Die Fledermaus by J. Strauss II, from Salzbourg Grosses Festspielhaus, 2001. Directed by Hans Neuenfels, conductor Marc Minkowski, starring Elisabeth Trissenaar, David Moss, Olaf Bär, Mireille Delunsch, Christoph Homberger, Dale Duesing, Jerry Hadley, Franz Supper, Martin Hartelius. Performed in ...

Die Frau ohne Schatten by Richard Strauss, Libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal, from Live recorded from the Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg, 2012. Directed by Henning Kasten, starring Avgust Amonov, Mlada Khudoley, Edem Umerov, Olga Sergeyeva.

In September 1984, as part of the Berlin Festival Week, the Deutsche Oper Berlin staged the world premiere of German composer Aribert Reimann’s opera “Die Gespenstersonate”. Based on the drama by the Swedish writer August Strindberg, the chamber opera tells the story of a student, who muses about...

To save the billions belonging to the young and attractive widow Hanna Glawari for his country Pontevedro, Baron Zeta initiates a very special matchmaking: he commands the charming womanizer Count Danilo Danilowitsch to carry out his patriotic duty in marrying the widow. What the baron cannot hav...

The 1970 film version of Richard Wagner’s opera Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg is based on a staging by the director Leopold Lindtberg, for which Herbert Kirchhoff designed the set and Rudolf Heinrich the costumes. Leopold Ludwig conducts the Chorus of the Hamburg State Opera and the Philharmonic...

Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg by R. Wagner from Glyndebourne Festival Opera, performed at Glyndebourne Festival Theatre, Glyndebourne, 2011. Directed by David McVicar, conductor Vladimir Jurowski. Starring Gerald Finley (Hans Sachs), Marco Jentzsch (Walther von Stolzing), Johannes Martin Kränzle...

In 1920s Germany, Erich Korngold's work was considered “degenerate” and banned. Eventually, in 1934, he left for Hollywood. There, he made a name for himself as a film composer and only rarely wrote great works for the stage. Many of his quite successful operas, composed between 1913 and 1927, st...

Die Tote Stadt by E.W. Korngold from Gran Teatro La Fenice, performed at La Fenice, 2009. Directed by Pier Luigi Pizzi, conductor Eliahu Inbal. Starring Stefan Vinke (Paul), Solveig Kringelborn (Marie, Mariette), Stephan Genz (Frank, Fritz), Christa Mayer (Brigitta), Eleonore Marguerre (Juliette)...

Die Walküre by R. Wagner, from Aix-en-Provence Festival, 2007. Directed by Stéphane Braunschweig, conductor Sir Simon Rattle, starring Andrea Baker, Willard White, Eva-maria Westbroek, Lilli Paasikivi, Eva Johansson, Eva Vogel, Erika Sunnegårdh, Robert Gambill, Heike Grötzinger, Joanna Porackova,...

This 1971 film version of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Magic Flute is based on a production at Hamburg State Opera staged by the multi-talented stage, television and film author, director and actor Sir Peter Ustinov, with decor and costumes by Jens-Denis Malclès. The cast brought together by Rolf Li...

Die Zauberflöte is the artistic and philosophical testament of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who died a few weeks after the work’s première in Vienna.

Intertwining music of awesome purity and beauty with the conventions of the singspiel - a popular form of musical comedy – Mozart’s final operatic l...

Die Zauberflöte (for Children) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, from St. Margarethen Römersteinbruch, 2006. Performed in German.

"“Procure me the unconditional fulfilment of my every wish for the rest of my life, let me embrace the world – the East and the South, which call out to me –, let me understand completely man’s actions and extend them in unheard-of ways; give me genius, and give me also his suffering, so that I m...

In 1964 Deutsche Oper Berlin still had no General Music Director. But Artistic Director Gustav Rudolf Sellner made a virtue out a necessity and – in addition to the permanent conductor Heinrich Hollreiser and the regular guest conductor Karl Böhm – brought in further conductors from home and abro...

Don Carlo by G.Verdi, from Teatro Regio, Parma, 2016. Directed by Cesare Lievi, conductor Daniel Oren, starring Vladimir Stoyanov, José Bros, Simon Lim, Michele Pertusi, Marianne Cornetti, Serena Farnocchia, Ievgen Orlov, Lavinia Bini, Gregory Bonfatti, Marina Bucciarelli. Performed in Italian an...

"The opening of the Deutsche Oper Berlin on 24 September 1961 is always seen in the context of partition of Germany, cemented six weeks earlier, and the construction of the Berlin Wall. The coincidence of the two events did not go unnoticed in the many press reports at the time, with most citing ...

Walter Felsenstein (1901–1975), founder and general director of the Komische Oper in Berlin, was one of the twentieth century’s greatest creative theatre directors, who played a hugely important role in the revival of opera as a theatrical art form. A brilliant artist who directed over 190 produc...

Don Giovanni by Mozart from Teatro Real, performed at Teatro Real, Madrid, 2005. Directed by Lluis Pasqual, conductor Víctor Pablo Pérez. Starring Carlos Álvarez (Don Giovanni); María Bayo (Donna Anna); José Bros (Don Ottavio); Sonia Ganassi (Donna Elvira) and Lorenzo Regazzo (Leporello). Subtitl...

Don Giovanni by Mozart from La Monnaie, performed at La Monnaie, 2014. Directed by Krzystof Warlikowski, conductor Ludovic Morlot. Starring Jean-Sébastien Bou (Don Giovanni), Sir Willard White (Il commendatore), Barbara Hannigan (Donna Anna), Topi Lehtipuu (Don Ottavio), Rinat Shaham (Donna Elvir...

Don Gregorio by Donizetti, from Festival G. Donizetti Bergamo, 2007. Directed by Roberto Recchia, conductor Stefano Montanari, starring Paolo Bordogna, Elizaveta Martirosyan, Giorgio Trucco, Giorgio Valerio, Livio Scarpellini and Alessandra Fratelli. Performed in Italian and subtitled in English,...

“…Riccardo Muti conducts Don Pasquale in Ravenna - a great celebration for everyone.” This press quote from the Italian music magazine Il giornale della musica hit the mark exactly. Watching this realistic, young and vital production, directed by the 21 year old Andrea da Rosa and listening to a ...

Don Pasquale by G. Donizetti from Glyndebourne Festival Opera, performed at Glyndebourne Festival Theatre, Glyndebourne, 2013. Directed by Mariame Clément, conductor Enrique Mazzola. Starring Alessandro Corbelli (Don Pasquale), Danielle de Niese (Norina), Nikolay Borchev (Malatesta), Alek Shrader...

Ice and Steel – A unique historical witness!

During the 1920s Vladimir Dechevov (1889 – 1955) was regarded as one of the most promising younger Soviet composers. Darius Milhaud, who made his acquaintance in 1926 during a visit to Leningrad, praised him in the French press as a “genius” and “ex...

Elektra byR. Strauss, from Aix-en-Provence Festival, 2013. Directed by Patrice Chéreau, conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen, starring Andrea Hill, Tom Randle, Donald McIntyre, Mikhail Petrenko, Renate Behle, Franz Mazura, Bonita Hyman, Evelyn Herlitzius, Waltrud Meier, Adrianna Pieczonka and Diener Flori...