Bach: Matthäus Passion - Ton Koopman

A production of Lully's 1686 tragédie lyrique masterpiece directed by William Christie at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées from 2008.

Dutch conductor Ton Koopman, one of the leading experts in the early music repertoire, will lead the Choir and Orchestra of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Mozart’s Mass in C minor, K. 427, and Symphony No. 41, K. 551, “Jupiter.” The soloists include sopranos Maria Grazia Schiavo and Roberta Mameli, tenor Tilman Lichdi, and bass Luca Tittoto.

With their performance of “Gesualdo Passione” at the Nuits de Fourvière, choreographer Amala Dianor and Les Arts Florissants, conducted by Paul Agnew, strike up a dialogue between hip-hop dance and Baroque music that is as unexpected as it is captivating.

Director Robert Carsen and his creative team flood the stage with summer blossoms, drifts of autumn leaves, winter snows and thunderous spring storms. The cast of 140 are attired in elegant costumes inspired by late 1940s Dior. This mythical tale of a young queen, Alphise, determined to abdicate rather than contemplate an enforced marriage to a descendant of Boreas, is nothing less than highly-charged.

When he composed his motet ‘Exsultate jubilate’ K.165, Mozart was only 17 years old. He was then at the height of his fame. He was 35 when he wrote ‘The Magic Flute’ and died shortly afterwards. Dutch conductor Ton Koopman presents a programme that traces the stages of the composer's life. Russian soprano Julia Lezhneva performs the solo parts.

The Royal Ballet and the Royal Opera collaborate in Wayne McGregor's production of Handel and Gay's classic opera, in which the nymph Galatea falls in love with a shepherd named Acis.

On June 4, 2021, the renowned Dutch organist Ton Koopman gave a concert at the Basilica of San Bernardino, performing on the organ built by Feliciano Fedeli (1726) of the Marche region, which had recently been restored by Riccardo Lorenzini. The instrument had sustained significant damage in the 2009 earthquake.

The prologue sets the stage for the action: Thespis, Momus and Thalie announce the subject of the play. It is a comedy mocking the folly of man...and the story of a trap set by Jupiter to cure Juno of her jealousy. The trap? It consists in convincing the water nymph Platée that Jupiter is in love with her. Mercury officially declares Jupiter’s love to Platée. When the god appears before her – first as a donkey, then an owl - the nymph calls on the birds of the marshes, but they scare Jupiter away. Luckily he quickly returns and declares his love for Platée. He even wants to marry her. La Folie comes to sing for the fiancée during an absolutely chaotic scene. However, as the couple prepares for the wedding, Juno arrives. Furious, she puts an end to the farce and ascends to the heavens with Jupiter. Humiliated, Platée understands she has been duped. She swims off into the marshes, as the chorus sings an ironic song in her honour.

"William Christie and Les Arts Florissants propel this exuberant production of Jean-Philippe Rameau's second opera to great heights. Andrei Serban's extravagant, highly baroque staging presents the four exotic love stories vibrantly. In 'Le Turc généreux' Osman sets free his captive, Emilie, whom he loves, so that she may be reunited with her former lover, Valère; 'Les Incas de Pérou' is all about the rivalry of the Inca Huascar and the Spaniard Don Carlos, both in pursuit of Princess Phani; 'Les Fleurs' offers a Persian love intrigue, as the Sultana Fatime tries to detect whether her husband Tacmas has his eye on the lovely Atalide; and 'Les Sauvages' takes us to North America, where a Spaniard and a Frenchman compete for the love of Zima, daughter of a native chief, who prefers one of her own people." — from the DVD cover

Organ Spectacular - Famous Organ Works By Bach - Ton Koopman

John Nelson conducting the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris and Accentus Chamber Choir.

Platée is a character whose self-deception and entrancement places her in the middle of a heartless plot, devised by the gods to cure Juno of her obsessive jealousy over Jupiter and his romantic attachments. Jupiter pretends to fall in love with Platée only to abandon her once Juno arrives, proving she has no reason to be jealous. Comedy had traditionally played little part in French opera. Lully soon eliminated comic episodes from his tragedies; from then until the appearance of this work, only a handful of operas had comic themes. That for Platée is the mock marriage between the god Jupiter and an ugly marsh nymph, who is totally convinced of her own charms.

'Live to be a hundred' gives us an unique inside view of the various activities that the multi-talented Ton Koopman carries out in the course of one year. We follow the famous Baroque musician on tour with his Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra and Choir and see him at work as a guest conductor in Madrid and as a Musicology professor in Leiden. Moreover, we witness the preparations to a concert in France, have an up-close view of the virtuoso harpsichordist at work during a master class at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague and follow him as he organizes the recording of the Haydn Organ Concertos in a church in Haarlem.