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Libretto Pierre-Louis Moline

Theatrical and musical adaptation in one prologue and three acts by David Alagna

Filmed in High Definition at the Bologna Opera, January 2008

THE PERFORMANCE: Roberto Alagna as Orpheus in his brother David's new version of Gluck’s masterpiece. A major event recorded in Bologna.

Opting for the French-language version of Orpheus, David Alagna was faced with the task of achieving an appropriately subtle adaptation. In a plot transposed to the present day, Eurydice dies in a car accident on the day of her wedding and Orpheus's quest for his beloved is a dream beginning and ending at the cemetery. No happy ending in this interpretation, but a new approach to characterisation:Amore, sung by a baritone, becomes a funeral parlour employee and Orpheus' guide. Orpheus, of course, loses his loved one forever by turning to look back. World famous tenor Roberto Alagna throws himself body and soul into this production. His incredible vitality, flawless timbre and diction make him a great Orpheus. His partner, young Italian soprano Serena Gamberoni, is simply stunning as Eurydice, while French baritone Marc Barrard is suitably terrifying as the guide to the Underworld. The orchestra is conducted by Giampaolo Bisanti, who masterfully brings out all Gluck's poetry, romantic melancholy and depth.

A co-production with the Montpellier Opera.

Colour 16/9 - PCM STEREO, DTS HD MASTER

AUDIO 5.1

Choreography and Stage Direction: Pina Bausch

Set, costume and lighting designs: Rolf Borzik

Filmed in HD at the Palais Garnier February 2008 Orpheus and Eurydice is Pina Bausch's masterpiece and the ultimate symbol of the genius of this German choreographer, who died last June, five days after being diagnosed with cancer. Bausch was the artistic director of the Tanztheater Wuppertal, which she founded in 1973. She had a formidable international reputation as one of modern dance's greatest innovators. Her dance-theatre works include the melancholic Café Müller (1978), in which dancers stumble around the stage crashing into tables and chairs, and a thrilling Rite of Spring (1975), which required the stage to be completely covered with soil. Excerpts from Bausch's Café Müller and another of her works, Masurca Fogo, reached a wider audience when they were featured in Pedro Almodóvar's film Talk to Her (2002). Bausch also appeared in Federico Fellini's 1983 film And the Ship Sails On. In recent months, she had been preparing a 3-D cinema project with Wim Wenders; shooting was slated to commence in September. Bausch continued to perform as a dancer throughout her 60s. Her company last visited the UK in 2008 for a sold-out series of performances, drawing long queues for returns at Sadler's Wells in London.

Guardian critic Judith Mackrell gave the show a five-star review, praising Bausch's ability to "combine movement of shocking visceral intensity with stage visions of often hallucinogenic strangeness".

"She was an artist of the kind that the world is only blessed with from time to time. Her repertoire of works has inspired generations of audiences and artists with an impact that is hard to overestimate." Alistair Spalding, artistic director, Sadler's Wells

Color, 16/9 - PCM STEREO, DTS HD

MASTER AUDIO 5.1

Le ballet : 104 minutes

Subtitles : FR, ENG, DE, SP, IT

This production resuscitates Gounod’s largely forgotten opera Mireille. A triumph for Marc Minkowski, conducting at the Opéra National de Paris, it attracted more than 1 million viewers when broadcast on TV!

No competition on DVD or Bluray.

In 1859, a young Provençal poet, Fredéric Mistral, wrote his masterpiece, Miréio, a vast epic love poem. Gounod, whose Faust was created that year, read Mireille shortly after publication and went to Saint-Rémy de Provence to meet Mistral. Gounod was charmed by the originality of the work, the story being much less contrived than many of those on the operatic stage at the time. The opera has had a difficult career and was revised and altered several times. In 1939, Guy Ferrant and Henri Busser, disciples of Gounod, restored the five-act original and Mireille was finally restored from dancing on a fine midsummer's morning, to the gripping scene in the desert-like Crau region.

