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- The story of the prince Tamino and his zestful sidekick Papageno, who are sent on a mission to save a beautiful princess from the clutches of evil.
- Violetta meets Alfredo and quickly falls for him. After the lovers run away together, they live in bliss for a short time. However, Alfredo's father, Giorgio, starts to interfere, concerned that Violetta's bad reputation will affect the marriage prospects of Alfredo's sister. Violetta reluctantly leaves Alfredo, but his love is so strong that it leads him to actions that have tragic consequences.
- The crazed brother of a condemned killer sent to the gas chamber swears vengeance on those he holds responsible for his brother's execution.
- A very visual and profound dramatization of the various sections of Carmina Burana, a symphonic piece composed by Carl Orff about medieval poetry by an anonymous author.
- Sebastian, Chief Archer in the Roman Army, converts to Christianity. A favorite of Emperor Augustus, Sebastian's devotion to Christ eventually drives him to reject the Emperor's love, causing the Emperor to angrily order Sebastian to be shot with arrows by his fellow archers. The film retells this mystery play with a definite 'art-house' approach: an almost poetical use of language, singing, dancing, some homoerotic themes, and some special effects.
- The opera "La Bohème" is about the tragic love story of Mimí and Rodolfo, set in Paris in the year 1830.
- The Duke lives the high life. The court jester taunts too well. Revenge has unintended consequences both times it is attempted.
- A documentary which shows, in great detail, the making of the 1985 Bernstein-conducted recording of the entire score of "West Side Story", featuring operatic stars.
- The story is set in southern Italy and recounts the tragedy of Canio, the lead clown in a commedia dell'arte troupe, his wife Nedda, and her lover, Silvio.
- A young Japanese geisha clings to the belief that her arrangement with a visiting American naval officer is a loving and permanent marriage.
- Puccini's opera shot in the actual locations of the action in Rome: Tosca and Cavaradossi are in love, but the tyrant Scarpia also longs for Tosca. While searching for an opponent on the run, he arrests Cavaradossi and blackmails Tosca.
- When the Prince and Cenerentola meet, it is love at first sight.
- In the summer of 1830 the impresarios of Teatro Carcano contacted Donizetti and asked him to compose a new opera for the season's opening. At the moment of signing the contract Donizetti still ignored the subject of the new opera, but he knew that the librettist would be Felice Romani and the female protagonist Giuditta Pasta. Success was resounding and unanimous, also with the critics. Donizetti had indeed reached artistic maturity. Anna Bolena tells a human drama of solitude and oppression; it is a work of centered psychological introspection. Donizetti's first great scene of madness is one of the most moving and powerful of the whole history of opera. The new theatrical element introduced by Anna Bolena is that the protagonist's death is not a consequence of moral duty or divine justice, but a plain act of cruelty. A tragedy through and through, then: intense, deep and profoundly romantic. Anna Bolena is a significant work in the history of opera, as well as in Donizetti's own personal history. In this Teatro Donizetti di Bergamo production, Dimitra Theodossiou stands out as a fine interpreter both as a singer and as an actress.
- La Traviata stands or falls on its lead singers and in Norah Amsellem and Rolando Villazon this 2005 Salzburg Festival performance has a pair whose electric interactions and brilliant singing are irresistible. If Amsellem can't quite provide the vocal bloom of the great Violettas of the past, hers is a lovely voice used with intelligence and dramatic intensity and she has the coloratura chops to deliver her Act I showpieces with flair. Villazon's tenor has ping on top, terrific color, and an impressive range of rubato, dynamic shadings, and interesting phrasing that makes Alfredo's music sound newly minted. The Germont is Thomas Hampson, no Verdi baritone but an astute singer and actor. Chorus and smaller roles are fine, the orchestra first-rate. Carlo Rizzi has odd notions about the music (usually too fast, sometimes way too slow) but this Traviata triumphs despite his conducting.
- An Oscar winning look at the life of Albert Rubinstein shortly after he turned 70. It contains some home movies of him and his family, but is primarily him talking and demonstrating his great skill as a pianist.
- When Sir John Falstaff decides that he wants to have a little fun he writes two letters to a pair of Window wives: Mistress Ford and Mistress Page. When they put their heads together and compare missives, they plan a practical joke or two to teach the knight a lesson. But Mistress Ford's husband is a very jealous man and is pumping Falstaff for information of the affair. Meanwhile the Pages' daughter Anne is besieged by suitors.
