DVD Videos

Staged by Massimo Gasparon

The next instalment in C Major’s Tutto Verdi project is the Teatro Regio di Parma production of Un ballo in maschera.

The cast is led by Francesco Meli who has performed extnsively at the world’s biggest opera houses. He is supported by Kristin Lewis and Elisabetta Fiorillo.

PICTURE: 16:9, HD

SOUND: DVD: DTS 5.1, PCM STEREO

RUNNING TIME: TOTAL: 146 MINUTES (OPERA: 136 MINUTES, BONUS: 10 MINUTES)

SUBTITLES ITALIAN (ORIGINAL LANGUAGE), ENGLISH, GERMAN, FRENCH, SPANISH, CHINESE, KOREAN, JAPANESE; BONUS: ENGLISH, ITALIAN

AVAILABLE WORLDWIDE

C Major presents the next instalment in their Tutto Verdi project with the Teatro Regio di Parma production of La forza del destino.

The cast features Dimitra Theodossiou – a frequent performer at La Scala and Opera Zurich – alongside Vladimir Stoyanov and Mariana Pentcheva,

Stefano Poda –the production’s director – has also worked in some of the most renowned theatres across the world.

PICTURE: 16:9, HD

SOUND: DVD: DTS 5.1, PCM STEREO

RUNNING TIME: TOTAL: 190 MINUTES (OPERA: 179 MINUTES, BONUS: 11 MINUTES)

SUBTITLES: ITALIAN (ORIGINAL LANGUAGE), ENGLISH, GERMAN, FRENCH, SPANISH, CHINESE, KOREAN, JAPANESE BONUS: ENGLISH, ITALIAN

AVAILABLE WORLDWIDE

The Mariinsky label releases its second opera DVD & Blu-ray, Prokofiev’s 'The Gambler'. Filmed in the historic Mariinsky Theatre in 2010, it stars celebrated Russian tenor Vladimir Galuzin and bass Sergei Aleksashkin, and is conducted by Valery Gergiev. It is of fundamental significance that under Gergiev’s baton the Mariinsky Orchestra and opera company have performed all of Prokofiev’s symphonies, concerti and operas on numerous occasions.

Georgian director Temur Chkheidze, who also presented the Mariinsky’s last production in 1996 and directed the opera with critical success at the Metropolitan Opera in 2001, gives a fresh look to Prokofiev’s first opera.

Set in the fictional town of Roulettenburg in the mid-19th Century, 'The Gambler' is a four-act opera that displays the dramatic highs and lows involved in the game of chance. At the centre of the story is Alexei, who is in love with The General’s step-daughter, Pauline. All of the characters fall victim to the temptation of gambling, each one consumed by the obsession and greed that drives them.

Vladimir Galuzin, who plays the role of Alexei, is indisputably one of the world’s leading dramatic tenors, known for his unrivaled stentorious voice and extremely vivid characterisations of some of the most demanding roles. A Mariinsky soloist since 1990, he is much in demand internationally, performing regularly during the last two decades as a guest of most of the world’s most prominent opera houses, concert halls and festivals. The role of The General is played by Russian bass Sergei Aleksashkin. Three-time recipient of the Golden Sofit, St Petersburg’s most prestigious theatre prize, Sergei has been a Mariinsky Theatre soloist since 1989, singing title roles in Mussorgsky’s 'Boris Godunov' and Glinka’s 'Ruslan and Lyudmila'.

DURATION 2 hours 35'

Recorded at the Mariinsky Theatre, June 2010

Performed in Italian: subtitles in Russian, English, Japanese, German and French

Staged by Joseph Franconi Lee

C Major’s Tutto Verdi project comes to one of Verdi’s most popular operas: Don Carlo.

This production from Teatro Comunale Luciano Pavarotti Modena is conducted by Fabrizio Ventura. He has performed at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden as well as the Arena di Verona and the Sydney Opera House.

The cast is led Giacomo Presita who has performed wuth some of the world’s greatest conductors including Abbado, Mehta, Muti, Gatti and Barenboim. He is supported by Mario Malagnini and Cellia Costea.

