Classical Blu Ray

This Rigoletto, filmed live at the Zurich Opera House in 2006, has three strong leads to recommend it. In the title role, Leo Nucci fully represents all of Rigoletto’s character traits and range of emotions—the hunchback’s lancing wit, fearfulness, and self-loathing when we first meet him and later, his obsessive need for revenge. Both Rigoletto’s sense of righteous triumph when he believes he’s got the Duke dead in the bag and his inconsolable grief at the drama’s end are palpable.

DG s iconic artist Anne-Sophie Mutter is breaking new grounds with her new album Live from Yellow Lounge. Inspired by the huge success of her first Yellow Lounge in Berlin in 2013, the new album was recorded live at two special Yellow Lounges, which makes for the first ever YL production on tape, 15 years after the concept was introduced. The events took place on two consecutive nights on 7 and 8 May, 2015 at one of Berlin s hippest venues Neue Heimat and was filmed in cooperation with ZDF and DEF Media.

The Vienna Philharmonic New Year’s Concert It has long been a Philharmonic New Year’s Day tradition to present a program consisting of the lively and at the same time nostalgic music from the vast repertoire of the Johann Strauss family and their contemporaries. These concerts not only delight the audience in the Wiener Musikverein, but also enjoy great international popularity through the worldwide television broadcasts, which now reach over 50 countries. The concert was conducted by Seiji Ozawa for the first time in 2002 and the light-hearted nature of the event finds this always engaging conductor at his most impishly playful.

Renée Fleming and Andreas Scholl lead a superb cast in Stephen Wadsworth’s celebrated production of Handel’s Rodelinda from the Metropolitan Opera – based on the "Live in HD" transmission to cinemas worldwide. The title role is unique in featuring no less than eight magnificent arias. Renée Fleming’s triumph in the first run of the production was hailed by The New York Times, "Ms Fleming draws on every resource of her artistry in this portrayal: luminous sound, exquisite ornamentation, floating high notes, emotional volatility."

Opera superstars Renée Fleming and Rolando Villazón star in the sumptuous 2006 Los Angeles production of Verdi's tragic masterpiece.
"Violetta has lately become one of Fleming's signature roles, and she acted the part as compellingly as she sang it, which was warmly, with sparkling top notes and an ease with the vocal line that any singer would envy." (Los Angeles Times)

Christopher Hogwood conducts the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and a distinguished cast including Danielle de Niese and Charles Workman in Wayne McGregor's new production of Handel's opera in which The Royal Opera and The Royal Ballet appear in a rare and beautifully crafted collaboration. Filmed with High Definition cameras and recorded in true surround sound.

In November 2013, Lang Lang and the internationally acclaimed choreographer Stanton Welch teamed up to explore a new collaboration by combining a live piano recital with a live ballet performance. The result is The Chopin Dance Project. The performances took place at the renowned Theatre des Champs Elysees in Paris, France, over four evenings with sixteen dancers from the Houston Ballet, one of the largest and most prestigious ballet companies in the U.S. Stanton Welch s choreography is build upon a selection of piano music by Chopin, chosen by Lang Lang for its visual nature and dance potential. The eighty-five-minute film captures the complete performance and offers an opportunity to relive an unforgettable live experience.

Chopin Year 2010 coincides with the 60th anniversary of Daniel Barenboims stage début, and as a pianist he has decided to devote this year to the great Romantic master of the keyboard. Fryderyc Chopin was born on 1 March 1810 in a small village near Warsaw, and on the eve of the 200th anniversary of this date Barenboim gave this wildly acclaimed Warsaw recital as part of an extensive European tour. Recorded live at the National Philharmonic Hall, Warsaw, the programme presents some of the composers best-known works, including the great B flat minor Sonata with its famous Funeral March, which sounded to many as the composer may well have imagined it.

For their annual season end concert, the Berliner Philharmoniker take the audience on a dreamy, magically journey through the river Rhine with Schumann’s beloved 3rd Symphony Rhenish. Pieces from Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen under the baton of dynamic conductor Gustavo Dudamel complete this evening.

The Dutch National Ballet take centre stage in this production of Minkus's opera recorded live at the Amsterdam Music Theatre in 2010. Former artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet, Alexei Ratmansky, has added his own choreography, while still retaining the flavour of Marius Pepita's 1869 original version. Performers include Anna Tsygankova, Matthew Golding, Peter de Jong and Karel de Rooij.