DVD Videos

Andre Rieu’s series of concerts from Sao Paulo broke a record for the number of consecutive concerts by one artist by performing thirty nights in a row. Live in Brazil, is a recording of one of those concerts, moving away from Strauss’s Vienna to the fun-filled fiesta atmosphere of South America.

Filmed live in Baden-Baden by the veteran director Brian Large, Renée Fleming makes her debut in the role of Ariadne together with fellow key Strauss interpreters Sophie Koch and Christian Thielemann, following on from their Rosenkavalier triumph.

Thielemann conducts the Staatskapelle Dresden, the orchestra to whom Strauss dedicated his Alpine Symphony and which premiered Feuersnot, Salome, Elektra, Der Rosenkavalier and Daphne.

Fleming's voice might have been made for Ariadne and she achieved a great personal triumph in this production:

“The chief glory of the evening was hearing Renée Fleming, the Straussian soprano par excellence, making her role debut as Ariadne… As the possessor of what is, possibly, the most beautiful soprano voice in the world, she put her vocal treasures in the service of an empathic, nuanced interpretation of the role. From the creamy top, through a rich, warm middle, to the bewitching, darker colours of her lower register, Fleming poured her magnificent sound into Strauss’s enchanting melodic arcs, animating the sadness, vulnerability, and desire of the bereft princess...” Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

Autumn 2012 marks the release of Mission, a sensational new album from the world’s best-selling classical artist, Cecilia Bartoli, and a project with international politics, religious conflict, diplomatic secrecy, spying and sensational music at its heart.

The album showcases the music of a little-known Italian composer and will include solo arias of various moods and styles, several duets, solo numbers with chorus - all sung in Italian - and instrumental interludes that create an organic transition from one piece to the next and an arc that reaches from the beginning to the end of the album.

Such was the appeal of the project that longtime Bartoli admirer and global best-selling author Donna Leon decided to write a mystery novel - Jewels of Paradise - to accompany Cecilia’s album, which uses the mystery surrounding the composer’s story as the centre of its plot. Jewels of Paradise will be released simultaneously with Cecilia Bartoli’s album in English (UK and USA), German, French, Dutch, Spanish and Catalan.

Among the distinguished names appearing on Mission is star French counter-tenor Philippe Jaroussky who features in a first-time collaboration with Cecilia on a selection of duets, alongside the Coro della Radiotelevisione Svizzera, the period orchestra I Barocchisti from Lugano, Switzerland, and conductor Diego Fasolis.

A cinematographic vision of the album directed by Olivier Simonnet and filmed in the historic Galerie des Glaces (Hall of Mirrors) and in the gardens of the Chateau de Versailles

Tenor superstar Jonas Kaufmann leads the cast in the first-ever DVD release of the beautiful fairytale opera from the composer of Hänsel und Gretel.

The German tenor is “the fairytale prince of most opera-goers’ dreams – young, reckless, beautiful” (Financial Times), and Isabel Rey is the Goosegirl star in the acclaimed Zurich production of Humperdinck’s magical opera

Königskinder – a story of love tested beyond endurance – premiered at New York’s Metropolitan Opera in 1910. Humperdinck’s setting of the modern fairytale saw him further develop the musical language of his much-loved Hänsel und Gretel. Königskinder is enjoying a revival in popularity with productions planned in several major European houses

Renée Fleming and Andreas Scholl lead a superb cast in Stephen Wadsworth’s celebrated production of Handel’s Rodelinda from the Metropolitan Opera – based on the "Live in HD" transmission to cinemas worldwide.

The title role is unique in featuring no less than eight magnificent arias. Renée Fleming’s triumph in the first run of the production was hailed by The New York Times, "Ms Fleming draws on every resource of her artistry in this portrayal: luminous sound, exquisite ornamentation, floating high notes, emotional volatility."

Playing opposite her is Decca Classics countertenor star, Andreas Scholl, as King Bertarido, assumed dead, but returning to reclaim his throne and his queen.

The handsome period production sets the drama of public and private passion in the Milan of Handel’s own time – majestically presented in the set designs of Thomas Lynch and the lavish costumes of Martin Pakledinaz.

Juan Diego Flórez stars in the only available DVD version of Zelmira, filmed at the celebrated Rossini Festival in the composer’s home town of Pesaro. Recorded in high definition at the 2009 Festival, Giorgio Barberio Corsetti’s production places the classical tale, set during the Trojan Wars, in modern times and modern dress. The final opera Rossini wrote for Naples is a dramatic and musical tour de force and a magnificent showcase for the bel canto superstar of our time.

Joining Juan Diego Flórez are a major international cast, described as “near miraculous” by Opera Today and led by American mezzo-soprano Kate Aldrich in the virtuosic title role.

But the evening remained another distinguished triumph for Juan Diego Flórez as Prince Ilo, whose arrival in his homeland, to rescue Zelmira, was marked by “a dazzling tenorial display” which “evoked a nearly twenty-minute ovation” (Opera Today)

The DVD recording of Valentina’s Lisitsa’s 19th of June 2012 Royal Albert Hall concert.

With more than 43 million views and over 52,000 subscribers to her YouTube channel, the young pianist is not only one of the fastest-rising stars of the international concert scene but probably the single most-watched classical musician, having rapidly overtaken long-established giants of the piano world in terms of global online viewing figures.

Starring Angela Gheorghiu as the celebrated French actress Adriana Lecouvreur and Jonas Kaufmann as her lover Maurizio, Count of Saxony, Cilea’s verismo drama explores celebrity, romance, jealousy, and death.

The trio of sublime voices is completed by Russian mezzo-soprano Olga Borodina as Adriana’s jealous rival, the Princess de Bouillon.

David McVicar’s hit production – the first performance of the opera at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden for more than a century – presents the life of the French actress as a blurring of the distinction between fantasy and reality.

The action revolves around a life-size Baroque Theatre, taking us from the bustle and colour of the first act backstage at the playhouse, to the bare final scenes as the drama reaches its fatal climax.

The DVD & Blu-ray contain bonus footage featuring interviews with the principal artists, Director, Set Designer and Conductor.

“Kaufmann and Gheorghiu radiate sexiness" (Financial Times)

“Gheorghiu is a dream" (The Independent)

This Dino Yannopoulos-directed production ran at the Metropolitan Opera at irregular intervals until 1977, with the title role attracting the likes of Carlo Bergonzi, Franco Corelli, and Plácido Domingo. Maddalena would be sung by Renata Tebaldi, Martina Arroyo, and Eileen Farrell; Gérard by Robert Merrill and Ettore Bastianini; and Fausto Cleva, Lamberto Gardelli, and James Levine presided in the pit.

Levine again conducted when Nicolas Joël’s production premiered in April 1996 with Luciano Pavarotti in the title role, opposite Aprile Millo and Juan Pons. This DVD captures a telecast from the following season, with Pavarotti and Pons reprising their portrayals and Maria Guleghina as Maddalena.