Advanced search
- TITLES
- NAMES
- COLLABORATIONS
Search filters
Enter full date
to
or just enter yyyy, or yyyy-mm below
to
to
to
Exclude
Only includes titles with the selected topics
to
In minutes
to
1-14 of 14
- The story of a geriatric ward in a small Yorkshire hospital threatened with closure.
- An opera by Benjamin Britten, on a libretto by E.M. Forster and Eric Crozier, adapted from the story by Herman Melville. Billy Budd is a young sailor aboard a British man-o'-war, persecuted by his master-at-arms, Claggart. Accused of mutiny, Budd accidently strikes Claggart dead, leaving Captain Vere with no choice but to hang him.
- La Traviata tells the moving story of how the beautiful but fragile courtesan Violetta is coerced into sacrificing her one hope of personal happiness for the sake of her lover's reputation.
- Two best friends, lyricist Hunter and composer Jeff, try to write a hit musical they'll show at the New York Musical Theatre Festival. The only problem is that they have only three weeks.
- Classic 1986 ENO production. Framed as the bizarre dreams of a sleeping Victorian teenager (Eilene Hannan) who dreams herself as Rusalka, and bargains everything she has with a witch (Ann Howard) for a prince who's love may wane.
- Mike Leigh directs ENO's comic opera The Pirates of Penzance by Gilbert and Sullivan.
- ENO's revival of Calixto Bieito's hugely successful production of Carmen. Steeped in the political and historical influences of his native Spain, Bietito's Carmen reveals a modern, uncompromising approach to this masterpiece.
- On 8th January 1735 at the Covent Garden in London, Georg Friederich Handel presented his new opera Ariodante on a libretto by Antonio Salvi adapted by Paolo Rolli and inspired by Ariosto. The opera did not immediately win public favour and thus failed to furnish a definitive solution for the fate of Handel's company, but with time it was to be understood and appreciated and has remained on playbills among the more successful and interesting titles. Handel's particular attention to the expressive aspect was most probably the reason for the opera's limited commercial success: the characters fit only partially into the customary types of opera of the day. The tendency to formulate autonomous patterns in the expressive genre is also underlined by an illustrious contemporary, John Mainwaring, in his Memoirs of the life of George Frederick Handel. Extraordinary is also the strength of the instrumental composition, which again in Ariodante is intended now as support to the voices now as independent, coinciding with steps in the sinfonia and with delightful dance motives. In this production of the Spoleto Festival, at his 50th anniversary, Alan Curtis conducts the Complesso Barocco and an extraordinarily agile Ann Hallenberg in the title role. Scenes and costumes by John Pascoe. Together with Giulio Cesare and Rodelinda, Ariodante is considered one of Handel's operatic masterpieces. It was composed for London's Covent Garden theatre, where it was first performed on January 8th, 1735. Alan Curtis and his Complesso Barocco rank among the best specialists in baroque music, and regularly record for Virgin, Deutsche Grammophone and now also for Dynamic. Thanks to the interesting and personal touch of the director Alan Pascoe, this production comes across as a very credible show. Pascoe and Curtis, incidentally, already gained remarkable success with Vivaldi's Ercole sul Termodonte, published by Dynamic in 2007
- The Earl of Essex, Robert Devereux, is hot-blooded and jealous of anyone who might win the Queen's favour. He provokes a fight with the tournament victor, Charles Blount, Lord Mountjoy, but then the Queen and her entourage arrive. She orders the two men to make up, but later she discusses the rivalry of Mountjoy and Essex with her chief adviser, Sir Robert Cecil. She admires Essex, but Cecil warns her of the political dangers of showing affection for him. He also reports that a new Armada may be on the way. Essex comes in and requests permission to go to Ireland to suppress the Tyrone rebellion. He accuses Cecil and Sir Walter Raleigh of intriguing against him. The Queen resists and sends him away. Essex complains to his wife Frances about the way Elizabeth thwarts his desire to go to Ireland. Lady Essex gives a ball at which she dresses extravagantly and looks finer than her queen, but when the ladies return from changing their dresses after a dance, Lady Essex says that her dress was stolen, and it is clear that the larger woman, Queen Elizabeth, is wearing it. Essex is furious about his wife's humiliation, but the Queen says he will be appointed Lord Deputy in Ireland. In the final act, however, Essex has failed to put down the Irish rebellion. Though Elizabeth likes him, she cannot approve his failure or his paranoia and political battles at court. The Queen orders him imprisoned, and some citizens sympathize with Essex though others declare him a traitor and call for his death. Queen Elizabeth must now ponder her relationship with Essex in order to come to the best decision.
- Experience the searing psychological drama, intrigue and suspense of Benjamin Britten's opera Peter Grimes, performed by English National Opera and screened live from the London Coliseum in stunning cinematic HD.