BONUS INCLUDES interviews with Marc Minkowski, Nicolas Joel & Christophe Ghristi [26’53]

Production de l’Opéra National de Paris

1 Blu-ray, 2h 32min

NTSC 16:9, Sound : DTS 5.2,

Language: Fr, Subtitles: Fr, Eng, Ger, Spa, It

Staged by Bartlett Sher

Video Director: Brian Large

Rolando Villazón’s Roméo wins Juliette’s heart, with impassioned, refined singing of an emotionally and vocally demanding role. Directed by Bartlett Sher, who telegenically captures the fantastic natural scenery of the famous Felsenreitschule, this first ever production of Gounod ‘s Roméo at the Salzburg Festival benefits from Québecois conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin’s innate understanding. Only 25 and film star beautiful, soprano Nino Machaidze embodies Juliette with unforced girlish charm, gorgeous tone and emotional heat

Bonus features: Villazón relates the Roméo story in his own words; a behind the scenes documentary; and a documentary on the traces of Romeo and Juliet in Italy

Christopher Hogwood conducts the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and a distinguished cast including Danielle de Niese and Charles Workman in Wayne McGregor's new production of Handel's opera in which The Royal Opera and The Royal Ballet appear in a rare and beautifully crafted collaboration. Filmed with High Definition cameras and recorded in true surround sound.

“Charles Workman and Danielle de Niese had bags of vocal and personal charm in the title roles, with strong contributions from Matthew Rose as Polyphemus and Paul Agnew and Ji-Min Park as attendant shepherds; among the dancers, special praise to Lauren Cuthbertson as Galatea's frolicking nymph. …An evening of exquisite sensual pleasure.” The Telegraph

Extra features:

Illustrated synopsis

Cast gallery

Documentary: Staging Acis and Galatea

Running time 110 mins

Region code All regions

Video codec: AVC/MPEG-4

Disc size: BD50

Picture format 1080i High Definition / 16:9

Sound format 2.0 PCM & 5.0 DTS Master Audio

Menu language EN

Subtitles FR/DE/ES (extra features only)

Set Design by Roland Aeschlimann & Costumes by Marie-Thérèse Jossen

George Frideric Handel‘s ‘Admeto’ is considered one of the most successful operas produced in the fi rst half of the 18th century. Along with ‘Radamisto’, ‘Giulio Cesare’, ‘ tamerlano’, ‘Rodelinda’ and ‘Alessandro’, which were also written in this period, ‘Admeto’ belongs to Handel‘s so-called ‘London operas’ - works he composed for the Royal Academy of Music. Though born in Halle, Germany, Handel spent most of his adult life in London and became a British subject in 1727.

Axel Köhler, the celebrated counter-tenor who is active in Munich, Halle and Berlin – now also well known for his work as a director - has brought ‘Admeto’ into the modern era in timeless style by the skilful application of imaginative theatrical digressions. Köhler‘s production at the Halle Opernhaus revisits a work that encompasses comedy, tragedy and almost absurd grotesqueness and gives it a convincing metaphor in the form of a modern hospital.

The recording of ADMETO on this Blu-Ray forms the highlight and also the conclusion of our Handel Festival cycle, which began four years ago with TAMERLANO, and was followed by TESEO.

When one of Germany’s most famous filmmakers and stimulating operatic directors focuses her creativity on a rarely performed Handel opera, the result is a “mixture of dancers and singers, comedy and pathos” (The Times). “Admeto”, one of Handel’s most popular operas in his lifetime, was premiered in London in January 1727. Doris Dörrie, whose Japan-inspired feature film “Cherry Blossoms – Hanami” was a major German box-office hit and won several international awards, returns to her beloved Japan in this production. Flowing robes, translucent panels and the participation of Japan’s Mamu Dance Theater and ist choreographer/dancer Tadashi Endo add an evocative dimension to the work whose lead roles were written for a popular castrato and two rivaling primadonnas. Sensitively directed for video by Agnes Méth, who worked with Dörrie on Mozart’s “La finta giardiniera” at the Salzburg Festival (available as part of the M22 cycle by UNITEL), the opera is played by Nicholas McGegan’s FestspielOrchester Göttingen on period instruments. For this production, a coproduction of the Internationale Händel- Festspiele in Göttingen and the Edinburgh International Festival on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of Handel’s death, Doris Dörrie was awarded the Edinburgh Festival’s prestigious Herald Angel Award.

