Don Carlo Giuseppe Verdi 2004
Directed by Misjel Vermeiren
Starring: Rolando Villazon, Robert Lloyd

Giuseppe Verdi's Don Carlo arrives on stage in suitably majestic fashion in this release of the lavish production starring Robert Lloyd, Rolando Villazon, and Dwayne Croft. Willy Decker directs for the stage and musical director Riccardo Chailly leads the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and the Chorus of De Nederlandse Opera. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

“Opera incorporates many different art forms: literature, drama, singing, acting, costuming and scenery, orchestral playing, often dancing. Witnessing all those arts coming together into an unified whole is something not experience elsewhere, and, providing it is done well, it offers a special satisfaction."

The Regina Public Library presents OPERA! New Arrivals

Dido and Aeneas 1995 Henry Purcell
Performers: Dido – Maria Ewing, Aeneas – Karl Daymond
Collegium Musicom 90
Sung in English

Madama Butterfly 1997 Giacomo Puccini
Performers: Cheryl Barker – Madama Butterfly, Jay Hunter Morris – B. F. Pinkerton
Opera Australia Chorus, Australia Opera and Ballet Orchestra
Sung in Italian

Opera Australia's performance of Madama Butterfly stars Cheryl Barker, one of our finest soprano voices. The story of Lieutenant Pinkerton, who has acquired a beautiful 15-year-old geisha wife, Madama Butterfly from the marriage broker Goro.
To the worried American Consul, Sharpless, Pinkerton describes how he roams the world in search of pleasure. He is enchanted by his new bride and intends to “marry her” – but tells Sharpless that he will one day take a “real” American wife. --Amazon

La Gioconda 2007 Amilcare Ponchielli
Performers: Lucia Mazzaria – La Gioconda
Enzo Grimaldo – Marcello Giordani
Corps de Ballet of Teatro Massimo
Sung in Italian

Manon Lescaut 1984 Giacomo Puccini
Performers: Placido Domingo – Renato des Grieux, Kiri to Kanawa – Manon Lescaut
Royal Opera Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Convent Gardens
Sung in Italian

Placido Domingo and Kiri Te Kanawa were in top form vocally when this performance was recorded in 1984; Sinopoli's conducting is energetic and stylistically distinctive, and the staging strikes the proper notes of elegance in the early scenes and pathos in the tragic conclusion. This is not the only good video recording of Puccini's first masterpiece, but it ranks with the best.

Manon Lescaut is the story of a beautiful young woman who goes astray en route to a convent and drifts into life of self-indulgence, sexual exploitation, and crime, leading to her death as a convict, a story full of operatic situations. It inspired two operas in the standard repertoire, Puccini's and Massenet's earlier Manon. Puccini took a big risk going mano a mano with Massenet, but it worked; he did not eclipse Massenet, but this work gave his career a major boost. This production shows why it has captivated so many audiences. --Joe McLellan

Moses und Aron 2006 Arnold Schonberg
Performers: Franz Grundheber – Moses, Thomas Moser – Aron
Vienna State Opera Orchestra, Slovak Philharmonic Chorus
Sung in German

Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk 2007 Dmitri Shostakovich
Performers: Eva-Marie Westbrook – Katerina, Christopher Ventris – Sergei
Orchestra Royal Concertgebouw
Sung in Russian

La Cenerentola 1981 Gioachino Rossini
Performers: Frederica von Stade – Cenerentola, Francisco Araiza – Don Ramiro
Ochestra Del Teatro Alla Scala

Peter Grimes 1969 Benjamin Britten
Performers: Peter Pears – Peter Grimes, Heather Harper – Ellen Orford
Ambrosian Opera Chorus, London Symphony Orchestra
Sung in English

This 1969 BBC production is about as close as we can get to a definitive version of Benjamin Britten’s Peter Grimes, one of the greatest 20th Century operas. The story of the individualistic fisherman hounded by his neighbors who believe he murdered his young apprentice packs tremendous emotional power. The compelling narrative is richly enhanced by its subtexts: the lone outsider versus the conformist mob; the dreamer of improbable dreams that lead to tragedy; the artist (dreamer) versus the Philistines, and the homosexual overtones of Grimes’ abuse of his child apprentices. Britten is conductor of his work and tenor Peter Pears is Grimes, 25 years after he created the title role at the opera’s premiere. Britten was a great conductor as his recordings of his own and others’ music attests, and here he outdoes himself with a performance that captures both the brooding darkness of the work and its visceral power. Pears at first seems a bit old for the part and his throaty voice no match for the overwhelming Grimes of Jon Vickers in a later Covent Garden production with Colin Davis conducting. But if Pears hasn’t the protean force of Vickers, he was there at the creation of the part, knows its every nuance and shading, and is totally convincing as an actor as well--proud, aloof, yet vulnerable. As the widow Ellen Orford, soprano Heather Harper is magnificent. Singing with tonal beauty and acting the role of the sensitive, morally sturdy woman who loves Grimes when all hate him, she is so convincing that when the out-of-control Grimes slaps her, you feel assaulted yourself. The supporting cast is excellent too, headed by baritone Bryon Drake as the dignified, sensible Balstrode, the retired sea captain. David Myerscough-Jones’ production design, on a cramped, makeshift stage at Britten’s Snape Maltings concert hall, with the London Symphony on an off-camera rear platform, works better than it should. The staging is by Joan Cross, who sang Ellen in the opera’s premiere. Movements of the chorus and soloists are economical but realistic, the settings appropriate, the costumes wisely helping to set the action in the early 19th century. Best of all, the sea is an ever-present actor here. When we don’t see it in the background it exerts its presence in the abundant visual references to nets, barrels, and other paraphernalia of a seaside fishing village. The wonderful Interludes Britten composed for the opera are illustrated with abstract images of shifting colors that mimic the movements of sea and clouds, as well as the orchestral colors being played--thus yellows dominate when the trumpets do, darker colors when the lower strings are in the ascendant. Brian Large’s direction for TV is first-rate, with closeups that enhance the intimacy of the work. The end result is an unforgettable version of a work that leaves you emotionally drained and musically elevated. --Dan Davis

