Bertrand de Billy - DVD video

With Joyce DiDonato as Cinderella capturing all hearts – not just Prince Charming’s – Massenet’s enchanting, sophisticated retelling of the classic fairytale makes its debut at Covent Garden in a charming and witty production by Laurent Pelly.

The Cinderella story seen through the eyes of the belle époque, Massenet’s Cendrillon was first performed at the Opéra-Comique in Paris in 1899 and its gorgeous score embraces pathos, pastiche, broad humour, subtle eroticism and sheer magic.

Neglected for much of the 20th century, this entrancing and often surprising opera has found a firmer place in the repertoire over the past 30 years. In Summer 2011 its debut at London’s Royal Opera House was built around mezzo soprano Joyce DiDonato, who first took on the title role at the Santa Fe festival in 2006; there, as at Covent Garden, the staging was by French director Laurent Pelly, celebrated for his production of Donizetti’s La Fille du regiment with Natalie Dessay and Juan Diego Flórez (Virgin Classics DVD 5099951900298).

The décor is inspired by a venerable volume of Charles Perrault’s fairy tales bound in red morocco leather, and the dominant colours are white, black and crimson, though mauve is chosen for the body-hugging gown worn by the voluptuous, capricious Fairy Godmother of Eglise Gutierrez as she scales spellbinding coloratura heights.

Joyce DiDonato,“singing the title-role with all the gleaming tone, pellucid projection and smiling warmth for which she is justly celebrated” (Daily Telegraph), brings a touching simplicity and honesty to her portrayal of the downtrodden daughter. The New York Times found her performance “thoroughly enchanting. She won sympathy for the girl’s plight at once, and her exquisite articulation of the repeated phrase “Vous êtes mon Prince Charmant” in the first love duet — surely the opera’s most ravishing moments — was flawless.” Her Prince, whose fin de siècle world-weariness evaporates when he meets his true love, is sung en travesti by another mezzo, Alice Coote, described by the Financial Times as “the most perfectly elegant Prince Charming ... she sings with glorious fullness and confidence”.

The only principal role sung by a man is Cendrillon’s good-hearted, but ineffectual father, Pandolfe, portrayed here by bass-baritone Jean-Philippe Lafont, a mainstay of the opera scene in France, but here making his Covent Garden debut. His gentle character hardly stands a chance against his armour-plated wife, the formidable Madame de la Haltière, here embodied in flamboyant vocal and physical style by Polish contralto Ewa Podles: her cavernous lower notes shake the Royal Opera’s foundations, while her opulently padded derrière sweeps all before (and behind) it.

A star-studded benefit concert to celebrate Ioan Holender’s farewell after 19 years as the director of one of the world’s leading and most famous opera houses. The highly acclaimed cast was headed by brilliant singers such as Diana Damrau, Natalie Dessay, Angelika Kirchschlager, Waltraud Meier, Anna Netrebko, Pjotr Beczala, Plácido Domingo, Thomas Hampson, Leo Nucci, Thomas Quasthoff, Ramon Vargas and many others. No fewer than twelve conductors including Marco Armiliato, Bertrand de Billy, Fabio Luisi, Zubin Mehta, Antonio Pappano and Franz Welser-Möst led the way through a program lasting over four hours at the fully-packed Wiener Staastoper.

Subtitles: English, German, French, Spanish, Chinese

Premiere at Theater an der Wien /Das Neue Operhaus - January 13, 2009.

Filmed by ORF

Soprano Natalie Dessay leaves the dizzy heights of Bellini’s Amina, Donizetti’s Marie and Massenet’s Manon to inhabit the more discreet emotional and vocal world of Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande with a cast of fellow francophones.

“There’s more to life than top notes,” Natalie Dessay has said. She has, of course, made her reputation with the florid, stratospheric heroines of Romantic French and Italian opera, but in this new DVD from Vienna she portrays a heroine who presents few opportunities for vocal display, but many for subtle characterisation – Debussy’s Mélisande. Dessay had sung the role just once before, in concert in Edinburgh in 2005. Pelléas et Mélisande is full of ambiguity and its vocal lines closely reflect Maurice Maeterlink’s often enigmatic text. A few unaccompanied, ballad-like phrases are the closest Mélisande gets to an aria.

