This is Opera
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- StarsRamon GenerTxema LorenteEsteban FranquiThis is Opera is a Spanish and German coproduction (Brutal Media, RTVE, Unitel) filmed in English and Spanish language which can be seen in numerous countries worldwide. It is a show meant for everyone who have sometime felt curious about the world of the opera and never knew how to approach to it. A show to find out that the opera is not only for an elite, but for everyone.
- DirectorDave HeatherStarsMaria EwingJohn RawnsleyMax René CossottiIn a time when operas are often set to different contexts from the ones they were intended for, a philological production has its merits, representing both a rediscovery and a provocation. This Barbiere di Siviglia, which at first sight might appear old-fashioned, restores, in fact, to perfection the setting of an early 19th-centrury Italian theatre. It was a time when the glorious tradition of popular comedy, a direct descendant of the 16th-century "commedia dell'arte", was very much alive, and the singers entertained the audience with humour that was direct and catchy. Bepi Morassi's direction witnesses to the importance of that heritage, based on the improvising skills of actors that came from the common people and needed to communicate concepts of common social life, through colourful costumes, musical instruments and masks modelled on the archetypes of the day. Humour, which here triumphs, makes of this Barbiere di Siviglia, a truly entertaining visual and audio experience.
- DirectorRobert DornhelmStarsAnna NetrebkoRolando VillazónNicole CabellThe opera "La Bohème" is about the tragic love story of Mimí and Rodolfo, set in Paris in the year 1830.
- DirectorMatthias GrevingStarsAxel BrüggemannIn 2016 Sky broadcast live from the Bayreuth Festival "The Ring of the Nibelung" by Richard Wagner. The musical direction was provided by Marek Janowski, one of the leading Wagner conductors of our time.
- DirectorJonathan HaswellStarsAngela GheorghiuJonas KaufmannBryn TerfelACT I Rome, June 1800. Cesare Angelotti, an escaped political prisoner, rushes into the Church of Sant'Andrea della Valle. After finding the key his sister has hidden for him, he hides in his family's private chapel. Soon, the painter Mario Cavaradossi arrives to work on his portrait of Mary Magdalene. The painting has been inspired by Angelotti's sister, the Marchesa Attavanti, whom Cavaradossi had seen praying in the church. Angelotti, who was a member of the former Bonapartiste government, emerges from his hiding place. Cavaradossi recognizes him and promises help, then hurries him back into the chapel as the singer Floria Tosca, his lover, calls from outside. When he lets her into the church, she jealously asks Cavaradossi to whom he has been talking and reminds him of their rendezvous that evening. Suddenly recognizing the Marchesa Attavanti in the painting, she accuses him of being unfaithful, but he assures her of his love. When Tosca has left, Angelotti again comes out of hiding. A cannon signals that the police have discovered the escape, and he and Cavaradossi flee to the painter's home. The sacristan enters with choirboys who are preparing to sing in a Te Deum celebrating the recent victory against Napoleon at the Battle of Marengo. At the height of their excitement, Baron Scarpia, chief of the secret police, arrives, searching for Angelotti. When Tosca comes back looking for Cavaradossi, Scarpia shows her a fan with the Attavanti crest that he has just found. Seemingly confirming her suspicions about her lover's infidelity, Tosca is devastated. She vows vengeance and leaves as the church fills with worshippers. Scarpia sends his men to follow her to Cavaradossi, with whom he thinks Angelotti is hiding. While the congregation intones the Te Deum, Scarpia declares that he will bend Tosca to his will. ACT II That evening in his chambers in the Palazzo Farnese, Scarpia anticipates the pleasure of having Tosca in his power. The spy Spoletta arrives with news that he was unable to find Angelotti. Instead, he brings in Cavaradossi. Scarpia interrogates the defiant painter while Tosca sings at a royal gala in the palace courtyard. Scarpia sends for her, and she appears just as Cavaradossi is being taken away to be tortured. Frightened by Scarpia's questions and Cavaradossi's screams, Tosca reveals Angelotti's hiding place. Henchmen bring in Cavaradossi, who is badly hurt and hardly conscious. When he realizes what has happened, he angrily confronts Tosca, just as the officer Sciarrone rushes in to announce that Napoleon actually has won the battle, a defeat for Scarpia's side. Cavaradossi shouts out his defiance of tyranny, and Scarpia orders him to be executed. Once alone with Tosca, Scarpia calmly suggests that he would let Cavaradossi go free if she'd give herself to him. Fighting off his advances, she declares that she has dedicated her life to art and love and calls on God for help. Scarpia becomes more insistent, but Spoletta bursts in: Faced with capture, Angelotti has killed himself. Tosca, now forced to give in or lose her lover, agrees to Scarpia's proposition. Scarpia orders Spoletta to prepare for a mock execution of Cavaradossi, after which he is to be freed. Tosca demands that Scarpia write her a passage of safe-conduct. After he has done so, he attempts to make love to Tosca, but she grabs a knife from the table and stabs him. She takes the pass and flees ACT III At dawn, Cavaradossi awaits execution on the ramparts of Castel Sant'Angelo. He bribes the jailer to deliver a farewell letter to Tosca, and then, overcome with emotion, gives in to his despair. Tosca appears and explains what has happened. The two imagine their future in freedom. As the execution squad arrives, Tosca implores Cavaradossi to fake his death convincingly, then watches from a distance. The soldiers fire and depart. When Cavaradossi doesn't move, Tosca realizes that the execution was real, and Scarpia has betrayed her. Scarpia's men rush in to arrest her, but she cries out that she will meet Scarpia before God and leaps from the battlement.
