This wonderful ballet by the second Johann Strauss finally receives its world première recording on DVD! Recorded live in December 1999, this celebrated Vienna State Opera production combines everything a romantic ballet needs: excellent soloists…

Romeo and Juliet is one of the most frequently performed ballets at the Prague National Theater. Petr Zuska, artistic director of the Czech National Ballet, puts an emphasis on the cause of prejudice and blood feuds between the Montagues and Capulets…

The Carnival of the Animals (Le Carnaval des animaux) is a humorous musical suite by the French composer Camille Saint-Saëns. The work, about 25 minutes in duration, was written for private performance by two pianos and chamber ensemble; Saint-Saëns…

Commemorating the 155th anniversary of Robert Schumann’s death, this film, inspired by the book by Ernst Burger, reveals his human side through a chronicle of his life from 1828 to his death in 1856. While the music features prominently, Burger’s…

Sviatoslav Richter (1915–1997), one of the greatest pianists of all time, breaks his lifelong silence and allows himself to be interviewed for this autobiographical fi lm. We see his life on an epic scale as he evokes his wild childhood, his…

Pierre Boulez has already left an indelible imprint on the international music scene, not only as a composer and conductor but also as a music philosopher and teacher. This documentary, a homage on the occasion of his 85th birthday, shows his…

No-one did more to expand the audience for opera than the tenor Luciano Pavarotti. He reconnected an elite art-form with popular audiences throughout the world, through his unashamed enthusiasm for life and his unique ability to communicate to vast…

In Offenbachs's Secret, Academy Award winning director István Szabó throws new light on the timeless interplay between power, helplessness, courage and conformity in his character studies of two of the most scintillating personalities of France's…

When Nobuyuki Tsujii, the co-winner of the Gold Medal of the 2009 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition appeared on the stage for his Carnegie Hall debut, his dream had come true. The most important event in the career of any performer, for…

The Nobel Prize Concert 2008 was a world-class event featuring a marvellous array of performers: Sir John Eliot Gardiner, one of today’s most respected conductors, his legendary Monteverdi Choir with the Eric Ericson Chamber Choir and the Royal…