One of Rossini's masterpieces; a frothy little farce on the surface with an underlying sharp social critique.

Leonard Bernstein based his Serenade for violin and orchestra on Plato's "Symposium". Like every work by Bernstein, the Serenade is rife with melodic and rhythmic vibrancy and originality.

Recorded in the Berliner Philharmonie, Berlin in 1992.

In Michael Hampe's much-praised staging, Don Giovanni appears "as the embodiment of absolute, irresistible tempestuous life force.." and "as rebel against human order, against law and morality".

Hungarian choreographer Youri Vámos combined E.T.A. Hoffmann's "Nutcracker" story with Dickens' immortal "A Christmas Carol". A colourful dance production in which ballet, music and film are skillfully combined.

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.

Norbert Beilharz captures the Swiss choreographer Heinz Spoerli's work methods on film, basing his portrait on the development of the Swiss master's new ballet: "Goldberg Variations".

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…

A fabulous tale of amourous intrigue based on Shakespeare's "Merry Wives of Windsor". Here in a delightfully humorous production, recorded at the Schwetzinger Palace Theatre.

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