Also available on Blu-ray

Toy maker Dr. Coppelius (Gary Avis) seems to have a beautiful young woman in his house: Coppelia (Ashley Dean), who sits and reads on his balcony. Franz (Vadim Muntagirov) and his vellow young villagers are curious about her and how she ignores them all. Franz’s fiancée Swanilda (Marianela Nunez) is not pleased by Franz’s interest in another woman, but equally curious. When Dr. Coppelius goes to the local tavern, the young villagers slip into his house to introduce themselves to the strangely silent young woman but are met with a house full of mechanical dolls and, seemingly, magic… A classic returns to The Royal Ballet repertory with Ninette de Valois’ charming and funny Coppelia- a story of love, mischief and mechanical dolls. The intricate choreography is set to Delibes’ delightful score and shows off the technical precision and comedic timing of the whole Company. Osbert Lancaster’s designs bring a colorful storybook world to life in this Christmas treat for the whole family.

This 19th century classic, in an enchanting production by Royal Ballet choreographer Dame Ninette de Valoise, with original designs by Sir Osbert Lancaster, was broadcast live by BBC television in February 2000. The Royal Ballet, Covent Garden, is joined by the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House under Nicolae Moldoveanu.

Extra features include
• Historic 10-minute film ‘The Ballet Moves’
• Illustrated biography of Sir Osbert Lancaster (1908-86)
• Introduction to the original broadcast by Deborah Bull

R E V I E W S:

‘Now we have this sparkling Ballet on DVD, beautifully filmed and with first class orchestral sound, richly played under Nicolae Moldoveanu. Luke Heydon’s Doctor Coppelius and Leana Palmer’s Coppelia could not be bettered. This DVD is a practical tribute to Madam.’ -- Musical Opinion

‘Fabulously entertaining... Buoyant performances.’ -- San Francisco Chronicle

‘Excellence in technical television production quality…drawing the viewer into the story and recreating the emotional intensity of the theatrical experience.’ -- IMZ Dance Screen 2000

‘DVD benefits the art of the dance as well. When I have watched ballet on television the music is a distant and faint accompaniment. Here we actually hear the delights of Delibes’ ever-popular score. It’s a feast for the eye too, with the magical story of the enchanted doll, and Osbert Lancaster’s witty and colourful designs, benefiting from DVD’s clarity.’ -- Birmingham Evening Mail

WINNER of the IMZ Dance Screen 2000 Award for Stage/Studio recording
WINNER - Penguin Guide Rosette

Also available on Blu-ray

THE METAMORPHOSIS
A Dance Theatre Adaptation by Arthur Pita after Franz Kafka’s novella

Gregor Samsa – Edward Watson
Grete Samsa – Laura Day
Mrs. Samsa – Nina Goldman
Mr. Samsa – Neil Reynolds
Maid / Coffee Lady / Dream Figure / Bearded Man – Bettina Carpi
Clerk / Dream Figure / Bearded Man – Greig Cooke
Train Conductor / Dream Figure / Bearded Man – Amir Giles

Arthur Pita, choreographer and director
Simon Daw, set designer

Recorded live at the Royal Opera House, March 2013

Bonus:
- Introduction to The Metamorphosis
- Bringing The Metamorphosis to life
- Cast gallery

Picture format: NTSC 16:9
Sound format: LPCM 2.0 / DTS 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Running time: 90 mins
No. of DVDs: 1

Also available on Blu-ray

Giselle remains one of the most popular Romantic ballets of all time. The story brings together an engaging mix of human passions, supernatural forces, and the transcendent power of self-sacrificing love. The production by Sir Peter Wright catches the atmosphere of this great Romantic ballet, especially in the perfection of its White Act, with ghostly maidens drifting through the forest in spectacular patterns -- one of the most famous of any scenes for the corps de ballet. Giselle dances with lightness and fragility, giving the impression of floating through the mist.

This is one of The Royal Ballet's most loved and admired productions, faithful to the spirit of the 1841 original yet always fresh at each revival. This performance features former Bolshoi star and now Royal Ballet principal Natalia Osipova in a breath-taking interpretation of the title role.

