A spectacular ice fantasia featuring the olympic skating champions Paul and Isabelle Duchesnay and former world champion Brian Orser. Set to the music of the symphonic masterpiece by Gustav Holst, this dazzling production incorporates solo and…

The turbulent life of the Dutch spy and dancer Mata Hari is at the heart of this large-scale ballet production by Dutch National Ballet. As the exotic, mysterious Mata Hari, she became one of the most famous dancers of her day. She travelled…

This ballet, choreographed by James Kudelka, and set to Vivaldi’s celebrated score, describes the four seasons in a man’s life – from the exuberance of youth in “Spring” to the resignation and compassion of old age in “Winter”. Kudelka created the…

The Belcea Quartet is one of the world’s leading chamber music ensembles, having won many international accolades. Now, with the string quartets, the musicians have rediscovered a gem of twentieth century chamber music. “Here is a composer moving…

Celebrating Strauss brings into focus the greatest interpreters of Richard Strauss’s compositions. These jewels of music broadcasting have been salvaged from various archives and been made accessible for home viewing audiences uniting appealing and…

The little guy with his mustache, his bowler hat and his bamboo cane is world-famous. But, who is the man behind this figure? Mario Schröder wondered the same thing when choreographing “Chaplin”. His rise to fame makes Chaplin a person of public…

Music from Gustav Mahler in Arrangements from Anne Champert, Rainer Riehn, Arnold Schönberg and Otto Singer A progressive outlook versus fear of the unknown, the bitterness of the outsider, a manic drive versus self-absorption… Gustav Mahler’s music…

Hans van Manen began his career in 1951. He was active as a dancer, choreographer and as artistic director both at the Nederlands Dans Theater and Het Nationale Ballet, where he was appointed Resident Choreographer in 2003. The DVD recordings are…

The moving text of the “Stabat Mater” has been an inspiration to many composers from the Renaissance onwards. Luigi Boccherini, a virtuoso cellist and master of chamber music, composed this religious work with profound respect for the text and it’s…

Surely Bach’s French Suites, which he composed during his years at Cöthen (1717–1723), are among the finest inducements to practise that any teacher has ever made to a pupil. In this case Bach wrote them for his young wife, Anna Magdalena. The over…