these early compositions by Richard Strauss, Gustav Mahler and Arnold Schoenberg are all featured in a chamber music format. Winner of the OPUS Klassik 2021, Freigeist Ensemble is a courageous collective of supersonic soloists from German symphony orchestras that repackages symphonic music for new audiences. It's mission is to revolutionize the style, sound and setting of classical concerts. Recent winner of the OPUS Klassik, Joolz Gale is a versatile British conductor who not only offers a historically-informed approach to baroque, classical and early romantic repertoire but also an extensive knowledge of early 20th-century choral and symphonic repertoire.

The setting of the novella Cavalleria Rusticana by the Sicilian writer Giovanni Verga by the Italian opera composer Pietro Mascagni (1863 - 1945) is regarded as the birth of a new style in Italian opera, "verismo", which gained great popularity throughout Italy from it's premiere in May 1890. In terms of content, Italian verismo is in the tradition of French naturalism and depicts the unadorned life of the simple, impoverished bourgeoisie at the turn of the century. The award-winning Spanish opera soprano Saioa Hernandez and the Orquestra Titular del Teatro Real under the direction of Carlo Montanaro invite you on an unforgettable musical journey of discovery through the aria world of Italian verismo and present a colorful, nuanced and melodic firework display of glamour and gold. The arias have been carefully selected and compiled by Saioa. The album comprises some of the most important verismo arias and offers a representative cross-section of the world of verismo.

Experience the popular melodies from "Swan Lake" and "Carmen" recorded by the world-class Rachmaninoff International Orchestra (RIO) under the baton of Mikhail Pletnev. In August 2022, the musicians of the Rachmaninoff International Orchestra gathered in Bratislava to perform their first recording under the direction of founder and artistic director Mikhail Pletnev. You can rediscover Swan Lake in an acclaimed arrangement by Mikhail Pletnev, while Rodion Shchedrin's arrangement of the Carmen Suite based on Bizet's masterpiece is legendary. The Swan Lake Suite is not the usual 6-part suite, but a different and more elaborate arrangement, which Pletnev himself has arranged to a hand-picked selection of Tchaikovsky's ballet music. With a superb RIO, he transforms Swan Lake into a captivating cocktail of color and atmosphere, beautifully poetic and full of fairytale magic, with Tchaikovsky's signature blend of theatrical drama and aristocratic elegance always in perfect balance.

Even a hundred years after his birth, Charles Mingus is still labelled as an artistic genius and the "angry man" of jazz, an uncompromising fighter against racial segregation and for unconditional truthfulness in his music, but who was also mentally unstable, could not control his emotions and often became violent enough in his anger. This image is confirmed by the circumstances of the world premiere of Mingus' "opus magnum", the two-hour suite "Epitaph" on 12 October 1962 in New York's Town Hall, which has long since become a myth in jazz history. Due to the short notice and rehearsal period, the performance itself fell short of the composer's artistic standards. As a result, Mingus asked the audience to leave the hall during the interval and offered to refund their entrance fee, which led to riots in the street outside the concert hall and ultimately forced the police to intervene. After that, Charles Mingus abandoned the attempt to realize "Epitaph" and it was not until the mid-1980s, after the musicologist Andrew Homzy discovered the music notes of the piece in Mingus' estate and, together with Gunther Schuller reconstructed it, that this masterpiece was premiered in 1989. At the finale of the "Musikfest Berlin" 2022, the musicians of the Deutsche Oper Berlin and their BigBand performed "Epitaph" as a tribute to the 100th birthday of Charles Mingus. Under the energetic baton of Titus Engel, the musicians of the BigBand and the Orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin and the Jazzinstitut Berlin explore the realms of expression of dark threat, profound songfulness, conflict and ecstasy with irrepressible joy of playing and remarkable clarity. Star trumpeter Randy Brecker let's his wonderfully clear tone clear tone soar to the highest heights.

This is the complete video release of Brahms' chamber music with several reference recordings. Moreover, the 16 hours of SD-quality video materials presented here on a single Blu-ray disc are equivalent to about eight standard DVD releases. This edition features great performances by today's most outstanding artists showcasing their thrilling artistry in inimitable performances. A must for any Brahms aficionado!