Adolphe Adam
GISELLE

Giselle - Natalia Osipova
Albrecht - Carlos Acosta
Hilarion - Thomas Whitehead
Wilfred - Johannes Stepanek
Berthe - Deirdre Chapman
The Duke of Courland - Christopher Saunders
Bathilde - Christina Arestis
Myrtha - Hikaru Kobayashi
Moyna - Elizabeth Harrod
Zulme - Akane Takada

Royal Opera House Orchestra
Boris Gruzin, conductor

Marius Petipa, choreographer
John Macfarlane, set and costume designer
Jennifer Tipton, lighting designer

Recorded live at the Royal Opera House, January 2014

Bonus:
- The Romance of Giselle
- The Corps de ballet in Giselle
- Cast Gallery

Picture format: NTSC 16:9 anamorphic
Sound format: LPCM 2. 0 / DTS 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Subtitles (bonus): English
Running time: 113 mins (ballet) + 10 mins (bonus)
No. of DVDs: 1 (DVD 9)

Press Reviews
"There has never been a choreographer that I can think of who could produce three such contrasting works, and you sit watching in wonderment at the fertile imaginings of his mind." (The Daily Telegraph )

"It's grisly, and yet horribly exciting in its momentum, as the men show off to each other like skateboarders, flinging themselves into barrel turns while knotting and unknotting their legs." (The Independent )

"As far as I am aware there are no other versions of Elite Syncopations or Concerto currently available on DVD and as mentioned these are significant works in the MacMillan canon so pretty much an obligatory purchase for admirers of his work. As a programme this strikes me as an excellent triple bill as diverse in its emotional range as it is accomplished in its technical excellence from every department." (Musicweb International )

This Blu-ray Disc is only playable on Blu-ray Disc players and not compatible with standard DVD players.

Also available on standard DVD

Virginia Woolf defied the false order of narrative conventions to depict a heightened, startling and poignant reality. Woolf Works recreates the synaesthetic collision ofform and substance in her writings. Each of the three acts springs from one of Woolf’s landmark novels: Mrs Dalloway, Orlando and The Waves – but these inspirations are also enmeshed with elements from her letters, essays and diaries. Woolf Works expresses the heart of an artistic life driven to discover a freer, uniquely modern realism, and brings to life Woolf’s world of ‘granite and rainbow’, where human beings are at once both physical body and uncontained essence. Woolf Works (2015) was Wayne McGregor’s first full-length work for The Royal Ballet. "At its creation in 2015, Woolf Works felt like a breakthrough for choreographer Wayne McGregor, adding a new emotional weight to his athletic force and fascination with technology. In this first revival, it’s even stronger, with Alessandra Ferri luminous as the Virginia Woolf figure… It’s a thoughtful, heartfelt performance in a ballet that is both intelligent and tender." (The Independent 4 Stars)‘‘Since its premiere in 2015, Wayne McGregor’s first full-length ballet has won the 2015 Critics’ Circle award for best classical choreography and the 2016 Olivier Award for best new dance production, while its star, the fiftysomething ballerina Alessandra Ferri, has won an Olivier for outstanding achievement in dance. No wonder the Royal Ballet decided to revive Woolf Works as part of the celebrations marking McGregor’s tenth anniversary as resident choreographer." (The Times 4 Stars)

The Globe Theatre’s productions of William Shakespeare's As You Like It, Love's Labour's Lost and Romeo & Juliet are now available in this exclusive limited edition blu-ray box set from Opus Arte.Thea Sharrock’s production of As You Like It Shakespeare’s popular romantic comedy, stirs wit, sentiment, intrigue and love into a charming confection challenging the traditional rules of romance.In Love’s Labour Lost, the bard’s most intellectual comedy, the King of Navarre and his three courtiers forswear all pleasure – particularly of the female variety – in favor of a life of study, but the arrival of the Princess of France and her ladies plays havoc with their intentions.Dominic Dromgoole’s production of Romeo & Juliet brings refreshing clarity to one of Shakespeare’s best-loved tragedies, drawing out the contemporary relevance of this passionate teenage love story.

