Based on Hogarth's series of prints, "The Rake's Progress" combines the eighteenth century with the twentieth. The highly individualized set of this production, designed by David Hockney, reflects perfectly the "spikiness" of the music, combined with…

Mozart's 'Don Giovanni', "the opera of all operas", as E.T.A. Hoffman once called it, is a work with many meanings. Peter Hall and Bernard Haitink's interpretation of the Mozart cycle was enthusiastically received at the Glyndebourne festival.

Glyndebourne's 1978 production of Mozart's "Die Zauberflöte" received as much critical acclaim for the imaginative David Hockney sets as for the operatic performances. Hockney emphasised the magical and mystical qualities of one of Mozart's best…

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…

"Il Ballo delle Ingrate" is based on the Idea that the "Ingrate" (women who have been hard-hearted in love) should return to earth from hell to warn the ladies in the audience against a similar fate. The warning is not expressed in the form of…

Mozart's "Die Entführung aus dem Serail" is best loved for its memorable music and lively wit. The opera tells the story of the efforts of a Spanish nobleman to rescue his betrothed who is held captive against her will in a Turkish harem.

The starting point of Shchedrin's composition is the tune from Chopin's Prelude in C minor No.28 Op.20. Recorded in the Kongressaal in Munich, it is performed by Rodion Shchedrin himself, Nicolas Economou, Paul Gulda and the American jazz pianist…

This live recording captures the memorable occasion when these two famous jazz pianists met for the first time in the Kongressaal during the Munich Klaviersommer 1983. On two pianos, they play an exciting version of Round Midnight.

Schwetzingen is a tiny town near Heidelberg which has a famous palace with magnificent gardens, not unlike those at Versailles. The Schwetzingen Festival is held every Spring in the palace and commissions a small-scale opera for the palace's…

Schwetzingen is a tiny town near Heidelberg which has a famous palace with magnificent gardens, not unlike those at Versailles. The Schwetzingen Festival is held every Spring in the palace and commissions a small-scale opera for the palace's…