World famous bass-baritone Ruggero Raimondi prepares for a staging of Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni at Bolgogna’s historic Teatro Comunale, working alongside conductor Riccardo Chailly and stage director Luca Ronconi as well as a distinguished cast of…

Founded in 1844 as an “exclusive amusement establishment”, the Kroll opera left deep traces in the history of Germany. The Documentary produced by Jörg Moser-Metius tells the remarkable story of this famous opera house by including historical…

Euroarts releases a four-volume edition of Mozart’s most significant piano concertos 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…

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…

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…

A dim light picks out the outlines of the hall. Suddenly a massive shadow appears and moves swiftly over to the keyboard. There follows the vaguest of unsmiling acknowledgements in the general direction of the audience, and then the music begins…

Waltraud Meier is “La Wagnerissima”, the queen of Wagner’s repertoire. In her very personal account “I follow a voice within me”, we enter her world and learn about her motivations, aspirations, and her joyful way of pursuing them. In addition to…

The Berliner Philharmoniker are famous for their acclaimed concerts in Japan. In this live recording from the year 2000, they perform under the baton of Mariss Jansons. This concert is of particular musical energy − sometimes overt and joyous…

Verdi first presented his Messa da Requiem in the Church of San Marco. It was his emotional response to the death of the Italian national poet Alessandro Manzoni. He poured his entire dramatic skill, the fruit of thirty years of theatrical work, into…

The Kuijken Ensemble, made up of the three Belgian Kuijken brothers on flute, violin and viola da gamba and the harpsichordist Robert Kohnen count among the most distinguished of all present-day early-music specialists. They have long since branched…