This outstanding collection contains 6 discs and features some of the most memorable performances by The Royal Opera. The works included in this set include Verdi’s Aida, Otello, and Stiffelio, Strauss’s Salome, Gounod’s Romeo Et Juliette, and Mozart’s Mitridate, re di Ponto. These discs bring together incredible conductors Paul Daniel, Edward Downes, Charles Mackerras, and Georg Solti with world-class stage directors Elijah Moshinsky, Nicholas Joel, Peter Hall, and Graham Vick. These recordings, all taken between 1992 and 1994, are preserved here in Standard Definition and 4/3 picture format.

Titus has returned from a brutal 10-year war having lost 21 sons in battle. Betrayed by his nation, and with his family in pieces, a series of bloody events follows as he and Tamora, Queen of the Goths, begin a violent cycle of revenge. Rape, cannibalism, mutilation and murder are the gruesome tools in Shakespeare's bloodiest play. "The title role could not currently be better cast. David Troughton is a fine deadpan comic yet one who always ensures there's a shadow lowering across the joke, and is also first-rate at the serious, even somber material. Blanche McIntyre's production appears at first to be simply modish in setting the play amid contemporary-flavored upheavals, but this pays off increasingly as she gets both humorous and serious mileage out of the conventions and nuances of public political rhetoric, with figures behind a lectern delivering pieces to camera." (The Financial Times) "A sharp, confident and imaginative modern-dress reading. Bloody good." (Evening Standard) "A terrific cast give a masterclass in power and paranoia in this tremendous modern-day revival of Shakespeare's tale of revenge." (The Guardian)

This epic collection brings together all of Opus Arte's recordings from the Bayreuth Festival. Included are many of Wagner's much-admired operas which show how the mastery of composer, conductor, and performer can combine to create a true musical excellence. Wagner's epic four-opera cycle, Der Ring des Nibelungen, is a work of extraordinary scale and is given an interpretation that is both thrilling and sensitive by the conductor Christian Thielemann and a cast of renowned Wagner interpreters. Thielemann also presents an incredible account of Der fliegende Holländerin a recording which secured his place as the world's greatest Wagner conductor. Klaus Florian Vogt is staggering in the title role of Lohengrin, with Andris Nelsons brings out the best in the festival chorus and orchestra. This recording of Tannhäuser, Wagner’s tale of the struggle between spiritual and profane love, and of redemption through love, was described by Opera Journal as 'outstanding’, whilst Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, which tells a humorous tale about artistically inclined craftsmen, was described as ‘on an entirely new Wagnerian scale...” (The Washington Post). The set is completed by the critically acclaimed recording of Tristan und Isolde starring the leading Wagner exponents Robert Dean Smith and Iréne Theorin in the title roles.

On a distant island, a man waits. Robbed of his posiiton, power and wealth, his enemies have left him in isolation. But this is no ordinary man, and this is no ordinary island. Prospero is a magician, able to control the very elements and bend nature to his will. When a sail appears on the horizon, he reaches out across the ocean to the ship that carries the men who wronged him. Creating a vast magical storm, he wrecks the ship and washes his enemies up onto shore. When they wake, they find themselves lost on a fantastical island where nothing is as it seems

