The Minotaur

Manon Lescaut's production was updated and it worked. Highly professional production with two of the best performances I've ever witnessed in any opera. By the end of the third act I was crying and by the end of the fourth act I could not stop the tears. These two can not only sing up a storm they act one as well. This is the best Manon Lescaut I've ever seen and hope the upcoming one at the Met is as good. It truly was thrilling. Kaufmann and Opolais were unbelievably fantastic and the orchestra was superb. Pappano is the kind of maestro you want to sing for as he coaches as in the old days of maestros like Levine, etc. This is highly recommended as a keeper!

Live from the Teatro Carlo Felice di Genova 2003

Part of Tutto Verdi series - Otello (2008) Salzburg. 'Otello' is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Shakespeare's play 'Othello'. It was Verdi's penultimate opera, and was first performed at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, on 5 February 1887.

The legendary Patrice Chéreau (Bayreuth Jahrhundertring, Queen Margot, Intimacy) directed this production of Richard Wagner's psychological music drama Tristan und Isolde at the Teatro alla Scala in 2007. It stars Ian Storey, Waltraud Meier, Matti Salminen, Gerd Grochowski and Michelle DeYoung; the Orchestra and Chorus of the Teatro Alla Scala provide musical support, under the baton of Daniel Barenboim.

The 1959 concert finds Callas just 1 year before the loss of her voice and although her voice is not what it was in 1952 you can still hear the Vocal Miracle. The repertoire interchanges between heavy dramatic soprano (Lady Macbeth, Elisabetta), to soprano coloratura (Rosina) and to soprano dramatico d'agilita (Imogene in Pirata, Gulia). The maturity of the interpretation regarding the legatti, the phrasing is astounding and Callas dominates each aria singing them in the only possible way. "Tu che invoco" appears as a cataract of dramatic phrases in a fine classical style of this classical period opera, then Lady Macbeth appears diabolical & dark although she avoids keeping her voice in the high C, her Rosina is sparkling and facile in the coloratura as if it is a natural way of speaking and Elisabetta is where time stops: the drama in this aria holds a metaphysical aura. Finally her entire Mad Scene from Pirata shows all her talent as an actress and bel canto singer.

Film version of the Verdi opera about lovers on the run after the accidental death of the girl's father.

Live performance, part of Monteverdi cycle staged by Oper Zürich with Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducting the Zürich Opera House Monteverdi Ensemble. Staged and directed by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle

Live performance, part of Monteverdi cycle staged by Oper Zürich with Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducting the Zürich Opera House Monteverdi Ensemble. Staged and directed by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle. Filmed 28 March – 20 April 1978 in Vienna, sound recorded 1 – 25 December 1977 in Zürich.

Notre Dame de Paris tells the story of Quasimodo, the hunchbacked bell-ringer of the cathedral of Notre-Dame and of his impossible and tragic love for Esmeralda, a beautiful gypsy. A love condemned by injustice and hypocrisy. Quasimodo forced by his ugliness to look at the world from the top of a tower one day he falls madly in love with Esmeralda who sees dancing and singing on the square in front of the cathedral. But Esmeralda is in love with Febo, the handsome captain of the King's guards. Febo is fiancé of Fiordaliso, a young and rich bourgeois, but the exotic and sensual beauty of the gypsy does not leave indifferent the man who immediately falls in love with her. Even Frollo, the archdeacon of the cathedral, is attracted by the gypsy and spying on the moves of the two lovers in a raptus of jealousy and repressed carnal desire to get rid of the rival stabbing Febo behind.

Macbeth" was Giuseppe Verdi's first attempt at music drama and also the first manifestation of his profound love for Shakespeare's work. Verdi took great pains with this opera, displaying special enthusiasm for it as he concentrated on the main characters of Lady Macbeth, Macbeth and the witches. This recording of Luca Ronconi's production is conducted by Giuseppe Sinopoli, who brings fresh color to Verdi's score. The cast, headed by Renato Bruson and Mara Zampieri, are strongly supported by a fine-toned and adaptable chorus who ably meet the demands of Verdi's great "chorus opera.

The plans of a publicity agent to put on a charity concert are nearly wrecked by a lawyer who wants to take over a restaurant, but the situation is saved by local co-operation.