PICTURE: 16:9, HD

SOUND: DVD: DTS 5.1, PCM STEREO

RUNNING TIME: TOTAL: 184 MINUTES (OPERA: 173 MINUTES, BONUS: 11 MINUTES)

SUBTITLES: ITALIAN (ORIGINAL LANGUAGE), ENGLISH, GERMAN, FRENCH, SPANISH, CHINESE, KOREAN, JAPANESE BONUS: ENGLISH, ITALIAN

AVAILABLE WORLDWIDE

Conceived and Produced by ANDREA ANDERMANN

Director GIUSEPPE PATRONI GRIFFI

Cinematography VITTORIO STORARO

Directed for video by BRIAN LARGE

Recorded live in July 1992 - REMASTERED IN HIGH DEFINITION FROM THE ORIGINAL MASTER TAPE.

Contemporary Rome is the setting for this unique and highly innovative version of Puccini’s Tosca, performed in the Roman locations – and at the same times of day – as Puccini had written into his score. Thus the action opens in the beautiful 16th-century church of Sant’Andrea della Valle at noon, where Cavaradossi (Domingo) meets the fugitive Angelotti, moves to the Farnese Palace that evening where Tosca (Catherine Malfitano) dramatically makes a pact with the lustful Scarpia (Ruggero Raimondi), and finally to the battlements of the Castel Sant’Angelo at dawn the following day where the final drama is played out.

COLOUR

REGION CODE: ALL REGIONS

NTSC 4:3 • 114 MINS • L-PCM STEREO

SUBTITLES: ENGLISH / FRENCH / GERMAN / ITALIAN

A grand opera that dominated the stages of Europe for most of the 19th century, Robert le diable is a masterpiece.

Director Laurent Pelly breathes new life into Giacomo Meyerbeer’s great spectacle and audaciously entertaining moral fable, in this colourful new staging for The Royal Opera. The wonderful score includes brilliant arias, dramatic ensembles, rousing choruses and a ballet of ghostly nuns, and with the wavering hero of the title sung by Bryan Hymel, acclaimed for his role as Énée in Les Troyens for The Royal Opera and the Metropolitan Opera, this is an unmissable experience.

Premiered in 1831, it was one of the first grand operas staged at the Paris Opéra.

Meyerbeer’s European fame was initiated with “Robert” – performed 470 times in Paris alone by the time of the composer’s death in 1864.

“It is a masterpiece...Meyerbeer has made himself immortal” (Frédéric Chopin)

Extra features: ‘The legacy of Robert le diable, and a cast gallery.

Running time: 122 minutes

Subtitles EN/FR/DE/JP/KR

Sound format: 2.0LPCM + 5.1(5.0) DTS

The sought-after lyric tenor Piotr Beczala, is the womanizing Duke in this new production of Verdi’s Rigoletto from the Metropolitan Opera. Željko Luèiæ sings the title role and Diana Damrau sings Rigoletto’s daughter Gilda.

This DVD and Blu-ray release appears in the Verdi year 2013, as music lovers around the world celebrate the bicentenary of the birth of Italy’s beloved composer.

Director Michael Mayer has placed his new production of Verdi’s towering tragedy in Las Vegas in 1960 – an ideal setting for this eternal conflict of depravity and innocence.

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

This compendium of rare television performances (1957-1963) features legendary Savoyard Martyn Green in songs and scenes from HMS Pinafore, The Mikado, The Pirates of Penzance and others. Also included are the two Tennessee Ernie Ford specials devoted to scenes from The Mikado and HMS Pinafore, and although a country music legend, Ford had begun his studies as a classical bass-baritone. Among the other highlights are excerpts from made-for-TV Productions of The Yeoman of the Guard (1957), with Alfred Drake and Barbara Cook.

Running time: 96 minutes.

Beatrice di Tenda is a relatively unknown and rarely recorded opera composed by Vincenzo Bellini.

Available on Blu-Ray and DVD.

Format 16:9

Region Code 0

Subtitles: Fre, Eng, Ger, Spa, Ita, Kr

Notes: Ita, Eng