Andrea Chénier

Giuseppe Verdi based his famous opera on the novel “The Lady of the Camellias” by Alexandre Dumas. Robert Wilson’s production of Violetta Valéry’s tragic fate is his first work at the State Theater of Linz, Austria, one of the most modern operatic stages in Europe by architect Terry Pawson. After the run in Linz, the production was transferred to the Opera House in Perm, Russia, where the production was conducted by Teodor Currentzis. In 2017, the work received a “Golden Mask”, the most prestigious Russian theater award, in three categories (Teodor Currentzis, Best Conductor; Nadezhda Pavlova, Best Female Singer; Robert Wilson, Best Lighting Design).

Dynamic are proud to present, for the first time on Blu-ray, Rossini’s La Gazza Ladra ‘The Thieving Magpie’ recorded at the prestigious Rossini Opera Festival in 2007 (standard DVD release 33567). The stage is set in modern times and the whole story is presented as the dream of a young girl who plays the role of the magpie. The brilliant, rousing overture was made famous thanks to the soundtrack of Stanley Kubrick’s motion picture “A Clockwork Orange”.

Triumphantly premiered in 1724 at the King's Theatre in London, George Frideric Handel's Giulio Cesare in Egitto masterfully combines human emotions: Triumph with sorrow, despair with happiness and love with profound melancholy in the face of the transience of all earthly life. Star director Keith Warner creates a production that imaginatively blends silent film and baroque opera, delightfully echoing Mankiewicz's legendary Cleopatra with Elizabeth Taylor, Rex Harrison and Richard Burton. An excellent cast of singers is led by two of the world's leading countertenors: Bejun Mehta and Christophe Dumaux. Louise Alder shines as the seductive Cleopatra. Patricia Bardon, Simon Bailey and Jake Arditti are further highlights in this extraordinary group of singers, while Ivor Bolton provides the appropriate soundtrack on the podium of the Concentus Musicus Wien.

Scenes from Ruggero Leoncavallo's opera with Canio, the clown, introducing actors who are seen in pantomime while the operatic voices are heard off-screen. Canio discovers his wife has been unfaithful but carries on with his performance.

Captain Vere, an old man, is haunted by a moment in his life when he was tested and found wanting. Based on Herman Melville's novella of naval life in the late 18th Century, Benjamin Britten's 'Billy Budd' is a gripping reflection on good and evil, innocence and corruption.

As Christof Loy put it: Così fan tutte invites us to embrace the complexity of life and face the future with heads held high. In his staging of the version he abridged with Joana Mallwitz for the Salzburg Festival 2020 the focus is wholly on the figures and the subtle choreography of their emotional states — in a space that like a magnifying glass exposes the intricate mechanisms between the characters. In this way the production leads the protagonists and the audience to experience the ‘serene calm’ that can perhaps indeed cure our own ‘distempers’.

Based on the tragic 1996 Mt. Everest disaster, the opera focuses on three climbers as they attempt the ill-fated summit. A new genre, the animated graphic novel puts you inside the pages as the tale drives on.

Filmed at the Vienna State Opera in 2005, Andrei Serban's production of Massenet's opera with a late 18th century setting pushes the action forwards to the 1950's,with the visuals exemplifying that decade with precision.With as much delicacy on display as naked passion,his(Alverez)morbid poet is outstandingly realised both vocally and dramatically. Together with Erod's dour Albert and Ileana Tonca's Sophie-clearly in love with Werther herself-the drama is set out with unusual clarity and realism.Philippe Jordan ensures that Massenet's pent-up emotion explodes exactly on cue,its expressive power providing impossible to resist.

Emmanuelle Haïm has established herself as one of the world’s leading performers, conductors and interpreters of Baroque repertoire, not only with Le Concert d’Astrée, the ensemble she founded in 2000, but with several of the world’s greatest orchestras. Known for her fresh and expressive approach to Baroque music, she has garnered critical acclaim and several international awards with her own ensemble, including Victoires de la Musique Classique, ECHOs, Gramophone Awards, and Grammy nominations.

Originally commissioned to celebrate the completion of the Suez Canal and the opening of Cairos new opera house, Verdis Egyptian epic Aida is here seen in a spectacular new staging in the Teatro Regio Torino by the Oscar-winning American film director William Friedkin, creator of such famous movies as The Exorcist and The French Connection. The cast features American soprano Kristin Lewis who has been heralded for her remarkable voice, which she uses with powerful dramatic instinct, and Georgian mezzo-soprano Anita Rachvelishvili, whose Amneris dominates the stage with her dark, rounded, irresistible voice and extraordinary stage presence. Gianandrea Noseda leading the Orchestra and Chorus Teatro Regio Torino received accolaides from all: he controls everything- orchestra, singers, chorus, dancers, acrobats- with an all-encompassing overview. He knows exactly when its time to linger over a timbre, a color, an expressive chord.