For this production, premiered in January 2009 at the Theater an der Wien, Dessay’s French and French-Canadian colleagues included stage director Laurent Pelly -- celebrated for riotous comedy (notably La fille de regiment with Dessay, also a Virgin Classics DVD – and his preferred designer, Chantal Thomas; Dessay’s real-life husband, bass-baritone Laurent Naouri as her jealous stage husband, Golaud; the lyric baritone Stéphane Degout as her Pelléas, and the contralto Marie-Nicole Lemieux as his and Golaud’s mother, Geneviève. The high-calibre Gallic line-up was completed by conductor Bertrand de Billy.

Opera News reported: “In a pre-production interview, Dessay admitted that Mélisande poses few vocal challenges, noting that the role lies comfortably enough for both sopranos and lightweight mezzos. Indeed, the role is vocally a good fit for her — splendid, in fact … Every stage direction was scrupulously followed …Naouri, Dessay's real-life husband, particularly commanded the evening with his Golaud — gut-wrenching, magnificently sung and unusually young. For once, it seemed that Golaud and Pelléas really could be half-brothers, and Degout was Naouri's match, singing with gorgeous burnished tone and erotic passion. The magnificent Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien, under Bertrand de Billy, dominated the proceedings with a rapturous performance. “

Le Monde wrote that: “The orchestra exuded a subtly poisonous Debussy with a throbbing vein of Wagner, bruised by the Symbolism of Maurice Maeterlinck. Pelly excels in comedy, but here he took Pelléas towards the depths of Edgar Allan Poe’s Fall of the House of Usher [a subject explored by Debussy in an unfinished opera]… in Chantal Thomas’ mangrove-swamp décor, with its tall smooth columns (tree trunks or pillars?), shipwrecked remains, stylised rocks and curtains of lianas … With her flowing blue dress and long blonde hair Dessay was indeed like ‘a bird from somewhere else’ [a quotation from the libretto]… Stephane Degout was brimming with vocal sex appeal … Laurent Naouri provided an exemplary portrayal of Golaud.”

The Wiener Zeitung praised Laurent Pelly for bringing “a psychological dimension to the symbolically charged language. At his disposal was an ensemble of singers capable of the most refined interpretation, above all Natalie Dessay … who portrayed her character with the most delicate nuances and verbal flexibility, encompassing both vocal radiance and broken utterance … Billy’s interpretation embraced detail, concentration and intense expanses of sound. He followed the singers’ every word. On the first night the audience cheered singers, orchestras and conductor unreservedly.”

Subtitles: English, French, German, Spanish, Italian

Features two of opera’s biggest superstars, Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazón, in the roles they have performed to live audiences all over the world.

Comprehensive and successful commercial run in cinemas, screening in all major towns and cities across the UK and Ireland, and opening in London’s Barbican Centre and Apollo West End to outstanding figures.

Exclusive DVD bonus features, including in-depth interviews with stars Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazón and director Robert Dornhelm, behind-the-scenes of La Bohème, limited edition collector’s booklet and more.

“Succulently dramatic… a tribute to the stars’ power” The Times

“breathtakingly dramatic and emotional… full to the brim with some of the best vocal talents of today” Opera Now

“beautifully sung all round” Philip French, The Observer

“the world’s finest soprano-tenor team… Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazón don’t only sing with beauty and power; they can also act” The Evening Standard

Set & Costume design by Johannes Leiacker

Arthaus presents the world première of the unabridged version of Don Carlos at the Vienna State Opera, in a staging by the world renowned German director Peter Konwitschny. This staging in its unabridged version remains true to Giuseppe Verdi’s original vision of his grand opera, when it was premiered in Paris in 1867.

However, during the rehearsals it soon became clear that Don Carlos would not fit within the convention of duration, and Verdi was forced, against his will, to make cuts. Over the next 20 years, he would repeatedly turn out new versions of the opera, none of which ultimately left him satisfied. Therefore it was not until October 2004 that his original work – without cuts and sung in the original French - received its world première, now available for home viewing on DVD. Led by French conductor Bertrand de Billy the singers were hailed by audience and critics. The international cast were all renowned soloists on the world’s opera stages and also long-term stalwarts of the Vienna Opera.

