Opus Arte
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Monteverdi: Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria
Anthony Rolfe Johnson (Ulisse), Graciela Araya (Penelope), Toby Spence (Telemaco), Jaco Huijpen (Antinoo), Christopher Gillett (Pisandro), Diana Montague (Minerva), Brian Asawa (Anfinomo)
Baroque Ensemble Orchestra, Glen Wilson, stage direction by Pierre Audi
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Special offer. Tchaikovsky: Pique Dame
Misha Didyk (Hermann), Emily Magee (Lisa), Lado Ataneli (Count Tomsky), Ludovic Tézier (Prince Yeletsky), Elena Zaremba (Polina), Ewa Podles (Countess), Mikhaïl Vekua (Chaplitsky), Francisco Vas (Chekalinsky) & Claudia Schneider (Masha)
Symphony Orchestra and chorus of the Gran Teatre del...
[Didyk] cuts a fine figure on stage: tall, blond, physically agile, he sings the role of the poor lunatic gambler well. His voice is laser-like in focus and has the familiar Slavic edge...Ataneli's... —
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Special offer. Turnage: Anna Nicole
Eva-Maria Westbroek (Anna Nicole), Alan Oke (Old Man Marshall), Gerald Finley (The Lawyer Stern), Susan Bickley (Virgie), Jeremy White (Daddy Hogan), Loré Lixenberg (Cousin Shelley), Peter Hoare (Larry King)
Royal Opera House, Antonio Pappano, Richard Jones
a slick satire on the superficiality of American popular culture...Eva-Maria Westbroek gives a gutsy central performance —
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William Shakespeare: Henry IV Part II
Recorded live at Shakespeare’s Globe, August 2010
Roger Allam (Sir John Falstaff), Jamie Parker (Prince Hal), Oliver Cotton (King Henry IV), Barbara Marten (Lady Northumberland), William Gaunt (Shallow), Paul Rider (Bardolph) & Jason Baughan (Westmoreland)
Dominic Dromgoole (director)
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all three sections of both versions benefit from the masterly hand of director Robin Lough who, unlike many of his peers, knows how to let the music speak for itself without the need for frantic... —
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Special offer. Lehár: Die Lustige Witwe
Sung in English
Yvonne Kenny (Anna Glawari), Bo Skovhus (Danilo), Angelika Kirchschlager (Valencienne), Gregory Turay (Camille)
San Francisco Opera Orchestra & San Francisco Opera Chorus and Ballet, Erich Kunzel (conductor) & Lotfi Mansouri (stage director)
Gregory Turay is a fluent, quite serious Camille, Bo Skovhus a superb Danilo and Angelika Kirchschlager an absolute dream of a Valencienne. —
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Special offer. Mozart: Mitridate, re di Ponto, K87
Bruce Ford (Mitridate), Jochen Kowalski (Farnace), Ann Murray (Sifare), Luba Orgonasova (Aspasia), Lillian Watson (Ismene)
The Royal Opera Chorus & The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Paul Daniel and Stage Directed by Graham Vick
After 15 years Vick's high camp production looks dated - Baroque exaggeration decked out with Japanese Kabuki and Chinese Opera. But Ann Murray and Luba Orgonasova are on tip-top form. —
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Special offer. Mozart: Don Giovanni, K527
Simon Keenlyside (Don Giovanni), Kyle Ketelsen (Leporello), Eric Halfvarson (Commendatore), Marina Poplavskaya (Donna Anna), Joyce DiDonato (Donna Elvira), Ramón Vargas (Don Ottavio), Miah Persson (Zerlina), Robert Gleadow (Masetto)
The Orchestra and Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Charles...
…as flames rage over the opening cast credits, Sir Charles Mackerras conducts an incandescent Overture which kindles the brilliance, clarity and indefatigable energy of his music direction throughout.... —
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Special offer. Wagner: Das Rheingold
Falk Struckmann (Wotan), Graham Clark (Loge), Günter von Kannen (Alberich), Lioba Braun (Fricka), Kwanchul Youn (Fasolt), Matthias Hölle (Fafner), Elisabete Matos (Freia), Andrea Bönig (Erda), Cristina Obregon (Woglinde), Ana Ibarra (Wellgunde), Francisca Beaumont (Flosshilde), Wolfgang Rauch (Donner),...
Harry Kupfer's Bayreuth staging was Teutonically technological and ugly, but despite some dramatic silliness it actually heeded Wagner's stage directions. So does this one, created originally... —
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Special offer. Monteverdi: L'incoronazione di Poppea
Miah Persson (Poppea), Sarah Connolly (Nerone), Jordi Domènech (Ottone), Franz-Josef Selig (Seneca), Maite Beaumont (Ottavia), Dominique Visse (Nutrice/Arnalta), Ruth Rosique (Drusilla), Guy de Mey (Lucano), William Berger (Valletto), Marisa Martins (La Fortuna/Pallas Athene/Venus), Judith van Wanroij...
this Barcelona interpretation by [Alden] is almost Brechtian in the spare objectivity of its stage set, and Expressionist in its use of the shadowy, zombie-like figure of Time that shuffles... —
