The Czech composer based his libretto on the play "Le Voyage de Thésée" by his friend and trusted source of inspiration, Georges Neveux. Martinu is said to have written the opera for Maria Callas. In this production, the role is sung by the…

This film is a perfomance of the work recorded in Tokyo during the Deutsche Oper Berlin's 1993 Japan tour in Götz Friedrich's highly respected, much-discussed staging.

Sir Peter Hall's outstanding Glyndebourne Festival Opera production of "Fidelio" remains remarkably faithful to the way Beethoven intended the opera to be. He managed to inject fresh excitement and suspense into "Fidelio", providing a perfect…

Live from Paris 1977

Deliberate confusion in 18th-century Seville which is entangled with three marriages blessed by the monks of the monastery. After performances at the famous 'Stars of the White Nights'Festival held in St. Petersburg and the 1991 - 92 festival…

The Japanese pianist Aki Takase is a veritable typhoon of power and clarity. Her playing shows what can happen when the European rules of melody, harmony and rhythm come face to face with a distinctly Asian way of thinking!

Monteverdi is generally regarded as the father of European opera. His "Poppea" is a blood and thunder melodrama, set in Nero's Rome and loaded with passion, jealousy, murder and savage ambition.

With "Alcina" Wieler shows how modern Händel can be. The production is fascinating, conclusive and full of eroticism. Helene Schneidermann is absolutly overwhelming as Ruggiero's fiancée and the brilliant soprano Catherine Naglestad is more blissful…

This performance of the Staatsoper Suttgart was acclaimed by music critics as the "Performance of the Year 1998" in the German magazine "Opernwelt". This unusual production of Hans Neuenfels recreated a game with forms and appearances of the music…

Barbara Thompson has long been acknowledged as the first lady of the sax. Together with her band "Paraphernalia" and Jon Hiseman, she ranks among the world's top Jazz-rock ensembles.