DVD Videos

Sound Format: PCM Stereo (Don Giovanni) / + DD 5.0 & DTS 5.0 (Werther) / + DD 5.1 & DTS 5.1 (Simon Boccanegra)

Picture Format: 16:9

DVD Format: 3 x DVD 9 / NTSC

Subtitles: GB, DE, FR, ES, IT

Running Time: 442 mins + 12 mins

Bonus (Werther)

FSK: 0

Verdi’s best-loved work, is performed here by a star cast in a revival of Richard Eyre’s highly acclaimed 1994 production. Music Director Antonio Pappano conducts La traviata for the first time at Covent Garden. American soprano Renée Fleming returns to Covent Garden to sing Violetta for the first time with The Royal Opera. La traviata was first performed at the Teatro La Fenice, Venice in March 1853.

"...Antonio Pappano takes charge of this revival, searching out the meaning of Verdi's score in a supple, sentient reading that sweeps you along." The Guardian

Extra features:

Cast gallery

Antonio Pappano interviews Renée Fleming

Running time 135 mins

Region Code All regions

Picture format 16:9 Anamorphic

Sound format 2.0LPCM + 5.1(5.0) DTS

Menu languages EN

Subtitles EN/FR/DE/ES/IT

The Metropolitan Opera celebrates 25 years at Lincoln Center.

The cast-list for the evening reads like a Who's Who of 20th-century opera.

Thrill to “hours and hours of glorious opera...A triumphant celebration of virtuosity (Toronto Globe and Mail) as New York’s legendary opera company celebrates its first quarter century at Lincoln Center with “one of the most exquisitely refined and extravagant assemblages of vocal artistry the Met stage has yet hosted” (New York Times). “Not just another night at the opera” (Los Angeles Times), this extraordinary gala features complete acts from three favorite works, starring dozens of the world’s greatest singers, all conducted by Met music director James Levine.

Set in Egypt, Massenet's drama 'Thais' (1894) traces the ill-fated attempt of the monk, Athanaël, to rescue the soul of the celebrated Alexandrian courtesan, Thaïs. Though she is presently living with his wealthy friend Nicias, Athanaël persuades her to renounce her way of life and riches, but as she dies in the desert in a state of grace, he realises he has succumbed to her worldly charms and begs God for mercy.

Renée Fleming triumphs as the glamorous courtesan Thaïs in Massenet’s romantic tragedy set in fourth century Alexandria and the Egyptian desert. The timeless struggle between earthly desire and spiritual redemption finally destroys the resolve of the monk Athanaël (Thomas Hampson), just as the newly penitent Thaïs ascends heavenward. Jesús López-Cobos gives a masterly performance of Massenet’s sensuous score, with concert master David Chan contributing a ravishing ‘Méditation’.

The first Met staging in over 30 years of Massenet’s Thaïs is released on a starry DVD sure to win this beguiling French opera many new fans.

Renée Fleming is Thaïs to the life. She sings Massenet’s taxing role with the utmost ease and beauty of tone while looking as glamorous as her famous predecessors.

Fleming’s co-star is the great American baritone Thomas Hampson in the role of Athanaël, a part he sings and acts with mastery.

Renée Fleming’s best-selling audio set of Thaïs was greeted by the Associated Press: “Fleming was in glorious voice, floating high pianissimos with ease, pouring out melting, creamy tone.” If anything, Renée Fleming’s DVD assumption is deeper, subtler, more touching

The New York Times lauded Renée Fleming as a “vocally sumptuous and unabashedly show-stealing Thaïs”. If this is crime, opera needs more of it!

Short bonus feature: “Backstage at the Met” with Plácido Domingo (7’52”).

Filmed in High Definition.

Renée Fleming’s costumes for this production were made by French designer Christian Lacroix.

There is virtually no DVD competition on Thaïs.

DURATION:

146 mins (opera)

SUBTITLES:

English, French (sung language), German, Spanish, Chinese

PICTURE FORMAT:

16:9 (anamorphic widescreen), Colour, NTSC, Region code 0 (worldwide)

SOUND FORMAT:

LPCM Stereo & DTS 5.1 Surround (DVD)

LPCM Stereo & DTS Master Audio Surround (Blu-ray)

BONUS FEATURE:

'Backstage at the MET', presented by Plácido Domingo, featuring interviews with Fleming and Hampson

Directed by Brian Large.

The highly acclaimed gala concert celebrating the 2006 Mozart anniversary from the Salzburg Festival featuring some of the world´s top singers, including exclusive DG artists Anna Netrebko, Magdalena Kozena, Patricia Petibon and Rene Pape with the Wiener Philharmoniker under Daniel Hardingat last on DVD!

Held in the Felsenreitschule on 30 July 2006 at the start of the Salzburg Festival, the gala performance represents the full spectrum of the Mozart festivities through a selection of arias and orchestral works

Celebrated soprano Anna Netrebko lives up to her reputation as a fiery dramatic diva with her passionate rendition of Elettra's aria D'Oreste, d¡'Aiace from Idomeneo, while Magdalena Kozena, who was acclaimed for her performance as Idamante in the festival's production of the opera, sings the duet S'io non moro a questi accenti with Ekaterina Siurina as Ilia

Other highlights include renowned baritone Thomas Hampson Rivolgete a lui lo sguardo from Cosi fan tutte and Rene Pape's spirited rendition of Leporello's famous catalogue aria from Don Giovanni

As well as providing superb accompaniments, the Wiener Philharmoniker makes a contribution of its own to the programme with the overtures to Don Giovanni and Idomeneo, and concluding the performance with the Prague Symphony, K. 504

Filmed in HD, released in 16:9 widescreen; audio in PCM and 5.1 DTS Surround Sound

First DVD release

Recorded live in 2004

Directed by: Willy Decker

Subtitles: Italian, English, German, French, Spanish, Chinese

A film by Felix Breisach

Verdi’s Life told by Thomas Hampson

Fly, thought, on Golden Wings is the famous prisoners’ chorus from one of Verdi’s most famous opera Nabucco through which he entered the hearts of his compatriots, and in those hearts he has remained, It is also the name and motto of this fascinating documentary about Verdi’s life.

Almost seventy years of creative activity lay between Verdi’s first compositions for Busseto and his corrections of the Falstaff score in 1893. Verdi’s “popular trilogy”, Rigoletto, Il Trovatore and La Traviata, revolutionized the musical theatre landscape.

The documentary follows Verdi’s life to places of his origin and those most important for him. The documentary is hosted by Thomas Hampson, the eloquent and world famous baritone.

Including four complete Verdi Arias sung by Thomas Hampson: I due Foscari “O vecchio cor, che batti” • Macbeth “Pietà, rispetto, amore”• Il Trovatore “Tout est désert … Son regard“ • La Traviata „Di Provenza il mar“.

A Documentary in time for the Verdi Year 2013 in honour of Verdi’s 200th Anniversary.

Picture format DVD: NTSC 4:3

Sound format DVD: PCM Stereo

Region code: 0 (worldwide)

Languages: English, German, French

Booklet notes: English, German, French

Running time: 60 mins