- Turridu is spotted by his wife, Santuzza, returning from the home of his lover, Lola. He is also seen on the road by Lola's husband, Alfio. While he suspects nothing, Santuzza knows exactly what's happened. Ever loyal, though, she decides to confront her husband instead of telling Alfio.
- Wagner's opera in 3 acts is set in legendary Brittany and Cornwall, with a tragic love story that revolves around the themes of love, night, and death. Isolde is being brought from Ireland to Cornwall by Tristan to be the bride of his uncle, King Mark. Isolde is angry at Tristan because he slew Morold, Isolde's betrothed, who came from Ireland to exact tribute from Cornwall. However, when she sees Tristan, her feelings begin to change. She plans to poison him, but when she and Tristan drink from the same cup, it turns out that Brangäne, her maid and confidante, has filled it with a love potion. At King Mark's castle, the young lovers meet at night for trysts, while Brangäne stands guard. Mark and his courtiers go off hunting one night, and Brangäne warns Isolde Melot, Tristan's supposed friend, has arranged the nocturnal hunt as a trap. Isolde and Tristan disregard this and sing love songs to each other. Then King Mark, Melot and the courtiers burst in on them as the sun begins to rise. Mark asks how they could do this; Tristan says he is willing to go into the realm of night, and Isolde says she will follow him there. Melot and Tristan have a swordfight, and Tristan allows himself to be wounded. In Act 3, Tristan is dying at his castle in Brittany. His servant and friend, Kurwenal, watches over him. They watch for a ship that will bring Isolde, and at last she comes. They share a last moment of love, then he dies in her arms. A second ship arrives with King Mark, who plans to let Tristan and Isolde remain together. Kurwenal attacks them and is slain; Isolde falls on to Tristan's body, dying of grief.
- The highly talented composer Johannes Brahms was a close friend of Clara and Robert Schumann. International music critics put his work on a par with Beethoven's. The docudrama combines dramatic re-enactments with documentary sequences, painting a vivid picture of Brahms's musical pursuits and private life.
- Richard Strauss' classic opera version of the ancient Greek tragedy about the princess Elektra, who dreams of avenging her father Agamemnon's murder by his wife Clytemnestra and her lover.
- The people of the Duchy of Brabant are divided by quarrels and political infighting; also, a devious hostile power left over from the region's pagan past is seeking to subvert the prevailing monotheistic government and to return the Duchy to pagan rule. A mysterious knight, sent by God and possessing superhuman charisma and fighting ability, arrives to unite and strengthen the people, and to defend the innocent noble woman Elsa from a false accusation of murder, but he imposes a condition: the people must follow him without knowing his identity. Elsa in particular must never ask his name, or his heritage, or his origin. The conspirators attempt to undermine her faith in her rescuer, to create doubt among the people, and to force him to leave.
- The Verdi opera, based on Shakespeare's play.
- First brought to the stage in 1967 at Milano's La Scala to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the death of Toscanini, Verdi's Requiem is one of the most important compositions in 19th century liturgical music.
- Operetta concerning the love affair of Niccolò Paganini, the violinist, and Élisa Bonaparte, the younger sister of Napoleon.
- 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.
- Wiener Philharmoniker and Wiener Philharmonia Chor Conducted by Karl Böhm Directed by Vaclav Kaslik
- Wotan tries to cheat two giants, who built Walhalla for him, out of their reward. When the giants kidnap Freia, Wotan steals a ring of power made by the dwarf Alberich and use it as payment instead. Complications ensue.
- An operetta with music by Johann Strauss II. However, he did not see the premiere. Wiener Blut is set at the time of the Congress of Vienna, 1814-1815, an international conference that sought to settle Europe after the upheavals of the Napoleonic Wars, and follows a traditional operetta plot full of mistaken identities. Count Balduin Zedlau, ambassador of the tiny court of Reuss-Schleiz-Greiz, is posted to Vienna. Count Zedlau is married but a real Don Juan always looking for a new encounter. Many of Strauss' compositions are used in the operetta although he did not specifically composed them for the operetta.
- This opera tells the fable of Orpheus, a demigod with a talent for music. When his bride Eurydice dies, he decides to seek her soul in the Underworld. However, things will not be so easier than he initially thinks.