Also available on Blu-ray

This special collection from The Royal Ballet includes nine of Frederick Ashton’s most loved short ballets, which showcase the range of his style. The pure classical perfection of Symphonic Variations is contrasted with the light-hearted exuberance of Voices of Spring. Both are complemented by the passion and drama of Marguerite and Armand and the romance and comedy of The Two Pigeons and The Dream. The collection is completed by Rhapsody, La Valse, Monotones and Méditation from Thaïs, four of the most iconic abstract works created by The Royal Ballet’s founding choreographer. "...a bill which revealed the variety of the Royal’s founder choreographer from the perfumed sway of La Valse, to the lyrical loveliness of the Thais pas de deux, and the audacious joy of Voices of Spring. Monotones I and II, on the other hand, show his geometric modernism and his ability to conjure a kind of mysterious beauty by the simplest of means... the performances throughout the evening made the choreography look as fresh and important as ever." (The Daily Telegraph) "Frederick Ashton's 1962 ballet is swooningly romantic and unashamedly old fashioned. The Parisian artist's garret setting might be a cliche but the action is alive with invention. What begins as a comic ballet glides imperceptibly into a more serious realm as the two immature lovers come to terms with erotic distraction and locate the adult within themselves. Ashton's birdlike steps, with flapping elbows and nodding heads are sharp and funny at first as the dancers shake a tail feather across the stage before softening and stretching into gestures of greater poignancy." (The Stage - The two Pigeons 5 Stars)

Also availble on standard DVD

This Blu-ray Disc is only playable on Blu-ray Disc players and not compatible with standard DVD players.

Over a decade of dance is represented here with no fewer than 22 ballets in this magnificent 15-disc collection of stunning performances by The Royal Ballet, including spectacular stagings of well-known narrative ballets, era-defining abstract works and show-stopping shorter ballets. 19th-century masterpieces, heritage works by Frederick Ashton and Kenneth MacMillan, and contemporary classics by The Royal Ballet’s Resident Choreographer Wayne McGregor and Artistic Associate Christopher Wheeldon are here performed by Royal Ballet dancers past and present. A special edition book contains articles about The Royal Ballet, its repertory and its choreographers, as well as full synopses for all the narrative ballets, richly illustrated with striking photographs of the productions.

Also available on Blu-ray

Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky
THE NUTCRACKER

"One of the very best seasonal treats for children and adults alike, the Royal Ballet’s Nutcracker is a handsome, magical, thoroughly traditional rendering of ETA Hoffmann’s immortal if deeply strange story." -- Sunday Express

This all-time ballet favourite, in which young Clara is swept into a fantasy adventure when one of her Christmas presents comes to life, is at its most enchanting in Peter Wright’s glorious production – as fresh as ever in its 25th year. Tchaikovsky’s ravishing score, period designs by Julia Trevelyan Oman (including an ingenious magical Christmas tree), an exquisite Sugar Plum Fairy (Miyako Yoshida) and chivalrous Prince (Steven McRae), the mysterious Drosselmeyer (Gary Avis) and vibrant dancing by The Royal Ballet make for a captivating performance. Filmed in High Definition and recorded in true surround sound.

The Sugar Plum Fairy – Miyako Yoshida
Nephew / Nutcracker – Ricardo Cervera / Steven McRae
The Prince – Steven McRae
Drosselmeyer – Gary Avis

The Royal Ballet
The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House
Koen Kessels, conductor

Peter Wright, choreographer and director
(after Lev Ivanov)

Recorded live at the Royal Opera House, November and December 2009.

Bonus:
- Cast gallery
- Rehearsing at White Lodge
- Peter Wright tells the story of The Nutcracker

Picture format: NTSC 16:9 anamorphic
Sound format: LPCM Stereo 2.0 / DTS 5.0
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Menu language: English
Subtitles: English, French, German, Spanish
Running time: 127 mins
No. of DVDs: 1

Also available on Blu-ray

Over a decade of dance is represented here with no fewer than 22 ballets in this magnificent 15-disc collection of stunning performances by The Royal Ballet, including spectacular stagings of well-known narrative ballets, era-defining abstract works and show-stopping shorter ballets. 19th-century masterpieces, heritage works by Frederick Ashton and Kenneth MacMillan, and contemporary classics by The Royal Ballet’s Resident Choreographer Wayne McGregor and Artistic Associate Christopher Wheeldon are here performed by Royal Ballet dancers past and present. A special edition book contains articles about The Royal Ballet, its repertory and its choreographers, as well as full synopses for all the narrative ballets, richly illustrated with striking photographs of the productions.