For Handel´s Admeto, Oscar® nominated film director Doris Doerrie – winner of the 2009 Edinburgh International Festival´s prestigious Herald Angel Award – returns to her beloved subject of Japan. In vividly coloured and brilliantly realized set pieces, one of Handel´s most popular operas receives a stunning transformation into the stylish ritualized world of samurai culture. “It´s brilliantly played by the period-instrument FestspielOrchester Goettingen, conducted with fine sensibility and sensuality by Nicholas McGegan” (The Times). “In Doerrie´s production … 200 minutes of music fly by” (The Times)

Stage Director: Bernd Lepel

Doris Dörrie and Tadaschi Endo received an Oscar® Nomination in 2008 for Best Foreign Language Film (“Cherry Blossoms – Hanami”).

This production received the prestigious Herald Angel Award, Edinburgh International Festival 2009.

Film and Opera director Doris Dörrie directed successful Operas in Salzburg and Munich.

Recorded live at the Internationale Handel-Festspiele Göttingen, Deutsches Theatre 2009.

“It´s brilliantly played … directed with fine sensibility and sensuality. Weird but delightful.” 5 stars The Times

"Handel would have enjoyed this enchanting shadow theater" Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

Bonus Baroque and Butoh (22 minutes)

Picture Format: HD 16:9 - please note this Blu-ray disc - BD is not compatible with standard DVD players

Sound Format: DTS 5.1 PCM Stereo

Region Code: 0

Duration: 181 minutes + 22 minutes bonus material

Recorded: live at the Internationale Handel-Festspiele Gottingen Deutsches Theatre 2009.

Subtitles: English Italian German French

Set & Costumes by ANTHONY WARD

Handel’s operas are now so thoroughly a part of modern musical life that you might think every major opera house welcomes them. But until November 2010, when it introduced an absorbing new production of Alcina, the Vienna Staatsoper resisted them, not having done a Baroque opera since Monteverdi’s Poppea in the 1960s.

The present production boasted an all-star cast of Baroque specialists, a former director of the Royal Shakespeare Company – Adrian Noble, the highly-acclaimed conductor Marc Minkowski and his Les Musiciens du Louvre-Grenoble in the pit.

Adrian Noble places his Alcina into a framework which begins in the magnifi cent ballroom of the Devonshire-House in London Piccadilly. The legendary Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, stages a play in which she is acting together with her friends, a stage on the stage.

Alcina is a great musical experience geared to the Baroque curiosity. Marc Minkowski revives Handel’s music in an outstanding way.

BONUS: Behind the Scenes

Sound Format: PCM Stereo, dts-HD Master Audio 5.1

Picture Format: 16:9

Resolution: 1080i FULL HD

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

Running Time: 205 mins (Opera) + 21 mins (Bonus)

Blu-ray Disc: 50 GB (Dual Layer)

FSK: 0

Directed by Christof Nel – A Film by Don Kent

Set Designer: Roland Aeschlimann

Costume Designer: Bettina Walter

Produced by Bel Air Media / Festival d’Aix-en-Provence 2008

Handel's Belshazzar at the Aix Festival was imported from the Staatsoper Berlin. Berlin had built a huge, magnificent production and imported English and American opera singers, including star-turn countertenor Bejun Mehta. Add to this a superb local Baroque instrumental ensemble and an accomplished vocal ensemble, not to mention the world-renowned early music conductor, René Jacobs: and voilà, an operatic hit.

Christophe Nel, a well-respected director in progressive German opera houses teamed up with famed Swiss minimalist set designer Roland Aeschlimann and costume designer Bettina Walter to create a production which respected the supposed austerity of oratorio. This experienced team brought Handel's not-so-high drama and philosophic tragedy to almost operatic dramatic standards as the Persian prince Cyrus overran the dissolute Babylonians and freed the captive Jews.

“The Persian prince Cyrus, was sumptuously sung in heroic stances by Bejun Mehta; Rosemary Joshua, Belshazzar's mother Nitocris, sang in convincingly Handelian terms, and convincingly portrayed a religious zealot troubled by her wayward son. Most beautiful too was the singing of Neal Davies as the Syrian Gobrias, whose son had been killed by the dissolute emperor Belshazzar, a role also well sung and broadly characterised by American tenor, Kenneth Tarver. The star of the show was the RIAS-Kammerchor, able to personify Babylonians or Jews at the drop of a hat, singing magnificently. The Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin again proved itself a world-class chamber ensemble." musicwebinternational