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

Conversations on Serious Topics(lt)

Conversations On Serious Topics is a film without exterior action, props, landscapes or special effects. Its main characters are children and teenagers with a special ability to describe the surrounding world. Intimate conversations with them reveal the picture of the modern world -- at times melancholic, at times comical, at times dramatic. Shot in a minimalist fashion, the film raises questions about loneliness, love, God, the world and human relations. "The world is people." "Don't you believe in God? I can teach you how to start believing..."

91%(en)

A film that shares the heartbreaking accounts of those impacted by gun violence and reveals new hope for common ground in the debate over guns in America.

Tom Thumb(fr)

This adaptation of Charles Perrault's classic novel briefly presents the story of a poor family who doesn't find means to sustain their home and end up being evicted from it. When the youngest of the seven children overhears his parents conversation about this sad situation, he cries for a while. But barely everyone knew, that he was about to come up with a thoughtful idea that could restore their peace and bring back their home.

Gulacha Ganapati(mr)

This is the story of a simple, happy go lucky, poor but with a heart of gold man named "Narya" (Shri P.L.Deshpande) who lives in a chawl and works at a local grocery stores

Édouard Georg À Cély(en)

"Édouard Georg À Cély" is a short fiction imagined by André Sauvage while he visits the painter and engraver Edouard Goerg. Monsieur Tesson has the habits of a lonely man: he is maniacal and misogynistic. To teach him a lesson, a couple of friends, the Cymboles, come to his house with a young woman, "Mademoiselle Anaïs", without telling him that she is married. Disturbed in his habits by visitors, Mr. Tesson welcomes them reluctantly. But gradually, a feeling of love for Anaïs leads her to give up her manic behavior. The three friends, judging that the joke has gone on long enough, end up letting go of him, pushing him away alone with his cat.

The Prank(en)

After their teacher fails them, two high school students decide to teach the imperious, demanding instructor a lesson by falsely accusing her of the murder of a missing student.

The Imposters(en)

Maya meets the enigmatic Hattie. They fall for each other, but soon, things begin to unravel as Maya realises that Hattie has ulterior motives and everything is not as it seems.

La Arquitectura Del Crimen(es)

Box(en)

A group of friends try to defeat an evil king, and meet some quirky characters along the way.

Murder, She Baked: A Plum Pudding Mystery(en)

A young bakeshop owner’s holiday season takes a surprising turn when she finds a body at a local Christmas tree lot and winds up involved in a dangerous murder investigation. With colorful characters popping up as suspects, shady business practices uncovered at the tree lot and holiday romance in the air, the young baker-turned-sleuth must race against time to track down the killer and save the Christmas season.

Persecution(el)

We are in 1942, in the middle of the German Occupation, on an island opposite the coast of Asia Minor, where a mature woman, Katerina Rodeli, cares for a wounded resistance fighter named Kanaris. In her memory, there are images of the past, the panic of the Asia Minor catastrophe and especially the entrance of the tsets in her village. There she lost her three-year-old son, Konstantin, whom he never ceased to look for. However, the village's mackerel maharagrite handed it over to the Germans and, in the face of the danger, they were arrested along with the wounded and a boat ride on the Turkish coast to find themselves immediately enclosed in a refugee camp. His commander is a tough second lieutenant, Osen, who is bought by the English consulate of Izmir to transfer the fugitives to Egypt.

Sverige åt svenskarna(sv)

This farce cocerns Sweden's King Gustav (Per Oscarsson who plays all the lead roles). The royal monarchs of three major European countries are patiently or not-so-patiently hovering on the sidelines while watching the future King Gustav closely. No single king appears to possess the brains he was born with, so history seems to be made by default, as it were. Gustav does blunder around, but not enough to miss being crowned king. As a result, France, England, and Germany invade Sweden hoping to take by force what they could not gain by incompetence.

All You Need Is Blood(en)

Bucky is a 16-year-old aspiring director who dreams of becoming the next arthouse auteur sensation. After a strange meteor crash lands in his backyard and turns his deadbeat father into a brain-eating zombie, Bucky and his friends seize the opportunity to create the ultimate horror flick, starring his undead dad.

Mobile Suit SD Gundam Mk IV(ja)

The SD Gundams are at it again: first with a race among all of the prior SD Gundam characters, then the SD Zeons run a space travel agency in the second episode.

Tod Browning's 'Freaks': The Sideshow Cinema(en)

Documentary recounting the making of Tod Browning's Freaks. Featuring interviews with experts and actual sideshow performers, this film gives a fascinating insight into the cast members, production and public reaction to this controversial classic.