La Gazza Ladra 2007 Gioachino Rossini
Performers: Mariola Cantarero – Ninetta, Manuela Custer – Pippo
Orchestra Haydn di Bolzano e Trento

Le Comte Ory 1997 Gioachino Rossini
Performers: Ludovic Tezier – Raimbaud, Stella Woodman – Alice
London Philharmonic Orchestra
The Glyndebourne Chorus
Sung in French

Le Comte Ory - An opera in two acts.
Libretto by Eugene Scribe and Charles Gaspard Delestre-Poirson.
First performed at the Théâtre de l’Académie Royale de Musique, Paris on 20th August 1828
Count Ory, a young and licentious nobleman ... Marc Laho (ten); Countess Adele ... Annick Massis (sop); Isolier, page to Count Ory and in love with the Countess Adele ... Diana Montague (mezzo); Raimbaud, friend to Count Ory ... Ludovic Tézier (bar); Governor, tutor to Count Ory ... Julien Robbins (bass); Ragonde, companion to Countess Adele ... Jane Shaulis (mezzo); Young Nobleman, friend of Ory ... Colin Judson (ten); Alice, a young peasant ... Stella Woodman (sop)
The Glyndebourne Chorus. London Philharmonic Orchestra/Andrew Davis
Recorded at the Glyndebourne Festival, 1997

Ernani 1982 Guiseppe Verdi
Performers: Placido Domingo – Ernani, Mirella Freni – Donna Elvira
Chorus and Orchestra of La Scala, Milan
Sung in Italian

Arabella by Richard Strauss 2007
Directed by Felix Breisach
Starring: Rene Fleming (Arabella), Julia Kleiter (Zdenka)

The first DVD of Renée Fleming The definitive Strauss interpreter of our time (Chicago Sun-Times) in one of her greatest roles. Filmed in HD (High Definition) Widescreen. Production by the venerable opera director Götz Friedrich Among the most powerful creative influences on opera in recent times (Telegraph, London). German dialogue with subtitles available in English, French, German, Spanish, Chinese.

Assassino nella Cattedrale (Murder in the Cathedral) 2007
Composed by Pizzetti
Performers: Paoletta Marrocu - Soprano, Sonia Zaramella - Mezzo-Soprano

This is the first-ever film recording of Pizzetti's operatic version of T.S. Eliot's play, Murder in the Cathedral, telling the story of Thomas Becket's murder by the knights of Henry II. This production features the world-renowned Ruggero Raimondi as the doomed archbishop. The only large-scale work to have survived by Pizzetti, this piece of sacred drama is a rare curiosity telling the black and gory tale of the murder of Thomas Becket. Filmed as a staged performance in the spectacular Basilica di San Nicola in Bari, this is the only film version available, making this a must for all opera aficionados wanting something a little different! Ildebrando Pizzetti (1880-1968) was a composer writing in a largely parlando manner in a mix of Renaissance models, Debussy, and such contemporary European composers as Honegger and Hindemith. This is his only well-known work, premiered at La Scala in 1958. DECCA
Sung in Italian with English subtitles

Puccini: La Boheme 2005
Performers: Luciano Pavarotti, Fiamma Izzo D'Amico

Luciano Pavarotti stars in this magnificent production of La Boheme, performed by the Genoa Opera Company during their historic tour of the People’s Republic of China. This unique cultural mission to mainland China received world-wide acclaim. The New York Times reported "If anybody can do away with culture clash, Luciano Pavarotti is the man."This performance of Puccini’s most beloved opera was filmed live at Beijing’s Tianquiao Theatre. It is a powerful performance of the tragic tender love story of Mimi and Rodolfo poignantly interpreted by Luciano Pavarotti and Fiamma Izzo D’ Amico. The opera is set in the Latin Quarter of Paris in 1830. Four young Bohemians share a studio; Rodolfo is a poet, Marcello is a painter, Colline is a philosopher and Schaunard is a musician. The plot is focused upon the love of Rodolfo for his neighbor Mimi, who is a seamstress, fatally ill with consumption. Tragically, Mimi cannot bear Rodolfo’s irrational jealousy and eventually leaves him. She returns, only when brought in, dying, by Musetta. The group of Bohemians make a desperate and emotional attempt to save her, but its too late. Since its premiere in Turin in 1896, La Boheme has been embraced by opera lovers around the world. This production starring the world’s favorite tenor will long be hailed as perhaps the greatest La Boheme ever captured on film. With The Municipal Opera Theatre Of Genoa, from Tianquiao Theatre, Beijing, China. Kultur