DVD Videos

Arthaus presents Rossini’s popular comic opera, La Cenerentola, in a staging from the opera house in Naples. The operatic re-telling of this much loved fairy-tale centres on Cinderella’s honesty and integrity, and on her willingness to forgive others, and to encourage those around her to be equally tolerant.

Paul Curran’s production presented to rapturous acclaim in Genoa in May 2006, finds a rather unusual setting for this moral tale. He sets the story in the year 1912, in his own words, “because I wanted to draw attention to social conflicts, and this was a period when class differences were very real”. The 20th century setting works well as the social differences become immediately palpable for modern audiences, lending the main theme of forgiveness and reconciliation even more prominence. However, the comic side of the opera does not go missing and the clown-like choreographies for the duets, trios etc. dramatises the absurdities of the “bad” characters’ behaviour.

Making his operatic début in Genoa with this production, conductor Renato Palumbo used Alberto Zedda’s critical edition of Rossini’s work. He was praised in the Italian press for his “rapid, clearly-defined interpretation of the score”, “rhythmically precise and fluidly lyrical at the same time”.

A cast of established singers is led by Sonia Ganassi, who as developed a reputation as a leading exponent of Rossini’s self-possessed mezzo heroines. La Repubblica found her singing “mature and authoritative, with some quite wonderful moments”, while the singing of Sicilian tenor Antonino Siragusa was described as “limpid and technically fl awless”.

Sound Format: PCM Stereo, DD 5.1, DTS 5.1

Picture Format: 16:9

DVD Format: 1 x DVD 5 + DVD 9, NTSC

Subtitle Languages: IT (Original Language), GB, DE, FR, ES

Running Time: 169 mins

FSK: 0

Set Design by PETER J. DAVISON

In his 2003 production for the Maggio Musicale in Florence, director Jonathan Miller invested the complex relationships between the characters with countless tiny erotic charges and even obvious sexual symbols. The artistic director of the renowned Maggio Musicale festival Zubin Mehta brings out not only the tension and drive of the music but also its harmonic richness.

The singers all belong to the international opera scene and not only provide excellent vocal quality but also strong acting skills, which help to tell the gripping story with its many disguises, mix-ups and discoveries: Russian soprano Eteri Gvazava – internationally recognised since her sensational Traviata à Paris fi lming partnering José Cura - is wonderful to watch and to hear in the role of the sad but contriving Countess Almaviva. Patrizia Ciofi , the Italian belcanto star is Susanna with all her intriguing acting skills and her pointed vocal intensity. Lucio Gallo who plays the evil character in this plot is one of the foremost Italian baritones. The title role is sung by Giorgio Surian, a bass-baritone who started off on the Italian opera scene, but has since made a steady career on international opera stages.

Sound Format: PCM Stereo, DD 5.1, DTS 5.1

Picture Format: 16:9

DVD Format: 2 x DVD 9, NTSC

Subtitle Languages: IT (Original Language), GB, DE, FR, ES

Running Time: 181 mins

FSK: 0

Director and Scenery Designer FRANCO ZEFFIRELLI

Artistic Supervision PLACIDO DOMINGO

Music and Libretto RUGGERO LEONCAVALLO

Leoncavallo’s often-performed short opera uses the play-within-a play device to explore the classic operatic themes of passion, adultery, jealousy and revenge. The great tenor aria, Vesti la giubba, expresses the anguish of the cuckolded husband who, as a performing clown, must make others laugh even as his heart is breaking. Zeffirelli’s production is set in a contemporary urban environment, with fire eaters, children, animals, jugglers and acrobats. Plácido Domingo, showing that he is arguably the finest actor-tenor of our time, gives a definitive performance as Canio.

Recorded live at the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Opera House in November 1997.

SUBTITLED IN ENGLISH, FRENCH, GERMAN, SPANISH, ITALIAN

78 Minutes NTSC 4:3

High Definition All Regions

5.0 Surround Sound + Dolby Digital 2.0

Stereo

The incomparable Anna Netrebko follows Deutsche Grammophon’s acclaimed, best-selling 2008 audio release of La Bohème.

This DVD is a new production of the Puccini favourite, staged at Salzburg 2012.Tenor Piotr Beczala rocks as Rodolfo, Mimì’s lover. Massimo Cavalletti sings Rodolfo’s friend Marcello with uncommon finesse and beauty of tone. Nino Machaidze is a moving Musetta.

The robust orchestration of this popular opera verges on the ethereal as Mimì’s life slips away. Throughout his reading, conductor Daniele Gatti strikes the perfect balance between sentiment and sentimentality, vigour and fragility, the specter of untimely death and the quick and young it haunts.

The New York Times wrote, “You don’t often hear Mimì sung with such vivid character and sheer charisma.”

Set Design by Rolf Glittenberg

A staging of Claude Debussy’s only completed opera, Pelléas et Mélisande, recorded live at the Zurich Opera House. The opera’s premiere in Paris in 1902 brought the new century to the stage. It came quietly, introducing a new female figure that provided the visual artists of l’art nouveau with a fascinating alternative to such femmes fatales as Oscar Wilde’s Lulu and Frank Wedekind’s Salome.

Debussy (1862-1918) adapted a dreamlike libretto by the Belgian playwright and poet, Maurice Maeterlinck (1862-1949) and in the music retained the symbolic quality of the mysterious, almost static fairytale. Conductor Franz Welser-Möst and director Sven-Eric Bechtolf have become one of the leading partnerships in contemporary music theatre. The characters are impressively enacted by Rodney Gilfrey and Isabel Rey in the title roles.

