Rodelinda

Based on true events of the late 60s in Italy, poet, playwright and myrmecologist Aldo Braibanti is prosecuted and sentenced to prison for the love he shares with his barely-of-age pupil and friend, Ettore. Amidst a chorus of voices of accusers, supporters and a largely hypocritical public, a single committed journalist takes on the task of piecing together the truth, between secrecy and desire, facing suspicion and censorship in the process.

Claus Guth's exciting 2017 staging of Handel’s "Rodelinda" at Madrid’s Teatro Real, featuring Lucy Crowe and Bejun Mehta as Rodelinda and Bertarido, with conductor Ivor Bolton. After the successes of "Giulio Cesare" in 1723 and "Tamerlano" in 1724, Rodelinda completes the trilogy of Handel’s great opera seria masterpieces. The work was composed in 1725 using Nicola Francesco Haym’s libretto, a work inspired by Antonio Salvi’s earlier libretto which had been itself adapted from Pierre Corneille’s tragedy "Pertharite, roi des Lombards". Rodelinda thus brought one of the most glorious compositional periods in the Handel’s career to a close, about a decade after his arrival in the British capital. Mixing romantic storytelling and political intrigue, Handel produced one of his most beautiful scores, a true operatic tour de force.

This epic opera follows Virgil, beginning as the Greeks appear to have ceded the field after ten years of the Trojan War. Cassandra tries to warn of the terrible fate to come, but fate is set and Troy falls. The first two acts cover this tragic end, then the flight of survivors to Carthage and events at Carthage continue in acts 3 - 5, culminating in the further voyage for Italy and Rome. This is Virgil's classic epic, in operatic form, in about a three and a half hour performance from French Opera.

Klementia, who has been a nun for several years, is troubled by an apparition of Saint Susanna. The latter, performed by Anna Caterina Antonacci, lifts the veil on a carnal world she finds disturbing. Encouraged to confide by this awakening, Klementia recounts the passion of a young girl in the convent who many years before had stripped naked and embraced the body of Christ on the Cross. Darkness and light, life and death, body and soul all struggle and dialogue in this short, smouldering work in which the biblical figure of Susanna takes on an unparalleled psychological dimension.

Filmed in the Santuario della Beata Vergine dei Miracoli in Saronno, the DVD set Pergolesi's music against the background of the magnificent cupola frescoes of Gaudenzio Ferrari

Directed by Uffe Borgwardt. Starring Inger Dam-Jensen, Christophe Dumaux, Andreas Scholl.

The dark world of Tchaikovsky’s penultimate operatic masterpiece Queen of Spades hinges on obsession, greed, and a secret in winning at cards… In 2005, the Opéra Bastille mounted a compelling production featuring Vladimir Galouzine as the mad lover Hermann, Hasmik Papian as the doomed Lisa, and Irina Bogatcheva as the mysterious Comtesse.

Dialogues of the Carmelites. Opera in three acts and twelve scenes by Francis Poulenc, based on the play by Georges Bernanos. Orchestra and Chorus of the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma conducted by Michele Mariotti, directed by Emma Dante.

Famed countertenor Andreas Scholl sings the title role of Roman emperor Julius Caesar in this memorable production of Georg Friederich Handel's "Giulio Cesare," staged at the Royal Danish Opera. Transporting the action from ancient times to the present day, director Francisco Negrin paints a passionate portrait of Caesar's storied romance with the Egyptian queen Cleopatra (played by soprano Inger Dam-Jensen).

Renée Fleming stars in the title role of one of Handel’s greatest dramas, seen in Stephen Wadsworth’s 2004 Met premiere production. Rodelinda is faced with an impossible dilemma: With her husband Bertarido believed dead, she either has to marry the despised Grimoaldo (the elegant Joseph Kaiser), who has usurped her husband’s throne, or see him murder her son. But Bertarido (leading countertenor Andreas Scholl) is alive and eventually reclaims both throne and wife—and makes peace with his enemies. Stephanie Blythe is marvelous as Eduige, Bertarido’s sister, who is betrothed to Grimoaldo but turns against him. Baroque authority Harry Bicket conducts.

Johann Sebastian Bach’s *St John Passion*, performed in Leipzig by the young boys of the St Thomas Church Choir, which the composer conducted for twenty-seven years.

A production of an opera by George Frideric Handel, about the Skyrian princess Deidamia helping Achilles while he is disguised as a girl to avoid dying in the Trojan War, based on Greek mythology.

The film accompanies the internationally renowned countertenor Andreas Scholl to recitals in Dresden, Schwetzingen and his home town, Kiedrich. In interviews Andreas Scholl sheds light on his personal and artistic development. In bonus parts of the DVD Andreas Scholl sings John Dowland's "Lute Songs" and Dietrich Buxtehude's "Jubilate Domino." Directly after the recital, Scholl and his co-performers discuss the works and their interpretation of them. "What is the point of a recital, an opera, what is the purpose of music, presented to an audience by performers, communicators? Of course, the purpose of music and art in general, is to enlighten and inspire the human spirit. It is about stimulating – and shaping – both our hearts and our minds." These and other questions Andreas Scholl wants to find out in this portrait.

Verdi's opera, performed by the choir and orchestra of the La Scala theatre under Riccardo Muti.

Opera at La Scala Milan

Heavenly Voices tells the story of the castrato phenomenon, and how the most gifted amongst these singers rose to international stardom. Max Emanuel Cencic and Philippe Jaroussky, two of today's singing stars, take us back in time and talk about operatic entertainment in the Baroque Age. This is illustrated by paintings and prints from the time as well as major performances of today. In this film, many countertenors are featured in famous roles and in interviews, amongst them Jochen Kowalski, Andreas Scholl, David Daniels, Daniel Behle and Valer Barna-Sabadus.

About the Director: John Eliot Gardiner is one of the most versatile conductors of our time. Acknowledged as a key figure in the early music revival, he is the founder and artistic director of the Monteverdi Choir, the English Baroque Soloists and the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique. The extent of his repertoire is illustrated in over 250 recordings which have received numerous international awards. Over the years Gardiner has won more Gramophone awards than any other artist. Probably the most francophile of English conductors, John Eliot Gardiner returned to the Opéra Comique, Paris for a much aclaimed production of Carmen last year. On June 25th it was broadcast live to 50 theatres in France and Switzerland and also recorded for TV. This followed an exciting collaboration that began in December 2007 with Chabrier s Opera bouffe L'Etoile, which had opened the new theatre at Opera Comique in December 2007.

An LWT South Bank Show, presented by Melvyn Bragg, exploring the phenomenon of countertenor singing. With its unique, soaring beauty, the high male voice is today enjoying a huge resurgence in popularity. Heirs to the celebrated castrati of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, today's countertenors produce their voices by wholly natural means. In this programme international stars Michael Chance, Andreas Scholl and James Bowman, as well as popstar Jimmy Somerville, shed light on the appeal of the male falsetto. Meanwhile, experts such as Michael White place today's countertenors in their historical context. What emerges is a compelling portrayal of an unmistakable vocal style, rooted in church and operatic tradition, yet completely up-to-date, resonating louder today than at any time in the last two hundred years.

George Frideric Handel's Giulio Cesare: Opera in three acts, HWV 17. Performed at Salzburg Festival 2012.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Don Giovanni is performed live at the Theater an der Wien in this 1999 production starring Carlos Alvarez in the title role and featuring the music of the Choir and Orchester der Weiner Staatsoper performing under the guiding wand of conductor Riccardo Muti.