Composed when he was just twenty-four, Agrippina was Handel’s first theatrical success and is a sparkling example of his early work. It is full of his fresh, exuberantly inventive music and employs one of the finest librettos with which George…

Uwe Scholz, ballet director in Leipzig, was hailed as one of the most brilliant choreographic minds of his generation when he died in November 2004 at the early age of 45. His ballet “The Great Mass” is one of the most impressive works of this…

EuroArts releases a four-volume edition of Mozart’s most significant piano concerti in celebration of his 250th birthday in 2006. Mozart, who composed 21 piano concerti, can be regarded as the “inventor” of the popular piano concerto. Although J.S…

Il matrimonio segreto is Cimarosa's most famous opera buffa and it is one of the few comic operas to have maintained its place in the repertoire until today. At its first performance in 1792, Austrian emperor Leopold II is reputed to have liked this…

Maya Plisetskaya is in every sense an exceptional personality. Like almost no other dancer, the eternal prima ballerina assoluta of the Bolshoi Theatre understood how to combine outstanding dance skills with dramatic expression. There are also very…

This beautiful production by renowned opera director Michael Hampe was recorded at the exquisite Rococo Theatre in Schwetzingen Palace in May 1990. La scala di seta is one of the five one-act operas - farsa giocosa - in which the young Rossini first…

When Bach was in the service of Prince Leopold in Coethen, he had his own orchestra and was contracted to compose a great deal of instrumental music. This gave him an opportunity to try new techniques and to develop his own instrumental style. The…

Die Entführung aus dem Serail (The Abduction from the Seraglio) is one of Mozart’s five great repertoire operas alongside Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, Cosi fan tutte and Die Zauberflöte. A typical ‘Singspiel’, a form in which all the dialogue is…

The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra’s annual summer concert at the Waldbühne in Berlin is legendary. The Millenium concert, recorded live on 25 June 2000, gathered more than 22.000 people in one of the most appealing outdoor amphitheatres in Europe for…

Recorded live in the Museum Quarter in Vienna in January 2006, this concert was inspired by the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, whose 250th birthday made this year a celebratory Mozart Anniversary all over the world. With artists like singer Dee…