Occasionally placed in wheelchairs that hint at emotional as well as physical inadequacies and frequently doubled by puppets, Debussy’s protagonists are kept at a distance in their subconscious dream world. Franz Welser-Möst conducts a performance that is clear, well structured, unsentimental and attuned to the alertness and pioneering spirit of a score that even today has lost none of its radiance. The designer Rolf Glittenberg set the work in a remote operatic universe that is both greyish white and ice cold.

Sound Format: PCM Stereo, DD 5.0, DTS 5.0, dts-HD Master Audio 7.1

Picture Format: 16:9

Format: DVD 5 + DVD 9, NTSC

Subtitle Languages: FR (Original Language), GB, DE, IT, ES

Running Time: 161 mins

FSK: 0

Region Code: 0

Worldwide available, excluding Japan

World Premiere Recording

“What a pleasure to listen to Demetrio e Polibio”, wrote major Italian daily La Stampa after the premiere of Rossini‘s very first opera at the 2010 Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, attributing it „an undeniable fascination“. The work was given its first performance in Rome in 1812. It is still unclear whether Rossini was 14 or 18 when he wrote it; what is beyond doubt, however, is the anticipation of great things to come.

The libretto is a far-fetched tale of feuding kings, mistaken identities, disguises and cruel fates typical of the late 18th-century opera seria. Young stage director Davide Livermore, heading a production of the Accademia di Belle Arti di Urbino, turns the libretto into a ghost story, setting the action behind the stage of an opera house, when everyone has left and all that remains are the spirits of an opera that yearns for the breath of life – much like the practically forgotten Demetrio e Polibio itself.

With the help of little flames that flare up from the singers‘ palms and other "phantasmagorical" tricks, Livermore creates an enchanting atmosphere that is given a perfect musical rendering by conductor Corrado Rovaris (Music Director of the Opera Company of Philadelphia) and the Orchestra Sinfonica Rossini. Each giving outstanding performances are the four stand-out soloists Maria José Moreno, Victoria Zaytseva, Yijie Shi and Mirco Palazzi, „stars … of the highest international order“ (Süddeutsche Zeitung). Once again, the Rossini Opera Festival fulfills its dual goal of performing unknown Rossini works in new, critical editions, and of fostering young singers on their path towards the world‘s great stages.

SPECIAL FEATURE: Making Of Demetrio e Polibio

Sound Format: PCM Stereo, DD 5.1

Picture Format: 16:9

Format: DVD 9, NTSC

Subtitle Languages: IT (Original Language), GB, DE, FR, ES, JP, Korean

Running Time: 115 mins + 15 mins (bonus)

FSK: 0

Region Code: 0

Worldwide available

I due Foscari was Verdi’s sixth opera and based on Lord Byron’s play The Two Foscari. Rich in intrigue, the plot tells of the final days of the famous Venetian doge, Francesco Foscari, and his illegal overthrow in 1457.

Picture Format: 16:9, HD

Sound Format: DVD: DTS 5.1, PCM 2.0

Running Time: 125 mins (opera 115mins)

Booklet: English, German, French

Subtitles: Italian (original language),

English, German, French, Spanish,

Chinese, Korean, Japanese

Ernani was Verdi’s fifth opera and is based on Victor Hugo’s Hernani. It takes as its starting point the theme of vengeance in all its manifold aspects and received its first performance at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice in March 1844, its success proving Verdi’s definite breakthrough as a composer. The fact that the work has been staged with increasing frequency in major opera houses in recent years is due to the renaissance of bel canto singing.

Bonus: 10 minute introduction to the opera

Picture Format: 16:9, HD

Sound Format: DVD: DTS 5.1, PCM 2.0

Running Time: 139 mins (opera 129 mins)

Booklet: English, German, French

Subtitles: Italian (original language), English, German, French, Spanish,

Chinese, Korean, Japanese

This thought-provoking, modern-day interpretation of Rossini’s “Mosè in Egitto” sets the scene for superior music-making at the prestigious Rossini Festival in Pesaro. For conductor Roberto Abbado, the transposition of the action to the present day releases the energy of Rossini’s music. At his disposal is a cast of top-quality vocalists such as the “refined bel canto artist” (Bresciaoggi) Sonia Ganassi as Elcia, and the “outstanding” Dmitry Korchak as the Pharaoh’s son, two lovers fatefully drawn into the political turmoil and catastrophes of their time. Also among the protagonists are the “thoroughly brilliant” (DeutschlandRadio Kultur) baritone Alex Esposito as Faraone and, in his Rossini Festival debut, young, full-bodied bass Riccardo Zanellato as Moses. Conductor Roberto Abbado “inspired his musicians to deliver a spectacular performance” (Salzburger Nachrichten).

This is the premiere of the opera on DVD & Blu-ray.

The second release on Opus Arte from the acclaimed Pesaro Rossini Festival; a highly contrasting production following the release of La Scala di Seta.

Alex Esposito, who was recently acclaimed as Papageno in the La Scala production of Magic Flute, stars as Pharaoh.

Running time: 170 minutes

Subtitles: EN/FR/DE

Sound format: 2.0LPCM + 5.1(5.0) DTS

I Lombardi alla prima crociata (The Lombards on the First Crusade) was Verdi’s fourth opera and received its first performance at La Scala, Milan, in February 1843. The grandiloquent subject matter is fleshed-out with broad-brushed musical and dramatic effects and lavish choral scenes created a correspondingly impressive impact. A great success in Milan, it spread to the rest of Europe within a matter of only a few years.

Bonus: 10 minute introduction to the opera

Picture Format: 16:9, HD

Sound Format: DVD: DTS 5.1, PCM 2.0

Running Time: 154 minutes (opera 144 minutes)

Booklet: English, German, French

Subtitles: Italian (original language), English, German, French, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Japanese