That Which Will Become of a Stolen Soul(en)

Blue appears from the blackest black; holding reds to sow inside white.

Notre Dame de Paris - Live Arena di Verona(it)

Notre Dame de Paris tells the story of Quasimodo, the hunchbacked bell-ringer of the cathedral of Notre-Dame and of his impossible and tragic love for Esmeralda, a beautiful gypsy. A love condemned by injustice and hypocrisy. Quasimodo forced by his ugliness to look at the world from the top of a tower one day he falls madly in love with Esmeralda who sees dancing and singing on the square in front of the cathedral. But Esmeralda is in love with Febo, the handsome captain of the King's guards. Febo is fiancé of Fiordaliso, a young and rich bourgeois, but the exotic and sensual beauty of the gypsy does not leave indifferent the man who immediately falls in love with her. Even Frollo, the archdeacon of the cathedral, is attracted by the gypsy and spying on the moves of the two lovers in a raptus of jealousy and repressed carnal desire to get rid of the rival stabbing Febo behind.

Massenet: Thaïs(fr)

When the most voluptuous, sought-after courtesan in the world meets an ascetic monk whose life is devoted to God, you know erotic sparks are going to fly. And when the clash takes place in a glorious, but rarely performed, opera by Massenet, it’s a delight to the ear just as much as to the eye. Renée Fleming is every inch the glamorous Thaïs, swathed in elegant gowns designed by Christian Lacroix. Thomas Hampson is Athanaël, the tortured man of God. This production by John Cox, which premiered in December 2008, brilliantly sets the stage for a confrontation as old as civilization itself.

Verdi: Attila(it)

First staged at the Teatro La Fenice in 1846, Verdi’s ninth opera, Attila, returns to the stage of La Scala on December 7th. Following the inauguration of the 2015-2016 Season with Giovanna d’Arco and in anticipation of Macbeth, with Attila Musical Director Riccardo Chailly continues his study of Verdi’s early works, renewing a successful collaboration with creative director Davide Livermore that began with his acclaimed production of Donizetti’s Don Pasquale for La Scala. In this complex opera Verdi experiments with fresh perspectives, featuring spectacular historical settings, introspective angles and moral uncertainties. Attila demands of its performers not only passion and confidence, but also the ability to find subtle accents and psychological nuances.

A Midsummer Night's Dream(en)

The Glyndebourne Opera's 1981 production of the Benjamin Britten opera, based on Shakespeare's play.

Mozart: Don Giovanni (Zurich Opera House)(it)

Live 2001 production from the Zurich Opera House of the classic Mozart/Da Ponte opera, with Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducting and directed for television and video by Brian Large.

Eugene Onegin(ru)

Live performance by the Bolshoi Theatre at the Palais Garnier, Opéra National de Paris, 2008.

Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin (Komische Oper Berlin)(ru)

Live performance from the Komische Oper Berlin, February 15 2016.

Eugene Onegin(ru)

Live performance for Garsington Opera, June-July, 2016.

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.

Francesca Da Rimini(ru)

LIve performance of Rachmaninoff's opera from the Opéra National de Lorraine, Nancy, 15 February 2015.

Adriana Lecouvreur(it)

In the present stylised production by Lorenzo Mariani the 'violet-perfumed murderess' is taken by mezzo-soprano Marianne Cornetti, one of the most in-demand representatives of her vocal category. Opposite her, in the role of Adriana, is a soprano who as a Verdi and verismo specialist also appears regularly at all the major international opera houses, Micaela Carosi. The 'cock-of-the-walk' role is sung by the world-class tenor Marcelo Álvarez. His timbre, velvety smooth yet robustly virile, is ideally suited to a vocal characterisation of the idolised Maurizio. Conductor Renato Palumbo is very much at home with Cilea's operatic masterpiece, since the Italian Romantic and verismo periods are at the core of his extensive repertoire.

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.

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: Il Barbiere di Siviglia(en)

Audiences went wild for Bartlett Sher’s dynamic production, which found fresh and surprising ways to bring Rossini’s effervescent comedy closer to them than ever before. The stellar cast leapt to the challenge with irresistible energy and bravura vocalism. Juan Diego Flórez is Count Almaviva, who fires off showstopping coloratura as he woos Joyce DiDonato’s spirited Rosina—with assistance from Peter Mattei as the one and only Figaro, Seville’s beloved barber and man-about-town.

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.

L'Africaine(fr)

Live performance from Teatro La Fenice, 29 Nov. 2013.

Alcina(it)

Live performance from the Grand Théâtre de Genève, February 25 2016.

Beatrice di Tenda(it)

Live performance from the Zurich Opera House, January 2002.