Warning: Contains nudity and scenes of violence.

David McVicar’s powerful 2008 production of Oscar Wilde’s bible-based drama takes the controversially disturbing film 120 Days of Sodom as its visual reference, setting it in a debauched palace in Nazi Germany. Strauss’s ravishing and voluptuous score adds to the sexual alchemy conjured by an international cast led by Nadja Michael in the title role. Filmed for the big screen with high definition cameras and recorded in true surround sound.

Salome: Nadja Michael
Herodias: Michaela Schuster
Herod: Thomas Moser
Narraboth: Joseph Kaiser
Jokanaan: Michael Volle

The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House
Conductor: Philippe Jordan
Stage Director: David McVicar

Recorded live at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden on the 3rd, 6th and 8th March 2008.

Perhaps the most celebrated ballet of the Romantic era, Adolphe Adam’s intoxicating ballet Giselle is the dramatic story of a peasant girl whose betrayal by her aristocratic lover causes her to go mad before dying and returning as a ghost. Featuring the fabulous Alina Cojocaru in the title role and Johan Kobborg as a torn Count Albrecht, Peter Wright’s sparkling production and John Macfarlane’s pastoral designs create an opulent feast for the eyes, here captured in High Definition video and true surround sound.

Giselle: Alina Cojocaru
Count Albrecht: Johan Kobborg
Myrtha (Queen of the Wilis): Marianela Nuñez
Hilarion (a forester): Martin Harvey

The Royal Ballet
The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House
Choreographer: Marius Petipa
Conductor: Boris Gruzin

Recorded live at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London in January 2006.

World-renowned tenor Plácido Domingo is joined by Angela Gheorghiu, Roberto Alagna and a host of other international stars including Susan Graham, in the famously glittering 1996 Gala Concert on the stage of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Asher Fisch conducts the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House in a programme of many of the world’s best-loved operatic arias with music by composers including Bizet, Massenet, Gounod, Mozart and Donizetti.

Plácido Domingo
Roberto Alagna
Angela Gheorghiu

The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House
Conductor: Asher Fisch
Stage Director: David Edwards

Recorded live at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London on 12th December 1996.

 

PLEASE NOTE: A BLU-RAY PLAYER IS REQUIRED TO VIEW THIS DISC - IT WILL NOT FUNCTION ON A STANDARD DVD PLAYER.

In 2000, seventeen years after George Balanchine’s death, a rare and precious ballet arrived at the Paris Opéra: Jewels, a work first performed by the New York City Ballet in 1967. This alluring, abstract ballet, a triptych in which each piece sparkles with the brilliance of a precious stone, is a lyric tribute to women and to the capital cities of the great dance schools. Couturier, painter and craftsman Christian Lacroix created the glorious costumes and sets which, together with the outstanding performances of the dancers and the sensitive musical direction of Paul Connelly, results in a celebration of sumptuous splendour.

Aurélie Dupont, Marie-Agnès Gillot, Agnès Letestu, Clairemarie Osta, Laëtitia Pujol, Jean-Guillaume Bart, Kader Belarbi, Mathieu Ganio

Ballet de L’Opéra national de Paris 
Orchestre de L’Opéra national de Paris

Choreography: George Balanchine 
Musical Director: Paul Connelly
Set & costume design: Christian Lacroix

Recorded live at the Opéra national de Paris, October & November 2005.

PLEASE NOTE: A BLU-RAY PLAYER IS REQUIRED TO VIEW THIS DISC - IT WILL NOT FUNCTION ON A STANDARD DVD PLAYER.

Making full use of Drottningholm Theatre’s unique 17th century Baroque theatre machinery, as well as his deep creative understanding of the profound drama of the work, stage director Pierre Audi creates a production of Zoroastre that completely accords with the spirit of Rameau. True to the form of the tragédie lyrique, choreographer Amir Hosseinpour’s dances perfectly match the weight and meaning of both plot and music. The ensemble, Les Talens Lyriques, reinforced with musicians from the Drottningholm Court Theatre Orchestra and Chorus, is expertly and passionately led into the musical stratosphere by musical director Christophe Rousset. This intensely dramatic production is captured live in vibrant High Definition video and true surround sound.

Zoroastre: Anders J Dahlin
Abramane: Evgueniy Alexiev
Amélite: Sine Bundgaard
Erinice: Anna Maria Panzarella
Zopire/La Vengeance: Lars Arvidson
Narbanor: Marcus Schwartz
Oromasès/Ariman: Gérard Théruel
Céphie: Ditte Andersen

The Drottningholm Theatre Orchestra and Chorus
Les Talens Lyriques
Musical Director: Christophe Rousset
Stage Director: Pierre Audi
 
Recorded live at Drottningholms Slottsteater on the Drottningholm Island, Stockholm in July 2006.