Purcell: The Indian Queen
★ 9 · 2012 · 198m · Music
A superb adaptation of Purcell's the Indian Queen, staged and directed by Peter Sellars and performed in 2013 at the Teatro Real in Madrid. Peters Sellars combines John Dryden and Robert Howard's libretto with a short-story written by the Nicaraguan writer Rosario Aguilar, La niña blanca y los pájaros sin pies.
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One 11 and 103
1992 · ★ 10
Avant-garde composer John Cage is famous for his experimental pieces and "chance music" but temporarily branched into video in 1992 with this art film about meaningless activity. The work is composed of two segments that are supposed to be played simultaneously: "One 11" contains the artistic statement, and "103" is a 17-part orchestral piece. Also included is a revealing documentary about Cage and director Henning Lohner.
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Rusalka
1963 · ★ 7.5
The water fairy Rusalka falls in love with an earthly prince. In vain, Father Aquarius warns her. Her sincere feelings are met with human treachery...
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"The Silent Woman" by Richard Strauss @ Berlin State Opera
2025
Ageing misfit Sir Morosus lives alone in an old-style apartment in Charlottenburg in Berlin. He is wealthy, but also lonely and a bit grumpy. Then his nephew Henry moves in with him and his life takes a turn for the better. Director Jan Philipp Gloger homes in on two of the most pressing problems of the day: loneliness and the housing shortage. The Staatskapelle Berlin is conducted by Christian Thielemann.
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Puccini: Turandot
2009 · ★ 5.8
Franco Zeffirelli's magnificient staging of Puccini's final opera - a fairy tale set in a mythical China - is one of the most popular in the Met repertory. In this Live in HD production, Maria Guleghina takes on the title role and Marcello Giordani is Calaf, the unknown prince. Marina Poplavskaya and Samuel Ramey co-star, and Andris Nelsons conducts in his Met debut.
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2015 · ★ 8
Charismatic conductor and composer Andre Previn looks back at some of his greatest television moments, from thrilling performances of orchestral favourites by Mozart and Berlioz to his classic comedy encounter with Morecambe and Wise.
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Rita
1962 · ★ 8
a film opera; music by: Gaetano Donizetti (Philharmonic Orchestra of Rome) Directed by Giuseppe Zedda.
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Intimate Apparel
2022
Experience the story of seamstress Esther who begins writing to a mysterious suitor laboring on the Panama Canal. Featuring a libretto by Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage, this powerful opera is directed by Tony winner Bartlett Sher.
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Cecilia Bartoli Sings Haydn
2001 · ★ 9
From the Styriarte Festival in Graz Austria, the acclaimed mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli and Maestro Nikolaus Harnoncourt with his orchestra Concentus Musicu Wien, present a concert on Haydn arias and Symphony No.92, the "Oxford". The singing virtuosity of "Scena di Berenice" is sublime as is the performance of The "Oxford" Symphony from the ensemble renown for its specialty in early music and playing on period instruments. A unique concert.
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Tosca
1941 · ★ 6.3
Non-musical account of Puccini's opera: Tosca and Cavaradossi are in love, but the tyrant Scarpia desires Tosca and oppresses Cavaradossi who is fighting for freedom.
More info →Die Zauberflöte
1971 · ★ 7
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Magic Flute is undoubtedly one of the most multi-layered, profound, complicated, and therefore also most difficult to stage works in the entire opera repertoire. In terms of genre, it can only be understood if it is seen as a mixture of four things: a philosophically profound drama of ideas with countless encryptions, a naïve fairy tale, a bawdy comedy, and a crude Punch and Judy show. It is based on the intersection of the traditions of Baroque magic opera, Italian buffa, and Viennese Singspiel, where all manner of wonders are conceivable and permissible. Peter Ustinov's production appeals to all those who love a primarily fairy-tale-like interpretation; the atmosphere is traditional and conventional. An outstanding ensemble of singers has been assembled.
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House of Ricordi
1954 · ★ 6.3
The film covers a hundred years in the lives of the Ricordi family, the Milan publishing house of the title, and the various composers and other historic personalities, whose careers intersected with the growth of the Ricordi house. It beautifully draws the parallel between the great music of the composers, the historic and social upheavals of their times, as well as the "smaller stories" of the successive generations of Ricordi.
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Carmen Torero
1996 · ★ 6.2
A film miniature set to classical music. The Spanish landscape, allusively evoked on screen, is dominated by characteristic elements of Gaudí's architecture. From these elements emerges the arena, with the figure of a fighting bullfighter. The appearance of Carmen introduces a lyrical thread. A passionate love develops between her and the bullfighter. Utterly astounding, iridescent salt animation by Aleksandra Korejwo based around Bizet's Carmen, the third and final film in a trilogy.
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