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1-50 of 53
- An Aussie businessman is trying to find out why and by whom he was kidnapped and then later released with no explanation.
- When Korean composer Unsuk Chin's opera was first performed by the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, it caused a sensation among music critics worldwide. Based on Lewis Carroll's famous and fascinatingly enigmatic novel Alice in Wonderland, it is a seductive, enchanting, sensuous opera set to a modern, ear-pleasing score - a triumph of creative fantasy. Unsuk Chin was born in Seoul in 1961, studied with György Ligeti in Hamburg and now lives in Berlin. She has an acute ear for instrumentation, orchestral colours and rhythmic imagery. Her compositions are modern in language but lyrical in their communicative power. Kent Nagano, a long-time supporter of Chin's music, expertly conducted the Bavarian State Opera and a team of wonderful singer-actors including international stars like Dietrich Henschel and Gwyneth Jones. The opera about Alice's search for her identity - "her reality in the appearance of the world" - as director Achim Freyer put it, switches from delicacy to cuteness to grotesquery and back again. The rather conventional Alice starts following her dreams, meeting a white rabbit that guides her through a wonderland. Alice views it all with amazement and learns - finally returning to the real world, richer for the experience. The phenomenal fairy-tale settings and production were in the hands of Achim Freyer, who created a firework of colour and form. The marvellous costumes and puppets were created by Nina Weitzner, who was named "Costume Designer of the Year" by the German music magazine Opernwelt for her imaginative designs. And in a survey of the magazine's opera critics, Unsuk Chin's opera, which closed Kent Nagano's first season at the Bavarian State Opera, was hailed as the "World Première of the Year". This live recording of the premiere in the Nationaltheater in Munich in June 2007 provides a feast of audiovisual entertainment.
- Production of Mozart's opera about the Spanish nobleman who seeks to rescue his beloved Konstanze from the hands of the Pasha.
- A one-hour version of Tchaikovsky's classic ballet, with a somewhat revised storyline reminiscent of "The Wizard of Oz".
- A suite of seven videos titled "Burning", "Knifing", "Jumping", "Hara-kiri", "Strangulation", "Consumption" and "Madness" - created for the opera "7 Deaths of Maria Callas" by Marina Abramovic, Petter Skavlan and Nabil Elderkin.
- the story of a sinner who is condemned to sail the seas until the day of judgment, to die of thirst until his sin is redeemed by the selfless love of a woman.
- Bellini's radiant retelling of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is a beacon in the bel canto tradition. San Francisco Opera's co-production features two of the greatest voices in bel canto together for the first time: mezzo Joyce DiDonato and soprano Nicole Cabell. Their compelling duet is one of the finest marriages between two voices in many, many years. The production, directed by Vincent Broussard and featuring costumes by Christian Lecroix, is captured in brilliant HD.
- Judith is a prelude to the one-act opera BLUEBEARD by Hungarian composer Béla Bartók. A sexual predator pursues women to capture and torture them is caught out by a female police officer posing as an escort.
- The staging is surreal, the plot expressionistic. Summary is too difficult. Suffice to say that this may delight fans of the Boulez-Cheroux Wagner Ring Cycle. One can hear Wagner transformed in Hindemith, and see some of the cast in different roles.
- Barber aids count to woo the ward of a doctor, and prevent the doctor from marrying her. Sung in German.
- A look at musician Richard Wagner.
- Medora, a young Greek girl, is sold to Pasha by a slave dealer. The pirate Conrad seizes Medora and declares his love for her. Conrad's right-hand-man, who is jealous of Conrad, sends Medora back to the slave dealer who again sells her to Pasha. Conrad and his men show up to take Medora away again but he is recognized through his disguise, captured, and sentenced to death. To save his life, Medora, who is in love with Conrad, plots with a slave girl, Gulnare, to escape. Medora agrees to marry Pasha but during the ceremony Gulnare takes Medora's place, having the ring placed on her finger. That evening Medora dances for Pasha, having convinced him to lay down his weapons, and Conrad enters to take her away. Gulnare produces the ring and declares herself Pasha's lawful wife. The ship on which Medora and Conrad escape sinks in a terrible storm but the two lovers are saved when they wash up on a rocky island.
