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.

Recorded during the "Schwetzinger Festspiele" 1989 in the cathedral of Speyer.

Monteverdi’s iconic opera articulates Orpheus’ attempts to soothe the keepers of Hades with his voice and his lyre. He is allowed to release his beloved Eurydice from the realm of the dead, on the one condition that he does not turn around to look at…

At the centre of events is the power-crazed Poppea. She aspires to the top level of the hierarchy and seduces Emperor Nero. He is totally captivated by Poppea and does everything possible to marry her, even if it leads to murder. A classic drama…

Johann Sebastian Bach's most famous Christmas work was recorded live at the Salle Henry Le Bœuf in the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels. Who would have thought, three centuries ago, that these cantatas, written by Bach for the services from…

Philippe Herreweghe, one of today's most profound and erudite Bach interpreters, and his Collegium Vocale Gent present their new vision of a musical work for which nobody can say the ultimate word. This concert film of Bach's Missa in h-moll was…

What a strange idea Mondonville had! Based on a cruel fable by La Fontaine with a tragic ending, he wrote a charming opera libretto with a happy ending, and composed a delightful pastoral. In the prologue, Dame Clémence Isaure, the mythical founder…

2015 marked the 175th anniversary of the birth of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. For this event, the Russian pianist Denis Matsuev performed the complete Seasons, one of the most popular works of the classical music repertoire in Russia. The programme of…

Das Rheingold is the prologue to Wagner's Ring cycle, and opens up the rich world of gods, dwarves, giants, dragons and humans that the story inhabits. With beautiful orchestration and an unerring sense of the dramatic, the first opera explains how…

Die Walküre continues the story of the Rhinedaughters' gold, the Ring of power which was forged from it, and the curse which falls on ist owner. The action moves to the earth - where Siegmund and Sieglinde, the mortal children of Wotan, are…