Elgar: The Man Behind the Mask

As Prince Charles, the longest serving heir apparent, ascends the throne as King, those who know him well, who have worked for and with him, discuss what he has achieved as Prince of Wales and what he will bring to the role as the new Monarch.

Gloriana, Op. 53, is an opera in three acts by Benjamin Britten to an English libretto by William Plomer, based on Lytton Strachey's 1928 Elizabeth and Essex: A Tragic History It was written to mark the 1953 coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.

Christmas enthusiast Steph, has created a program, Six Degrees of Santa. When Steph's own gift lands in the hands of a leading internet entrepreneur, Jason, he's convinced that the original Santa might be his soul mate.

Poppy is a marketing specialist whose life is turned upside down when she fakes an engagement with her boss’s handsome new client Milo, to win over her strict building manager and get Milo the penthouse suite. Will Poppy be rewarded with her dream promotion or will her ambitious plan backfire and jeopardize the engagement with her real fiancé?

A beloved writer-turned-CEO of her own Goop-like lifestyle brand, Prism, must secure a partnership with Singled Out to save her company, but the only way to appease them is for her to write a column on falling in love by Christmas with the help of the charming and handsome photographer who has been assigned to the piece.

Teenage Robin and his family move from Kansas City to Seattle after winning the lottery. Robin attends Locksley Academy, a wealthy private school, where he – alongside some new friends – concocts a plan to help an injured friend whose surgery money is stolen by the head of a very wealthy corporation.

When Celeste loses her job as a teacher in Rocheport because of her non-curriculum style of teaching, her boss puts her forward for an au pair job with infamous NY Property Tycoon Richard Trapp. With nothing to lose and an amazing opportunity to gain, Celeste applies and gets the job! As Celeste settles into this new life in the big apple, it isn’t all plain sailing, as she struggles with the children, and this isn’t helped by Richard’s girlfriend Julie – who is desperate to marry Richard and send the children to boarding school.

Paige’s mom wants her to follow in her footsteps – she owns a big conglomerate company but Paige just wants to be a writer. When Joan makes it clear she wants to sell Atlas Publishing because of their lack of clients and subsequent income, Paige sees it as an opportunity to give it one last go, except this time she’ll write under a pseudonym, so no one – not even Atlas Publishing’s last hope Daniel – will know that it’s her family who poses the threat in the first place.

Once a promising singer-songwriter, Abby now finds herself writing uninspired jingles for commercials. As she heads home for the holidays, she's enlisted by the local high school music teacher to help save the school arts program. In the process, Abby rediscovers her voice and regains the confidence to go after her dreams and lets the possibility of love in too.

With his affinity for the 16th-century sculptor Benvenuto Cellini's advocacy of artistic and personal freedom, Hector Berlioz went straight for the grand gesture with his first completed opera. Returning to it years after initial production debacles, Berlioz stated that he would 'never again find such verve and Cellinian impetuosity, nor such a variety of ideas.' The plot revolves around Cellini's wooing of Teresa, a match frustrated at every opportunity by his rival, the cowardly Fieramosca. Benvenuto Cellini is a pithy work combining romance, excitement, violence, comedy and spectacle; the perfect stage for Terry Gilliam's stylishly colorful and larger than life directing.

A towering biblical epic, Saint-Saëns’s operatic take on the story of Samson and Delilah has many of the hallmarks of grand opera—show-stopping vocal displays, thrilling choruses, and an engrossing plot set against a sweeping, pseudo-historical backdrop. It’s fitting, then, that Samson et Dalila has been chosen to celebrate the opening of the Met’s season four times in the company’s history, including when Darko Tresnjak’s bold new production premiered on the first night of the 2018–19 season. A few weeks later, the opera was shown as part of the Met’s series of live cinema transmissions, featuring an exceptional cast. Tenor Roberto Alagna was the heroic Samson, who ultimately falls victim to the seductive power of Dalila—the captivating mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča. Bass-baritone Laurent Naouri sang the sinister High Priest of Dagon, with conductor Sir Mark Elder on the podium.

A unique celebration of the Queen's ninety years as she reaches her landmark birthday in April. Film-maker John Bridcut has been granted special access to the complete collection of Her Majesty's personal ciné films, shot by the Duke of Edinburgh and the Queen herself, as well as by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. Much of it has never been seen publicly before. Various members of the Royal Family are filmed watching this private footage and contributing their own personal insights and their memories of the woman they know both as a member of their own close family and as queen. Among those taking part are the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Cambridge, Prince Harry, the Princess Royal, the Duke of Kent and his sister Princess Alexandra, who has never before given an interview.

A special documentary to mark the seventieth birthday of HRH the Prince of Wales. For this observational documentary, film-maker John Bridcut has had exclusive access to the prince over the past 12 months, both at work and behind the scenes, at home and abroad. He speaks to those who know him best, including HRH the Duchess of Cornwall and the Dukes of Cambridge and Sussex. His sons discuss their upbringing and their feelings about the prince's working life.

