Strauss R: Salome

Most opera houses ring in the New Year with Johann Strauss Jr.'s most popular operetta--the festiveness of which is appropriate for the occasion--and this December 31, 1983, Covent Garden performance follows suit. An exceptional cast--led by Hermann Prey and Kiri Te Kanawa as the couple whose marriage survives the comic indiscretions of three long acts--obviously has as much fun as the audience. Plácido Domingo leads the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House through its paces with panache. Prince Orlofsky's Act II party is always a splendid opportunity to pull out all the stops with surprise "guests," and this performance makes the most of its chance: entering the proceedings to sing one of his tailor-made chansons, "She," is French crooner Charles Aznavour, who is followed by dancers Merle Park and Wayne Eagling, their delightful pas de deux flashily choreographed by Sir Frederick Ashton.

Daniele Gatti (then not yet as chief conductor) started a new chapter of this collaboration. Their spectacular 2017 production of Richard Strauss’ Salome is another highlight in the already impressive list. "If you were going to see just one Salome in your life, this would be a good choice" ***** Shirley Apthorp, Financial Times "What a magma of sound!" ***** Merlijn Kerkhof, Volkskrant "The level of precision and the way Gatti gradually increases the tension is almost unbearable… The effect is overwhelming and leaves the listener breathless." ***** Peter van der Lint, Trouw

At first glance, Hofmannsthal's libretto ARABELLA is a comedy of mistaken identity which, had it been composed by Rossini, could have been a snappy buffo opera. But the music of Richard Strauss, who pulls out all the stops of his orchestral art, from the late romantic intoxication to the most modern discord, creates a subtle, colorful panorama of a society in transition, whose late-bourgeois values ​​are crumbling. One's own identity and interpersonal relationships have to be tested from scratch. Central is – even more than the title character, who oscillates between romance and rebellion – Arabella's younger sister Zdenka, who, disguised as a man by her parents for lack of money for girls' clothes befitting their status, has to struggle all the more desperately with her/his role as an outsider.

Live from the Metropolitan Opera 19 December 2009.

Live performance from the Schwetzinger Festspiele, 1987. At the age of 21, Italian composer Giacchino Rossini penned the masterful comic opera “L’Italiana in Algeri” (“The Italian Girl in Algiers”) in less than a month. The composer’s youthful exuberance comes across in this infectious 1987 performance. Though she’s known mainly for her Wagner roles, acclaimed German mezzo-soprano Doris Soffel shines in the title role of Isabella. Ralf Weikert conducts, and Mauro Pagano oversees sets and costumes.

This release captures a performance of the Leoš Janáček opera Katia Kabanova recorded at the Salzburg Festival in 1998.

This deliciously dark take on the beloved Brothers Grimm fairy tale, appealing to audiences of all ages, was part of the Met’s popular English-language holiday series. Alice Coote and Christine Schäfer star as the famous siblings lost in the woods, who battle the ravenous Witch—a zany portrayal by tenor Philip Langridge—while the Met orchestra, under the baton of Vladimir Jurowski, glories in the rich, folk-inspired score.

Premiered in 1926, Leoš Janáček’s absorbing masterpiece Veˇc Makropulos reflects all the dominant musical styles of the early 20th century, from Bohemian tunefulness to big Straussian phrases, Berg-like jaggedness and primeval rhythms. With the “breathtakingly grandiose” (Salzburger Nachrichten) Angela Denoke in the lead role, this emotionallypowerful opera was given superior treatment at the hands of the Wiener Philharmoniker under Esa-Pekka Salonen. Recorded live at the Salzburger Festspiele on 8 & 30 August 2011. Angela Denoke stars as Emilia Marty, with Raymond Very as Albert Gregor, Peter Hoare as Vitek, Jurgita Adamonyté as Krista, and Johan Reuter as Jaroslav Prus. Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts the Wiener Philharmoniker.

This is the Ring cycle of the Dutch National Opera, directed by Pierre Audi. In the depths of the Rhine, the three Rhinemaidens guard the Rhinegold, a treasure of immeasurable value. The Nibelung dwarf Alberich is dazzled by the sight of it. The girls explain that whoever wins the gold and forges it into a ring will gain power over the world, but must first renounce love. Frustrated by his unsuccessful attempts to catch one of the girls, Alberich curses love and steals the gold. Wotan, lord of the gods, is reproached by his wife Fricka: he has promised to give Freia, goddess of youth, to the giants Fasolt and Fafner in return for their building a fortress for the gods. When the giants demand their reward, Loge, the god of fire, suggests an alternative payment: the ring Alberich has forged from the Rhinegold, and his other treasures. The giants agree, and Wotan and Loge leave for the Nibelungs’ underground home.

Drama lyrique in five acts, after the play by Maruice Maeterlink

Christoph Willibald Gluck's opera Alceste, based on Euripides' ancient Greek tragedy, tells the story of Queen Alceste of Thessaly. Alceste was performed at the Teatro Real de Madrid between February 27th to March 15th 2014.

The young composer Max is due to marry Agathe, but before his wedding he must finish his opera on which he has been working for quite some time. Despite all his efforts, Max is plagued by worries that he will fail to complete the piece and so makes almost no progress. Visions and hallucinations haunt him, the boundaries between dream and reality seem to blur and overlap. Caspar tries to persuade him finally to give in to the hidden and dark creative powers within him and so overcome his inability to write; Caspar’s efforts are finally rewarded.

