Manon Lescaut(1983)

Andrea Chénier(it)

Live from ROH 1985. Giordano's Andrea Chenier is one of the greatest of verismo operas, full of heart-stopping big tunes and powerful emotional situations. If it is not as well-known as it should be, it is because in summary it sounds a little too like Puccini's Tosca: there is a tussle between political opponents over a woman, an attempt to save a condemned man, a tenor aria about writing poetry on the eve of execution. The difference is that Gerard (Giorgio Zancanaro) is not a villain like Scarpia, he is an idealist whom the French Revolution has betrayed as much as it has his rival the poet Chenier (Placido Domingo). His temptation to abuse his power to seduce the virtuous Maddalena (Anna Tomowa-Sintow) is a momentary one, though its consequences are terrible. There is a streak of post-Wagnerian decadence in much of this--Maddalena is at least as much in love with death as she is with Chenier, and the final love duet has a deeply sinister aspect. -- From Amazon.co.uk

The Age of Curious(en)

Three teens face their inner wildness on a dreamlike journey when they decide to peek under the hair of God.

The Ring Road(ar)

In a country where corruption has reached epidemic levels, an investigative journalist tries to reveal the corruption of a medical mogul whose corruption caused the death of dozens without blame. Essam has a daughter who has kidney failure and has been affected by the filters made by this mogul's factory. On another front, Essam is in a stale marriage caused by the daughter's sickness and finds himself lured by an attractive seductress. Things become more complicated when the daughter's sickness becomes fatal and he can't cover the expenses of the transplant. Essam is faced with a deep moral question.should he become corrupt himself in order to save his daughter's life? and how can he save his marriage and reputation along the way?

Audit(en)

A young actor and his wife undergoing an IRS audit have more to worry about than the usual cheating when the IRS secretary turns out to be hot for the wife and the auditor turns out to be an ex-trick of the actor.

L'Affiche rouge(fr)

A company wants to make a play about Mont Valerien resistant fighters who were shot by the Nazis and the French collaborators.

Zonder Zelda(en)

Wander is working as an engine operator on a cargo-ship. When he takes a coffee-break, a woman appears in a talkshow on TV. In an instant, Wander recognizes her to be his long lost girl-friend Zelda from childhood days some 20 years ago. In these days, Wander used to live in a boarding-school. From his room window, he can see the house on the opposite river bank where Zelda lives. She's a really adorable young beauty, but she's less affected than one should think, and so Wander gets his chance. They are having a good time until one day when Wander finds Zelda's father in the school kitchen making love to the kitchen maid. Things turn out bad for most of the characters involved, but there's an open end.

This love is from another planet(es)

Iván decides to propose to Natalia, a creative and intelligent artist, despite the fact that they have been dating for a few months.

Airport from the Service Entrance(ru)

Due to heavy snowfall that hit the city, aircraft flights were stopped for a day. Thousands of passengers crowded into the waiting room. Working together during this difficult shift, the previously conflicting bosses of the two shifts will evaluate each other, act in concert, and each will reconsider their professional and moral positions...

Seven Booths(ru)

What, it would seem, could be more innocent than a women's toilet being renovated? In his booths you can hide from the bustle of the big city, discuss lovers, drink, cry, sleep, smoke and have sex... And you can also hide in it what no one should find. An unknown beauty leaves a disc with information in the toilet. Two gangsters come to collect theirs and 7 stalls in the closet of a fashionable nightclub become the stage for one of the most unexpected stories of our time.

Zombiemania(en)

The evolution of the zombie from its roots in Haitian voodoo to its coveted role as the world's most popular monster: from being a clumsy corpse to becoming a cannibal killer and the main agent of every infectious pandemic, the zombie has come a long way in seventy years. A look at the rising tide of zombie culture examining why something so dead has so much life in viewers' nightmares and at the box office.

Die Legende von Derdriu und Noisi(de)

She Kept Asking for the Moon(sk)

Johanka had a fling with a well digger she had not met before and who, she was most likely certain, would never be around again. Just before his departure, they have sex and she eventually becomes single mother of a baby girl. Now, 18 years later, her daughter Paulina commutes by bus to work in the nearby city, which gives the village gossips the occasional opportunity to remind her of her unknown father. A resultant conflict with her mother makes Paulina take up residence in the city. Johanka, prodded by her also-single friend Jozefka who maintains that a woman without a man is nothing, begins to woo the new teacher Jarek only to discover later that he is married. Paulina, in the meantime, loses her virginity to the soldier Jirka who promptly makes himself scarce. Johanka fails to consider that she actually has a better life than some of her married neighbors, begins to see.