- DirectorFranco ZeffirelliStarsTeresa StratasPlácido DomingoCornell MacNeilVioletta meets Alfredo and quickly falls for him. After the lovers run away together, they live in bliss for a short time. However, Alfredo's father, Giorgio, starts to interfere, concerned that Violetta's bad reputation will affect the marriage prospects of Alfredo's sister. Violetta reluctantly leaves Alfredo, but his love is so strong that it leads him to actions that have tragic consequences.
- DirectorJean-Pierre PonnelleStarsRené KolloMatti SalminenJohanna MeierWagner's opera in 3 acts is set in legendary Brittany and Cornwall, with a tragic love story that revolves around the themes of love, night, and death. Isolde is being brought from Ireland to Cornwall by Tristan to be the bride of his uncle, King Mark. Isolde is angry at Tristan because he slew Morold, Isolde's betrothed, who came from Ireland to exact tribute from Cornwall. However, when she sees Tristan, her feelings begin to change. She plans to poison him, but when she and Tristan drink from the same cup, it turns out that Brangäne, her maid and confidante, has filled it with a love potion. At King Mark's castle, the young lovers meet at night for trysts, while Brangäne stands guard. Mark and his courtiers go off hunting one night, and Brangäne warns Isolde Melot, Tristan's supposed friend, has arranged the nocturnal hunt as a trap. Isolde and Tristan disregard this and sing love songs to each other. Then King Mark, Melot and the courtiers burst in on them as the sun begins to rise. Mark asks how they could do this; Tristan says he is willing to go into the realm of night, and Isolde says she will follow him there. Melot and Tristan have a swordfight, and Tristan allows himself to be wounded. In Act 3, Tristan is dying at his castle in Brittany. His servant and friend, Kurwenal, watches over him. They watch for a ship that will bring Isolde, and at last she comes. They share a last moment of love, then he dies in her arms. A second ship arrives with King Mark, who plans to let Tristan and Isolde remain together. Kurwenal attacks them and is slain; Isolde falls on to Tristan's body, dying of grief.
- DirectorGary HalvorsonStarsBryn TerfelRenée FlemingPaul GrovesDon Giovanni is the man every woman wants, and every man wants to be. But when he commits murder in his pursuit of women and pleasure, and later insults the statue of the man he killed, there is Hell to pay.
- DirectorFranco ZeffirelliStarsGhena DimitrovaSergio BertocchiKurt RydlIn China, Prince Calaf falls in love with the cold Princess Turandot.
- DirectorFrancesco RosiStarsJulia MigenesPlácido DomingoRuggero RaimondiIn 1820s Spain the soldier Don José falls in love with the fiery and charismatic factory worker Carmen. Conflicts and grievances multiply, however, as it becomes apparent their views on love and commitment are fundamentally incompatible.
- DirectorHans-Jürgen SyberbergStarsEdith CleverMartin SperrRobert LloydRichard Wagner's last opera has remained controversial since its first performance for its unique, and, for some, unsavory blending of religious and erotic themes and imagery. Based on one of the medieval epic romances of King Arthur and the search for the holy grail (the chalice touched by the lips of Christ at the last supper), it recounts over three long acts how a "wild child" unwittingly invades the sacred precincts of the grail, fulfilling a prophecy that only such a one can save the grail's protectors from a curse fallen upon them. Interpreters of the work have found everything from mystical revelation to proto-fascist propaganda in it. Hans-Jurgen Syberberg's production doesn't avoid either aspect, but tries synthesize them by seeking their roots in the divided soul of Wagner himself. The action unfolds on a craggy landscape which turns out to be a gigantic enlargement of the composer's death mask, among deliberately tatty theatrical devices: puppets, scale models, magic-lantern projections. The eponymous hero is sung by the specified tenor voice (Reiner Goldberg) but mimed on screen by a male and a female performer alternately, reflecting what the director takes to be the creator's own sexual conflicts. Syberberg's pacing, dictated by the majestic pace of Wagner's score, is slow, but enlivened by constant subtle shifts in point of view, and memorable performances by actress Edith Clever as the villainess/heroine Kundry (sung by Yvonne Minton), orchestra conductor Armin Jordan as the remorseful knight Amfortas (sung by Wolfgang Schoene), and Robert Lloyd (the faithful retainer Gurnemanz).
- DirectorJean-Pierre PonnelleStarsIngvar WixellEdita GruberovaLuciano PavarottiThe Duke lives the high life. The court jester taunts too well. Revenge has unintended consequences both times it is attempted.
- DirectorBrian LargeStarsKiri Te KanawaPlácido DomingoThomas AllenA story of doomed romance between a chivalrous noble man, Chevalier Des Grieux and his working class lover, Manon Lescaut.
- DirectorJoachim HessStarsTom KrauseToni BlankenheimArlene SaundersMax is usually the ruling marksman of all the foresters, but today in the tournament he has missed every shot. He is desperate to know what is wrong with him, as tomorrow they compete for the trick shot.