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.

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…

Consisting of former members of Frank Zappa's band, this concert pays tribute to the music of the maestro, featuring all the 'hits' of his musical history, from "Chunga's Revenge" to "Easy Meat", performed with breathtaking virtuosity.

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…

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

The dissolute knight, Sir John Falstaff, unable to pay his bills at the Garter Inn, decides to exert his charms on Mistress Ford and Mistress Page, wives of wealthy merchants. The two women, aided by Mistress Quickly, devise a plot to outwit him. But…

The televised recording of this singular concert with the Russian monastery choir took place in the Cathedral of Ulm, the tallest Gothic parish church in Germany. In conjunction with the millenium of the Christianization of Russia, the monastery…

A Christmas television special from Prague. The programme features a Thanksgiving service in the beautiful Baroque Church of St. Jacob and carol singing in the medieval Old Town Square.

This magnificent production of Wagner's masterpiece at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, brilliantly directed by Götz Friedrich and staged by Peter Sykora, was not only a great success in Berlin, but in Tokyo as well.

Herbert Blomstedt appears with the Gewandhaus Orchestra for the last time as the Gewandhaus Music Director in this recording. After seven successful years in Leipzig, the maestro performs a work in the Thomas Church that is especially dear to him…