Yeguas y cotorras(es)

Delfina decides to spend with her two best friends, in her family’s manor house, her last day before getting married. In a sometimes violent, sensual or caring atmosphere, they share their doubts, their memories, their secrets, but also their bitterness. This intriguing title (literally Mares and Parrots) hides a subtle social unease within the young Buenos Aires bourgeoisie.

Standing Room Only(en)

Freddie the Freeloader's Christmas Dinner (aka Red Skelton's 's Christmas Dinner) is a TV special that premiered on Home Box Office (HBO) on December 13, 1981. The program stars Red Skelton and was part of HBO's Standing Room Only series of specials.

Heavy Metal Horror(en)

Julia, a disillusioned young prostitute hounded by an evil spirit, escapes her pimp and crosses paths with a heavy metal band, bringing their worlds together in a night of terror.

The Cry Of Silence(en)

A story about life, death, vulnerability and grief.

Un Ballo in Maschera(it)

Live performance from Oper Leipzig, 26 November 2005.

Un Ballo in Maschera(it)

Live from the Metropolitan Opera, 14 February 1980. This version takes place in Boston rather than Sweden.

The Metropolitan Opera: Un Ballo in Maschera(en)

David Alden’s elegant 2012 production moves Verdi’s thrilling drama to a timeless setting inspired by film noir. Marcelo Álvarez is Gustavo III, the Swedish king in love with Amelia (Sondra Radvanovsky), the wife of his best friend and counselor, Count Anckarström (Dmitri Hvorostovsky). When Anckarström joins a conspiracy to murder the king, tragedy ensues. Stephanie Blythe is the fortuneteller Madame Ulrica Arvidsson and Kathleen Kim sings the page Oscar. Met Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi is on the podium.

Rossini: Armida(it)

It is a rare opera indeed that calls for one soprano diva and no fewer than six tenors. Mary Zimmerman’s fanciful production of Rossini’s drama, designed by Richard Hudson and with choreography by Graciela Daniele, provides the perfect setting for superstar Renée Fleming’s captivating performance of the title role. A beautiful but evil sorceress in the times of the Crusades, Armida sets out to regain the love of the Frankish knight Rinaldo (Lawrence Brownlee) by putting her magical spells on him. She at first succeeds to draw him into her web of sorcery, but ultimately divine intervention—and his fellow soldiers—free Rinaldo from his enchantment—much to the vengeful fury of Armida and her demons.

Prince Igor(ru)

Live performance from the Metropolitan Opera, March 1, 2014. Absent from the Met stage since 1917, Borodin’s masterwork about an introspective prince’s military campaign against the invading Polovtsians returned in 2014 with a first-rate cast and an astonishing production by Dmitri Tcherniakov. Well worth the wait, the sets feature visually striking projections interlaced with lush flowering fields, and the first act delivers one of opera’s most exciting dance medleys, a portion of which went mainstream in the 1950s when Tony Bennett recorded “Stranger in Paradise.”

Così fan tutte(it)

Live performance from the Metropolitan Opera, 27 February, 1996.

Verdi: Falstaff(en)

Music Director James Levine conducts his first new Met production after a two-year absence: Robert Carsen’s hit staging of Verdi’s great human comedy. Ambrogio Maestri is an ideal Falstaff, leading an extraordinary ensemble cast of veteran and up-and-coming Met stars, including Angela Meade (Alice), Stephanie Blythe (Mistress Quickly), Franco Vasallo (Ford), and Jennifer Johnson Cano (Meg). Lisette Oropesa and Paolo Fanale are the young lovers, Nannetta and Fenton.

Gounod: Faust(fr)

Tenor Jonas Kaufmann is riveting as the title character of Gounod’s popular opera, seen in this Live in HD presentation of Des McAnuff’s thrilling 2011 production that places the mythical and timeless story in an early 20th-century setting. René Pape as Méphistophélès is menacing and elegant in equal measure, and Marina Poplavskaya delivers a searingly intense portrayal of the innocent Marguerite. Russell Braun as her brother, Valentin, shines in his Act II aria. On the podium, Yannick Nézet-Séguin brings out all the lyricism and drama of Gounod’s score.

