Anna Caterina Antonacci

After the destruction of Troy, the Trojan warrior Énée sets out on a journey to found a new dynasty. He meets Didon, Queen of Carthage, and falls in love. But will Énée's love for Didon prove stronger than his sense of duty? LES TROYENS ('The Trojans') is a tour de force of music that ranges from fiery military marches to intense choruses, passionate soliloquies – such as those of the prophetess Cassandre – and the lyrical love duets of Didon and Énée. It is Hector Berlioz's largest work and he wrote the libretto himself, drawing upon his intimate knowledge of Virgil's Aeneid. To the composer's disappointment, LES TROYENS was only performed once in full during his lifetime and was often presented in shortened form during the 20th century. The Royal Opera's production provides a rare chance to see this epic work in its entirety. David McVicar's staging is on an enormous scale, assembling one of the largest casts ever seen at Covent Garden.

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Part of Tutto Verdi series - Un giorno di regno (2010) Parma. 'Un giorno di regno, ossia il finto Stanislao' ('A One-Day Reign, or The Pretend Stanislaus', but often translated into English as 'King for a Day') is an operatic melodramma giocoso in two acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto written in 1818 by Felice Romani. Originally written for the Bohemian composer Adalbert Gyrowetz, the libretto was based on the play 'Le faux Stanislas' written by the Frenchman Alexandre Vincent Pineu-Duval in 1808.

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About the Director: John Eliot Gardiner is one of the most versatile conductors of our time. Acknowledged as a key figure in the early music revival, he is the founder and artistic director of the Monteverdi Choir, the English Baroque Soloists and the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique. The extent of his repertoire is illustrated in over 250 recordings which have received numerous international awards. Over the years Gardiner has won more Gramophone awards than any other artist. Probably the most francophile of English conductors, John Eliot Gardiner returned to the Opéra Comique, Paris for a much aclaimed production of Carmen last year. On June 25th it was broadcast live to 50 theatres in France and Switzerland and also recorded for TV. This followed an exciting collaboration that began in December 2007 with Chabrier s Opera bouffe L'Etoile, which had opened the new theatre at Opera Comique in December 2007.

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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Don Giovanni is performed live at the Theater an der Wien in this 1999 production starring Carlos Alvarez in the title role and featuring the music of the Choir and Orchester der Weiner Staatsoper performing under the guiding wand of conductor Riccardo Muti.

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The story takes place in Corinth, in Creon's palace. Glauce (the king's daughter) is making preparations for her wedding with Jason; the hero has repudiated Medea, his wife - with whom he had two children - who once helped him to recover the Golden Fleece. The Argonauts arrive to pay homage to the bride, who cannot hide her fear of Medea. Medea manages to enter the king's palace and begs for Jason's return; when he refuses, the sorceress curses him and swears vengeance; then, alone with him, she recalls the happy moments of their love. Creon orders Medea to leave Corinth and she pretends to agree, obtaining permission to spend one more day with her children; meanwhile, she orders Neris, her maidservant, to take to Glauce her wedding present: the diadem and mantle given to her by Apollo.

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Two queens on one island. A recipe for disaster. Especially as both have a legitimate claim to the other's throne. They are, after all, related... So the power politics are the name of the game. And, for reasons of state, one of the heads that wears a crown has to roll. Maria Stuarda was laid to rest for more than a hundred years, finally being revived in 1958 in Bergamo under conductor Oliviero de Fabritiis. However the real breakthrough for the opera finally came with Giorgio de Lullo's Florentine production for the Maggio Musicale in 1967 (with set design and costumes by Pier Luigi Pizzi, director, set designer and costume designer at La Scala in 2008). As the two queens, Leyla Gencer and Shirley Verrett, set the vocal standards. Since then, the triumph of Maria Stuarda has been unstoppable.

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Jonas Kaufmann and Anna Caterina Antonacci bring rare erotic intensity to the drama of Don José and Carmen in this darkly passionate reading of one of the most popular operas. Kaufmann uses his burnished tenor and smouldering good looks to portray the man undone by Carmen's love. As the object of his desire, Antonacci gives a physical and compelling performance.

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This epic opera follows Virgil, beginning as the Greeks appear to have ceded the field after ten years of the Trojan War. Cassandra tries to warn of the terrible fate to come, but fate is set and Troy falls. The first two acts cover this tragic end, then the flight of survivors to Carthage and events at Carthage continue in acts 3 - 5, culminating in the further voyage for Italy and Rome. This is Virgil's classic epic, in operatic form, in about a three and a half hour performance from French Opera.

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Verdi's opera, performed by the choir and orchestra of the La Scala theatre under Riccardo Muti.

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The plot takes place in the Bay of Naples in the 18th century. Deeply convinced of women's infidelity, the cynical Don Alfonso provokes his young friends Ferrando and Guglielmo by impugning the constancy of their fiancées, sisters Dorabella and Fiordiligi.

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Jean-Marie Villegier's modern interpretation of Handel's "Rodelinda" – filmed live at the world-renowned Glyndebourne Opera House in the United Kingdom, sets the timeless tale of jealousy and treachery in the black-and-white world of the silent-movie era. Soprano Anna Caterina Antonacci sings the title role of Rodelinda, with tenor Kurt Streit and bass Umberto Chiummo performing the parts of Grimoaldo and Garibaldo, respectively.

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Recorded at the Glyndebourne Festival Opera in 1995, this acclaimed presentation of composer Gioachino Rossini's epic opus ERMIONE is based on Jean Racine's play "Andromache." Set in Troy after the city fell to the Greeks, the production recounts the rancorous battle between widow Andromache and Helen of Troy's green-eyed daughter, Ermione for the love of Pyrrhus

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Claude D'Anna's film of Verdi's Macbeth is a gloomy affair, stressing the descent into madness of the principal villains. It's acted by the singers of the Decca recording of the opera (with two substitutions of actors standing in for singers) and the lip-synching is generally unobtrusive. The musical performance is superb, conducted by Riccardo Chailly with admirable fire, and sung by some of the leading lights of the opera stages of the 1980s. Shirley Verrett virtually owned the role of Lady Macbeth at the time, and she delivers a terrific performance, the voice equal to the role's wide register leaps and it's suffused with emotion, whether urging her husband on to murder or maddened by guilt in the Sleepwalking Scene. Leo Nucci's resonant Macbeth may lack the ultimate in vocal color and steadiness (his last notes of the great aria Pietà, rispetto, amore are wobbly) but he compensates with intensity in both singing and acting.

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I Vespri Siciliani must me Verdi's most underrated masterpiece. Most people are put off by the fact that it has 5 acts, therefore they conclude that it must be incredibly long. It is long but not as long as some people may fear as most of the acts are under half an hour each. The total length of the DVD in question is 171 minutes, just under 3 hours, including titles at the beginning, applauses and curtain calls between the acts and at the end. The opera contains Verdi's most powerful overture and a number of very elegant arias, duets and ensembles for the principals.

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Opera at La Scala Milan

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Filmed in the Santuario della Beata Vergine dei Miracoli in Saronno, the DVD set Pergolesi's music against the background of the magnificent cupola frescoes of Gaudenzio Ferrari

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