Sound Format: LPCM Stereo, DD 5.1, DTS 5.1

Picture Format: 16:9

DVD Format: 2 x DVD 9, NTSC

Subtitle Languages: GB, DE, FR, ES, IT

Running Time: 247 mins

FSK: 0

Claus Guth - staging

Wild animals live in the woods. Robbers hide there. Mystery is at home there. And, when the woods are on the stage of Salzburg’s Haus für Mozart, a notorious ladies’ man and his unsavoury accomplice can also find shelter there. For here, in the dense forest planted by director Claus Guth, is the home of the rugged macho Don Giovanni, who, assisted by Leporello, lures the ladies with the heady scent of danger. In Guth’s almost cinematic Salzburg Festival production, every character in Mozart’s most realistic opera seems to carry a back-story of thwarted love and frustration. Everyone appears to be seeking either salvation or damnation in the woods – a compelling concept that removes the opera from its traditional pseudo-Seville squares and palaces.

And when Don Giovanni is played by Christopher Maltman, it’s no wonder that Donna Anna (Annette Dasch), Donna Elvira (Dorothea Röschmann) and even Zerlina (Ekaterina Siurina) are ready to throw themselves at his feet. With a physique as striking as his full-bodied baritone voice, Maltman embodies Don Giovanni as an almost reluctant seducer, a man fated to bring misery to women and, ultimately, to himself. Next to Maltman, it is Uruguayan bass-baritone Erwin Schrott who rivets the audience in this production: Schrott’s Leporello is an event in his own right, the event of the Salzburg Don Giovanni (Die Welt).

Under Bertrand de Billy, the Wiener Philharmoniker play with refreshing verve and spirit.

Picture format DVD: NTSC 16:9

Sounds formats DVD: PCM Stereo, DD 5.0, DTS 5.0

Region code: 0

Booklet notes: English, German, French

Subtitles: Italiano, English, Deutsch, Français, Español, 日本語

Running time: 177 mins

Audience: all

FSK: 6

"The raison d'etre of this new production of Lucrezia Borgia at the Bayerische Staatsoper is undoubtedly the great Edita Gruberova. Sopranos come and go, but there is always Edita, who has been in front of the public for almost forty years and still going strong, thank you very much. At the age of 62, many of her contemporaries would likely have retired to a teaching post somewhere, or at least moved on to the old ladies, the maids, the witches, and other assorted "character roles" in opera, or disappeared from public view altogether. Not Edita Gruberova, who remains the undisputed Queen of Bel Canto. …Her coloratura - and the seemingly infinite variations in dynamics - is as amazing as ever. …Lucrezia is not exactly a charming character, poisoning everyone in sight, but Gruberova managed to make her sympathetic.The final scene was a vocal and dramatic tour de force that one rarely encounters these days. She was well partnered by a fellow Slovak, tenor Pavel Breslik, who was an exceptionally fine Gennaro. Celebrated in Mozart, I wasn't prepared for his idiomatic Italian, his plangent timbre and stylish yet heart-onsleeve singing/acting was an unalloyed pleasure. Looking handsome and youthful, he complemented the soprano perfectly…he is a natural candidate for any director wanting to show some flesh onstage, witness his Idamante last season. Christof Loy had him scraping a knee, taking off his shirt ostensibly to wipe off the blood.Another example - the libretto calls for Gennaro to destroy Lucrezia's coat of arms. In this contemporary production, it was replaced by her name in large illuminated letters attached to the gray background. Gennario rips the B off her name and throws it on the stage floor - rather amusing as "ORGIA" remains on the wall, the implications of which rather unmistakable. The production is extremely pared-down, with really no set to speak of, a bare stage save for a few office chairs.Yet there is something to be said about this approach, as it allows one to focus on the emotional and dramatic core of the work. ...Ultimately this is a vehicle for the prima donna so nothing else really matters, especially when the diva delivered in spades like last evening…The third vocal standout was British mezzo Alice Coote as Maffio Orsini.The Gennaro-Maffio duet was a highlight of the evening…her Act Two extended scena was terrific.

BONUS: The Art of Bel Canto - Edita Gruberova A Portrait an empathic portrait of the Queen of coloratura, Edita Gruberova, prima donna assoluta.

NTSC 16:9, PCM Stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS 5.1

Region Code: 0

Original language: Italian

Subtitles: English, German, French, Italian

Booklet Notes: English, German, French

Running Time: 129 mins + 54 mins Documentary

German FSK: 6