These recordings, made during Sir Colin Davis’ ‘Indian summer’ with the orchestra, are acknowledged to be amongst the finest recordings ever made of this repertoire, receiving numerous awards. The symphonies were originally released between 2011 and 2013 and will now be made available together for the first time as a beautifully packaged 3 SACD box set, including one Pure Audio Blu-ray disc. Despite giving titles to the majority of his symphonies, Danish composer Carl Nielsen was often vague about what influenced each work. Nevertheless he was a master symphonist and his music is mesmerising, combining propulsive energy with lyrical invention. LSO0789 | 822231178927 3SACD + 1 Blu-ray audio / digital Total playing time 3h 21m Producer: James Mallinson Engineering: Classic Sound Ltd DSD recording, live at the Barbican in October 2011 (Symphony No 1), December 2011 (Symphony Nos 2 & 3), May 2010 (Symphony No 4), October 2009 (Symphony No 5), May & June 2011 (Symphony No 6).

Marking the Diamond Jubilee (1952-2012) of Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Charles shares his memories of the private side of his mother, the Queen, making use of his family's home movies.

Staging directors Patrice Caurier and Moshe Leiser infuse German composer Engelbert Humperdinck's fairy-tale opera with more than a dollop of black humor in this 2008 London performance that's both enchanting and menacing. Angelika Kirchschlager and Diana Damrau play Hansel and Gretel, respectively, and beloved British baritone Thomas Allen portrays their father in an outstanding production led by maestro Colin Davis.

Benjamin Britten’s opera of the Henry James novel. An inexperienced governess is sent to a country house to care for two children, whom she is gradually convinced have been corrupted by the ghosts of a previous manservant and governess…

In 2012, just a year before his passing, Sir Colin Davis—president of the London Symphony Orchestra at the time and with over five decades of appearances with the prestigious ensemble—gets an affectionate look in this final video appearance, a documentary by Reiner E. Moritz. Alternating scenes from rehearsals, concerts, operas, master classes, and interviews, this portrait offers an invaluable insight into his charming and energetic personality both on and off the podium. It is clear throughout that the musical legend was also a great man, one who will long be remembered for his tireless commitment to music, both in England and abroad.

Kristine Opolais “gives a vocally lustrous and achingly vulnerable performance” (New York Times) in the role that helped launch her international career, the mythical Rusalka, who sings the haunting “Song to the Moon.” Director Mary Zimmerman brings her wondrous theatrical imagination to Dvořák’s fairytale of love and longing, rejection and redemption, giving the work “an inspired staging” (Huffington Post). Brandon Jovanovich, Jamie Barton, Katarina Dalayman, and Eric Owens complete “a matchless cast” (New York Times), and Sir Mark Elder conducts “a magnificent rendering of the composer’s lush score (Huffington Post).

Live performance of Mozart's immortal Requiem in D minor from the Herkulessaal in Munich, 1984. Soprano Edith Mathis, alto Trudeliese Schmidt, tenor Peter Schreier, and bass Gwynne Howell, with the The Bavarian Radio Symphony and Orchestra, are conducted by Sir Colin Davis.

The Queen of the Night enlists a handsome prince named Tamino to rescue her beautiful kidnapped daughter, Princess Pamina. Aided by the lovelorn bird hunter Papageno and a magical flute that holds the power to change the hearts of men, young Tamino embarks on a quest for true love, leading to the evil Sarastro's temple where Pamina is held captive. The internationally renowned Mozart interpreter Sir Colin Davis conducts the chorus and orchestra of the Royal Opera House and a glittering cast in David McVicar's 2003 production of the opera Mozart wrote in the final year of his life, recorded live at Covent Garden.

Captain Vere, an old man, is haunted by a moment in his life when he was tested and found wanting. Based on Herman Melville's novella of naval life in the late 18th Century, Benjamin Britten's 'Billy Budd' is a gripping reflection on good and evil, innocence and corruption.

Starring Angela Gheorghiu as the celebrated French actress Adriana Lecouvreur and Jonas Kaufmann as her lover Maurizio, Count of Saxony, Cilea s verismo drama explores celebrity, romance, jealousy, and death. The trio of sublime voices is completed by Russian mezzo-soprano Olga Borodina as Adriana s jealous rival, the Princess de Bouillon. David McVicar s hit production the first performance of the opera at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden for more than a century presents the life of the French actress as a blurring of the distinction between fantasy and reality. The action revolves around a life-size Baroque Theatre, taking us from the bustle and colour of the first act backstage at the playhouse, to the bare final scenes as the drama reaches its fatal climax.

A line up of star performers celebrate the very best of Edward Elgar's music in the 150th anniversary year of his birth.

An elite group of "soldiers" are assigned the job of infultrating a right-wing militia group. Each team member has unique skills (what's new ?). The right wingers have a heavily guarded camp, and are about to launch a nationwide campaign of violent action.. Will our heroes thwart the neo-nazis in time....

After 3 DEA agents are killed by crime boss Mr. Li, the DEA reluctantly calls in New York cop and martial arts expert Tyler Wilson and sends him undercover on assignment to Toronto to team up with Canadian vice cop Michael Reeds. Wilson and Reeds must infiltrate Li's gang, so enter a martial arts tournament that Mr. Li is known to attend to recruit talent.

Trent Turner has it all - a beautiful wife, a fabulous house, and a business he owns with his best friend. He also has a mistress, a mistress who gets him involved with more than he's bargained for...