Discovered at age nine and a celebrated composer by age eighteen, George Frideric Handel experienced a meteoric rise to success, with forty-two operas performed on three continents in his lifetime. As enduring as Handel's operatic work is, the prodigious German genius is best known for his oratorio Messiah. Now you can learn in poignant detail how Handel's magnum opus came to be.
Susannah Cibber
Charles Jennens
Young Handel
Robert Jennens
Discovered at age nine and a celebrated composer by age eighteen, George Frideric Handel experienced a meteoric rise to success, with forty-two operas performed on three continents in his lifetime. As enduring as Handel's operatic work is, the prodigious German genius is best known for his oratorio Messiah. Now you can learn in poignant detail how Handel's magnum opus came to be.
2014-11-20
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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.
Director Peter Sellars helms this provocative adaptation of George Frideric Handel's opera "Giulio Cesare," sung in the original Italian by soprano Susan Larson (who plays Cleopatra) and countertenor Jeffrey Gall (in the role of Julius Caesar) but set in a very different locale: a futuristic Middle East. Sellars personally wrote the English subtitles included in this version to match the tone he intended for his vision.
Presents Handel as a key figure in the development of Baroque music. Illustrates with musical selections his contributions to 18th century music including the oratorio form perfected in 'THE MESSIAH.'
Shots from Hamlet's rehearsals at the National Theatre in 1970, directed by Adam Hanuszkiewicz, performed by Daniel Olbrychski. The film presents various stages of the preparations – from trying on the costumes and memorizing lines to the final staging.
The musical journey between Mexican Wixárika musician Daniel Medina and American composer Philip Glass.
A report on the exhumation of the remains of the victims of Stalinist repression in the 1930s. The bodies of the prisoners shot by the NKVD in a nearby prison were buried in the area adjacent to the present-day Irkutsk airport.
A film portrait of Eva Rubinstein, artist, photographer, and daughter of Arthur Rubinstein, made during one of her stays in Poland in the 1980s. A citizen of the world who feels an extraordinary bond with Łódź.
An introduction to the world of exotic dancers in Canada.
An approach to the life and extravagant career of the German painter Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528), genius of the Renaissance, through the analysis of twelve of his self-portraits.
A celebration of the actor's life and career, featuring contributions from friends, co-stars and fans including Don Warrington, Sue Nicholls and Mark Lester. The programme also includes a never-before-seen interview with Rossiter himself, and brings new perspectives on one of Britain's best-loved actors, from his upbringing in Liverpool to his remarkable, late-blossoming TV career.
Low-caste former samurai Hanayama Daikichi and his gambler friend Hanji of Yaizu, come to a once peaceful post town of Kofu. A town now filled with gamblers, prostitutes, and unscrupulous opportunists, all drawn by the smell of blood and the scent of newly-mined gold. Daikichi brings a little girl whose father has been butchered by yakuza assassins, hoping to find her family. Intrigue and violence follow the group as they must ward off a deadly female spy and a mysterious ronin with a violent past. Tension mounts as all these forces come together to unravel a secret which will unleash a wave of violence that could destroy them all.
A film about the artist Marlene Dumas: - There's no right way to portray or to understand someone. It's just an acknowledgment , not a denial of reality. Here are my paintings.
After finding the soundtrack of Tararira, the only Argentine surrealist film shot in 1936, lost since then, and starring their great-grand uncles, the Aguilar brothers set out to unravel the family history at the crossroads of the great political events of the 20th century. It is also a story of El Cuarteto Aguilar, a very particular music band, which had an openly lesbian member in the first half of the last century. The discovery of the soundtrack of the lost film leads to a documentary collage that travels through Argentina, Spain and other parts of the world to ask again, one hundred years later, if perhaps the revolution is not also an aesthetic.
Transformed into a salmon, an Indigenous street artist travels through decayed urban landscapes to the forests of long ago, in this sublime mixed animation.
High Definition recording June 2014, Arena di Verona. This opulent production was directed by Franco Zeffirelli and sung by an international cast of excellent singers: Russian mezzo-soprano Ekaterina Semenchuk, soprano Irina Lungu, tenor Carlo Ventre and Carlos Alvarez. The famous opera is staged as a colourful feast for the eyes, true to its source and convincingly acted by soloists, chorus and ballet alike. Conducted by Henrik Nánási it is a gloriously sung musical experience.
Director Mark L. Lestor, producer Merrie Lynn Ross and actor Perry King are interviewed about the making of CLASS OF 1984, the 1982 cult classic. At thirty-six minutes we get to hear all about the production from the how Lestor got the idea in his head to how they eventually got the movie made.
Anthony Anderson (ABC’s “Blackish”) will kick off VH1’s Mother’s Day celebration as this year’s host and will also honor his hilarious mom, Doris Bowman. The event will feature vocal powerhouse Alicia Keys honoring her mother Terria Joseph, an actor and single parent. Multifaceted superstar Queen Latifah will be honoring her mother Rita Owens, a single mother and former high school teacher in Newark, New Jersey. Trey, Jaden and Willow Smith will also join the mom-fest to honor Hollywood powerhouse Jada Pinkett-Smith. Toronto singer-songwriter Alessia Cara will perform her hit "Wild Things" as a tribute to her mom, Enza Caracciolo. Additional honorary mothers will be announced soon.