Carmen(fr)

Live performance from Teatro alla Scala, 7 December 2009 .

Carmen(fr)

Live performance from the Metropolitan Opera, 25 March 1997.

Salome(de)

Richard Strauss's opera, from the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

The Metropolitan Opera: Salome(de)

Met performances of Strauss’s white-hot one-act tragedy, which receives its first new production at the company in 20 years. Claus Guth, one of Europe’s leading opera directors, gives the biblical story—already filtered through the beautiful and strange imagination of Oscar Wilde’s play—a psychologically perceptive Victorian-era setting rich in symbolism and subtle shades of darkness and light.

Il Barbiere di Siviglia(it)

The Metropolitan Opera: Il Barbiere di Siviglia(en)

Mezzo-soprano Aigul Akhmetshina headlines a winning ensemble as the feisty heroine, Rosina, alongside high-flying tenor Jack Swanson, in his Met debut, as her secret beloved, Count Almaviva. Baritone Andrey Zhilikhovsky stars as Figaro, the titular barber of Seville, with bass-baritone Peter Kálmán as Dr. Bartolo and bass Alexander Vinogradov as Don Basilio rounding out the principal cast.

Royal Opera House: Andrea Chénier(en)

At a glittering party in 18th-century Paris, the poet Andréa Chenier delivers an impassioned denunciation of Louis XVI. Five years later, the Revolution has given way to the Terror, transforming the power balance between Chénier, his beloved Maddalena, and Gérard, the man who could destroy him...

Royal Opera House Live 2024/25: The Marriage of Figaro(it)

Count Almaviva lives with his Countess on their estate near Seville. The Count has his eye on his wife’s maid Susanna, who is betrothed to the Count’s servant, Figaro. Much to Figaro’s dismay, the Count plans to seduce Susanna on wedding night. Meanwhile, Cherubino, the Count’s young page, is infatuated with the Countess, but has just been dismissed after being discovered with Barbarina, the gardener Antonio’s daughter.

Die Walküre(de)

The gorgeous and evocative Otto Schenk/Günther Schneider-Siemssen production continues with this second opera in Wagner’s Ring cycle. Hildegard Behrens brings deep empathy to Brünnhilde, the favorite daughter of the god Wotan (James Morris) who nevertheless defies him. Morris’s portrayal of Wotan is deservedly legendary, as is Christa Ludwig, as Fricka. Jessye Norman and Gary Lakes are Sieglinde and Siegmund, and Kurt Moll is the threatening Hunding. James Levine and the Met orchestra provide astonishing color and drama. (Performed April 8, 1989)

Siegfried(de)

Siegfried is the third of the four operas that constitute Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung), by Richard Wagner.

The Metropolitan Opera: The Exterminating Angel(en)

After the acclaimed Met premiere of Thomas Adès's "The Tempest" in 2012, the composer returned with another masterpiece, this time inspired by filmmaker Luis Buñuel's seminal surrealist classic "El Ángel Exterminador", during the 2017–18 season. As the opera opens, a group of elegant socialites gather for a lavish dinner party, but when it is time to leave for the night, no one is able to escape. Soon, their behavior becomes increasingly erratic and savage. The large ensemble cast tackles both the vocal and dramatic demands of Adès's opera with one riveting performance after another. Tom Cairns, who also penned the work's libretto, directs an engrossing and inventive production, using a towering wooden archway to trap the characters onstage. And Adès himself takes the podium to conduct the frenzied score, which features a host of unconventional instruments, including the eerie electronic ondes Martenot.

The Metropolitan Opera: Tosca(it)

Sir David McVicar’s bold new staging of Tosca, Puccini’s operatic thriller of Napoleonic Rome, thrilled Met audiences when it rang in the New Year in 2018. Only weeks later, the production was seen by opera lovers worldwide as part of the Met’s Live in HD series of cinema presentations. In this performance, Bulgarian soprano Sonya Yoncheva is the passionate title diva, opposite charismatic tenor Vittorio Grigolo as her lover, the idealistic painter Mario Cavaradossi. Baritone Željko Lučić is the menacing Baron Scarpia, the evil chief of police who employs brutal tactics to ensnare both criminals and sexual conquests. On the podium, Emmanuel Villaume conducts the electrifying score, which features some of Puccini’s most memorable melodies.