This is the Ring cycle of the Dutch National Opera, directed by Pierre Audi. Fleeing for his life, Siegmund seeks shelter at Sieglinde's house. Her husband Hunding happens to be one of Siegmund's pursuers, and the two of them must cross swords the next day. As Siegmund laments his lack of a weapon, Sieglinde directs him to the sword Nothung stuck in an ash tree. Despite discovering they are twin siblings, the two fall in love. The King of Gods Wotan, their father, sends his Valkyrie daughter Brünnhilde to aid Siegmund. Fricka protests, and Wotan uses his spear to break Siegmund's sword during the battle. Siegmund is slain, but Brünnhilde rescues both the sword fragments and Sieglinde who is pregnant with Siegmund's child Siegfried. Wotan is angry that she intervened, but since Brünnhilde is his favorite child, he merely strips her of immortality and sends her into an enchanted sleep, surrounded by fire.

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.

It is no wonder that Met audiences have gone wild over Karita Mattila’s sizzling Salome. Indisputably one of the greatest Salomes of our time, Mattila utterly incarnates Oscar Wilde’s petulant, willful, and lust-driven heroine. With Strauss’s groundbreaking music magnifying the degenerate atmosphere and building the erotic tension, this is one opera that is as shocking today as it was at its premiere in 1905.

Christof Loy continues his exploration of early 20th-century opera at the Deutsche Oper Berlin with Respighi's rarely heard La fiamma. Imposing choruses and sweeping tableaux drive a drama of suspicion, desire and public frenzy, heightened here by Carlo Rizzi's musical direction and a cast led by Olesya Golovneva and Georgy Vasiliev. Premiered in 1934, the work mirrors a society sliding towards authoritarianism, its show trial carrying an unsettling emotional charge. Respighi's score moves beyond the colours of the Trilogia romana, blending impressionist shimmer, Russian influence and a renewed fascination with Italian Renaissance sound worlds.

Calixto Bieito's controversial but visually stunning production of Wozzeck is set in a grisly, chaotic, post-industrial maze, giving a contemporary edge to the disturbing and hair-raising intensity of Alban Berg's expressionistic masterpiece.

From the gorgeous scene deep in the river Rhine that opens the opera, up to the magic Rainbow Bridge that appears at the end, leading to a glistening Valhalla, Otto Schenk’s production captures the scenic world of Wagner’s Ring as brilliantly as James Levine and the Met orchestra capture the musical world. The cast is incomporable: an astounding James Morris as the young god Wotan, the great Christa Ludwig as his wife Fricka, incandescent Siegfried Jerusalem as Loge, the wily god of fire, and Ekkehard Wlaschiha as a complex Alberich.

Brett Dean's multi-award-winning opera received its world premiere at Glyndebourne Festival 2017. The world premiere recording of Brett Deans new opera based on Shakespeares best-known tragedy: To be, or not to be. This is Hamlets dilemma, and the essence of Shakespeares most famous and arguably greatest work, given new life in operatic form in this original Glyndebourne commission. Thoughts of murder and revenge drive Hamlet when he learns that it was his uncle Claudius who killed his father, the King of Denmark, then seized his fathers crown and wife. But Hamlets vengeance vies with the question: is suicide a morally valid deed in an unbearably painful world?

Live performance, new production season 1984-5. BBC 2 Television relay on 30 March 1985 of performance of February 11.

Recorded at Britain's Glyndebourne Opera Festival, Leos Janacek's opera follows the exploits of Emilia Marty (Anja Silja), a sexually irresistible prima donna who experiences everything imaginable in her long life, which lasts longer than 300 years. Directed by Nikolaus Lehnhoff and conducted by Andrew Davis, this psychological opera blends comedy and personal tragedy to examine the perplexing mystery of human existence.

The story concerns the enlightenment of the Christian King Roger II by a young shepherd who represents pagan ideals. Kasper Holten’s production (The Royal Opera’s first) of Król Roger (King Roger) brought the opera back to the London stage after an absence of almost 40 years. Karol Szymanowski’s masterpiece powerfully presents the dilemmas of culture versus nature and man versus beast, and movingly depicts King Roger’s inner struggles as he moves from an impossible life of repressed desires to the other extreme, giving in to his own demons. Meanwhile, Roger’s people, seduced by the promises of the mysterious Shepherd, are drawn towards totalitarianism and repression. Antonio Pappano conducts Szymanowksi’s opulent and beautiful score, with a cast including Mariusz Kwiecień as Roger (one of the greatest interpreters of the role today), Saimir Pirgu as the Shepherd, and Georgia Jarman in her Royal Opera debut as Roger’s loving queen Roxana.

Calixto Bieito's famously controversial 2002 production of Mozart's great opera sets the action in the late twentieth century and brings to life an ancient story brilliantly retold. Bertrand de Billy conducts an energetic cast led by Wojtek Drabowicz in the title role, with the Liceu's Orchestra Academy. Press Reviews "The musical performance has its own distinction, as well as complete integration with the staging concept." (Gramophone) " It's a strong cast, led by Drabowicz's nobly-voiced, savage Don, and Youn's powerful Leporello." (BBC Music Magazine) "A fully rounded piece of work...Coherent production, perfectly staged, impeccable singers." (El Periodico) "Musically much better than the London version – Véronique Gens makes a wonderful Donna Elvira, confident, strong, perfect both in her singing and acting." (El Pais)

Poseidon demands Medusa’s submission. Hoping to protect her, her sisters send her to live with the priestesses of Athena’s temple. But the god of the sea emerges from the waves and rapes the young woman, defiling the temple. To punish her for this desecration, Athena turns Medusa into a monstrous creature: her hair becomes a nest of snakes and her gaze turns anyone who looks at her to stone. This terrifying power arouses the lust of heroes, who pursue her in her exile…

Performance of Janacek's opera performed/streamed live in Vienna on April 27th, 2017.

Cardillac is a master jeweler who cannot live without his creations, killing his clients to recuperate them and assert his authorship, and conferring the status of art upon the act of murder.