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.

Bulat Okudzhava's concert was the first of its kind during the upheaval period in the Gorbachev era of glasnost and perestroika. Much of what Bulat Okudzhava says and sings in this concert sheds light on the political developments that ultimately…

The members of the ensemble are all distinguished soloists who represent a high level of artistry. This is traditional Indian folkloristic music at its purest, presented with a high level of interaction between the musicians.

For more than 20 years, this quartet has been a musical melting pot, artfully blending American jazz, European classics, Indian and African music into an instantly recognizable, meditative sound experience.

Egberto Gismonti is a totally exotic musical missionary from Brazil who seldom gives solo concerts. Here he gives an unforgettable performance on piano and 8-string guitar. On Guitar: 28' On piano: 26

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".

ESP 2 is the true legacy of the music of Miles Davis, kept alive by his former sidemen who are now bandleaders in their own right. Together they honor the heritage of the legendary trumpet master.

The form, rhythm and tone of Rabih Abou-Khalil's music usually follow the pattern of Arabian instrumental music, but for his amazingly cosmopolitan sound Abou-Khalil has created a synthesis of Arabian music with Western classical and jazz idioms.

The two musicians Terje Rypdal and Miroslav Vitous recently found a kindred spirit in the Indian percussionist Trilok Gurtu, who manages to play drums and percussion simultaneously on the drum set he designed himself.