In March of 2004, the Royal Opera Covent Garden in London cancelled its contract with Deborah Voigt. The official reason given by the casting director: too fat. The opera world was outraged. Since when can't opera singers be overweight? Since Callas…

Based on Henry James' novel of the same name, this gripping drama explores an encounter with the super-natural.

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…

The film portrays Bruno Walter (1876-1962), one of the most important conductors of the 20th century. The Italian biographer Michele Selvini speaks about the musician Bruno Walter who formed the musical life of the capitals of Europe and the United…

The magic of Mozart takes center stage as pianist Leif Ove Andsnes and soprano Dorothea Röschmann join Franz Welser-Möst and The Cleveland Orchestra for an evening of Viennese favorites. The program includes Mozart's beloved “Piano Concerto No. 17, K…

Today Sir Simon Rattle is one of the world’s most famous conductors. He earned this international reputation during his 18 years as conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, which he led to global fame. This recording of Massiaen’s “Et…

Riccardo Chailly’s inaugural concert as Kapellmeister of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra capturing the full atmosphere of a unique musical occasion is a feast of Mendelssohn from the orchestra the composer founded. The concert includes an…

To celebrate the occasion of his 200th birthday on 1 March 2010, this film shows little known facets of Frédéric Chopin: the passionate opera fan, the admirer of the great female singers of his time, the advocate of the aesthetics of bel canto – the…

The composer Claude Debussy was born in St. Germain-en-Laye, a few miles outside Paris, in 1862. While a pupil at the Conservatoire, he composed music that did not conform to the theory of the times. He contradicted his teachers by claiming that…