This concert recording from 1961 is one of the last recordings with two outstanding musicians from Basie’s band, Joe Williams and Joe Newman, who both departed from the band in 1961 to pursue solo careers. Joe Williams, known for having a deeper and…

Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake” is the most famous ballet of all time. In this version by Ballett am Rhein and Martin Schläpfer, the Swiss choreographer utilises his unique dance vocabulary— which is physical and highly expressive in equal measure—to focus…

The trained pianist and occasional organist, Sarah Vaughan ranks among the Big Four of female jazz singers, alongside Bessie Smith , Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald . Her early formal education on the piano has influenced her vocal technique…

There was probably no other artist, who was involved creatively in so many stages of the development of Jazz music as Duke Ellington . His sonic individuality originated in his peculiar style of composing and arranging, in which he was interweaving…

Previously unreleased material with Maurice Béjart and the Béjart Ballet Lausanne (the former Ballet of the 20th Century)– newly digitised and restored. Apart from "Rite of Spring" , this edition features Béjart's masterpiece "Boléro" , set to…

Claus Guth’s celebrated Mozart-Da Ponte opera trilogy at the Salzburg Festival for the first time in one DVD box set! These new, excitingly original productions feature superb orchestral playing and world-class conductors as well as outstanding casts…

This film is based on Jan Schmidt-Garre's acclaimed stage production of Beethoven's "Fidelio". The producers carefully filmed and edited several performances. By using additional footage of Jacquelyn Wagner as Leonore the stage production is…

Rossini was 24 years old when he wrote his seventeenth opera and most renowned "buffa", The Barber of Seville, in barely three weeks. This recording is from the 1988 Schwetzinger Festspiele. The production by Michael Hampe is distinguished by a…

Iolanta and Perséphone - A double bill consisting of two stage works that “represent an ideal of beauty, poetry and hope” forms this production in Madrid from the Teatro Real. In both works the progression from darkness to light acts as an initiation…

From the opening notes of the overture to the final curtain, Emilio Sagi’s classic, triumphant production brings to life all the elegant wit and theatricality of Mozart’s comic masterpiece Le nozze di Figaro. Leading baritone Ludovic Tézier shines as…