DVD Videos

From the archives of RAI (1960).

170 mins, black & white. Optional subtitles in English, French and German.

Gala 1984 operatic concert organized by the George London Foundation for Singers. Bonus material includes excerpts from London's Bell Telephone and CBC telecast appearances, as well as excerpts of his role as Scarpia in VAI's Tosca, with Renata Tebaldi.

127 minutes, color, stereo with optional English subtitles. Playable in all regions.

The renowned Hungarian-born pianist Lili Kraus (1903-1983) is presented in television performances from the archives of Radio-Canada, Montréal (1960-1961). The bonus material on this DVD presents the televised studio performance of the American premiere of Schubert’s previously lost “Grazer Fantasy” and a discussion of the work with Lili Kraus and music critic and author Michael Steinberg . 50 minutes, black & white/color.

53 minutes, black & white.

These productions of Mozart’s The Impresario (1961) and scenes from Act I of the same composer’s Così fan tutte (1956) are precious mementos of an era when Opera in English opened a new frontier for American opera companies. In New York, the Metropolitan Opera increased their audience for classic operas, the New York City Opera took the lead in presenting American works, while the New York-based NBC Opera television series presented English-language productions of both old and new works from the international repertoire. Those three companies were the training-ground for the performers on this DVD, who uniformly exhibit a firm understanding of opera as theater.

The two best-known singers of the group are the esteemed American sopranos Eleanor Steber and Phyllis Curtin. Both sopranos favored a tightly focused vocal production which facilitated clear diction and dramatic thrust. Each was closely associated with and premiered works by important contemporary composers, most notably Samuel Barber (for Steber) and Carlisle Floyd (for Curtin). And they both sang Fiordiligi in the Metropolitan Opera’s landmark English-language production of Così fan tutte: Steber in the production’s premiere in 1951, and Curtin ten years later, making her company debut.

Original telecast March 5, 1964. Black & white, 58 minutes. Playable worldwide.

Riccardo Muti's conducting of one of Mozart's best-loved operas was hailed in the press for its "freshness, rapidity and wit" and for "its wonderfully balanced feeling of being up one moment and down the next".

Così fan tutte, the most ‘symphonic’ of the four operas with libretti written by Lorenzo da Ponte, was composed over the autumn and winter months 1789 and premiered on January 26th, 1790, on the eve of the Mozart's 34th birthday.

Witness the outstanding performances by an ideal cast & also the classical staging and thoroughly Mozartian approach taken by director Roberto de Simone.

Ricardo Muti is regarded as a Mozart expert.With the Vienna Phil, he celebrated the 250th birthday of Mozart on January 27th, 2006, with a worldwide telecast of a concert from

Salzburg, and subsequent tour - a triumphant set of performances.

Directed for TV by highly regarded director Brian Large.

Zubin Mehta, at the age of 26, was the youngest ever conductor to head a major American orchestra. Truly ingenious, he led them to international acclaim.

This DVD was recorded at the height of this collaboration, and beautifully portrays an emerging star.

In his youth, Mehta was already so much more than a conductor. His profound connection with the orchestra leads to a unity of sound which is rare in today's jet-set reality.

He understands how to stretch the orchestra technically because he knows it inside out.

In turn, the orchestra inspires Mehta. In their joyful collaboration, hidden musical meanings emerge.

Mehta shows his versatility in his interpretations of great works from the 18th, 19th and 20th century.