- 1941 nahm sich Sergej Prokofjew während des 2. Weltkriegs Tolstois "Krieg und Frieden" zur Vorlage für ein monumentales Opernprojekt. Die komplexe Geschichte handelt von Liebe und Leid zur Zeit von Napoleons Feldzug in Russland. Erstmals führt die Bayerische Staatsoper mit einem internationalen Team um Dmitri Tcherniakov und Vladimir Jurowski die Vertonung des Klassikers der Weltliteratur in München auf. Erstmals in München wird Sergej Prokofjews Monumentaloper "Krieg und Frieden", zum 70. Todestag des Komponisten aufgeführt. Das gewaltige Werk basiert auf Leo Tolstois Klassiker der Weltliteratur gleichen Namens. Allein die rund 40 Solistinnen und Solisten verdeutlichen die beachtlichen Ausmaße dieser Oper. Verantwortlich für die Inszenierung zeichnet Dmitri Tcherniakov mit Vladimir Jurowski am Dirigentenpult. Leo Tolstoi schuf mit seinem Roman "Krieg und Frieden" einen Weltklassiker des russischen Realismus. Tolstoi verwebt für seine Erzählung die Einzelschicksale verschiedener Familien der russischen Gesellschaft zur Zeit der napoleonischen Kriege in Russland und schafft damit ein detailreiches und dokumentarisches Sittenbild einer ganzen Epoche. Prokofjews Adaption fokussiert sich im ersten Teil auf die amourösen Verstrickungen rund um die Hauptfigur Natascha. Fürst Andrei Bolkonski verliebt sich während einer Ballnacht in sie, doch ihre Verlobung steht unter keinem glücklichen Stern. Die verheiratete Helene Besuchow macht Natascha mit ihrem Bruder Anatol Kuragin bekannt, der Natascha seine Liebe gesteht. Während er ihre Flucht plant, stürzt Natascha in eine Krise. Doch der Plan scheitert. Durch Helenes Mann Pierre Besuchow erfährt Natascha, dass Anatol bereits verheiratet ist und gesteht ihr seinerseits, dass er in sie verliebt ist. Als Pierre Anatol zur Rede stellt und ihn auffordert, Moskau zu verlassen, werden sie jäh von den aufmarschierenden französischen Truppen unterbrochen. Der zweite Teil verfolgt die Geschehnisse um die Schlacht bei Borodino, aus der Napoleon als Sieger hervorgeht. Um Napoleon zum Rückzug zu zwingen, beschließen die Bürger Moskaus im dritten Teil, ihre Stadt anzuzünden. Pierre wird als Brandstifter gefasst und entgeht knapp seiner Hinrichtung. Seine Frau Helene und Nataschas Verlobter Andrei kommen in den Wirren ums Leben, doch erfährt Pierre, dass Natascha am Leben sei. Ein General verkündet schließlich den Sieg Russlands. 1941 machte sich Sergej Prokofjew den Roman nach dem deutschen Überfall auf die damalige Sowjetunion zur Vorlage eines gewaltigen nationalen Opernprojektes. Das Werk galt wegen seiner Vielschichtigkeit lange Zeit als ungeeignet für eine Opernadaption. Prokofjew widmete sich dem ehrgeizigen Versuch, die verflochtenen Handlungsstränge in eine musikalische Essenz zu überführen. Die Parallelen zwischen der Handlung zur Zeit der napoleonischen Kriege und dem 2. Weltkrieg führten zur Entstehungszeit der Oper zu einem öffentlichen Diskurs. Nachdem Prokofjew seine erste Version der Komposition 1943 beendet hatte, musste das Werk durch politische Beschlüsse immer wieder umgearbeitet, Szenen gestrichen oder ergänzt und Texte umgeschrieben werden. Noch bis zu seinem Tod 1953 arbeitete Prokofjew an der Oper, eine vollständige Uraufführung zu Lebzeiten blieb aus. Ein Jahr nach dem russischen Angriff auf die Ukraine hat das Werk, das als russisches Nationalwerk gilt, an Brisanz nicht verloren; eine Herausforderung, mit der sich das Team um Regisseur Dmitri Tcherniakov und den Musikalischen Leiter Vladimir Jurowski intensiv beschäftigt hat.
- The Snow Queen is Hans Abrahamsen's first opera, composed to a self-penned libretto, based on Hans Christian Andersen's eponymous fairy tale. Following an in-depth study of the topic of snow and a life-long obsession with Andersen's fairy tales, Abrahamsen composed the opera between 2014 and 2018. Hans Abrahamsen's music, with it's smooth transitions and subtly modified repeats, lends the lyrics both depth and lightness. He is keen to point out the range of avenues for interpretation available. " It's possible to read the fairy tale in a variety of ways. It contains many mysteries which are open to numerous interpretations." Accompanying Barbara Hannigan is a top-class ensemble of singers, including Peter Rose, Katarinya Dalayman and Rachael Wilson. Cornelius Meister is the musical director, currently general music director at the Staatsoper Stuttgart. Director Andreas Kriegenburg's production of The Snow Queen is a touching story by adults, for an adult audience, offering a journey into the innermost regions of the human soul. Recorded during the premiere run in the presence of the composer and in close collaboration with him, this release captures an important work of new musical theatre.