Brian Large

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In June 2015, superstar tenor Jonas Kaufmann walked onto the stage of La Scala in Milan to perform a concert of Puccini arias. The concert made national news in Italy with the audience demanding five encores and a forty minute standing ovation. The film of this legendary performance, Jonas Kaufmann An Evening with Puccini, will be shown nationwide in over 300 movie theaters on February 23, and is available as a DVD and Blu-ray. Directed by Brian Large, the film includes an introduction about Puccini the man, the musician, the superstar narrated by Jonas and featuring rare archive footage. The program features a selection of Puccini s world-famous tenor arias all of which appear on Kaufmann s latest recording, Nessun dorma The Puccini Album.

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A Recital with Renée Fleming: Vienna at the Turn of the 20th Century

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2014 marks a year of celebration recognizing the 150th birthday year of the German late-Romantic orchestral, operatic and lied master composer, Richard Strauss (1864-1949). Arabella (premiered 1933, Dresden) was the last of the half dozen Strauss works to feature a libretto by the great Austrian writer Hugo von Hofmannsthal. This production, from the most recent Salzburg Easter Festival is, after Capriccio, the second of three Richard Strauss operas C Major is releasing in honor of the composers birth, life and work. The star-laden cast includes soprano Renèe Fleming, baritone Thomas Hampson, Albert Dohmen (Covent Garden, Wiener Staatsoper, MET) and Gabriela Beaková (Wiener Staatsoper, Covent Garden). With Christian Thielemann and the Staatskapelle Dresden, the music of Richard Strauss is in the best of hands. (ORF) Thielemann gets the best out of the cast...especially Renée Fleming with her luxurious soprano FAZ

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Christian Thielemann conducts the Staatskapelle Dresden in this performance of Wagner's opera recorded live in 2013. The performance was held for the Salzburg Easter Festival and featured vocalists including Johan Botha, Michaela Schuster, Stephen Milling and Wolfgang Koch.

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Richard Strauss' last stage work is an opera about opera as an art form, depicting the creation of a music drama in a wise and witty way. Which came first the words or the music? That is the question Strauss and his librettist Clemens Krauss address through the story of a Countess torn between a composer and a poet.

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Flemings voice might have been made for Ariadne and she achieved a great personal triumph in this production: The chief glory of the evening was hearing Renee Fleming, the Straussian soprano par excellence, making her role debut as Ariadne… As the possessor of what is, possibly, the most beautiful soprano voice in the world, she put her vocal treasures in the service of an empathic, nuanced interpretation of the role. From the creamy top, through a rich, warm middle, to the bewitching, darker colours of her lower register, Fleming poured her magnificent sound into Strausss enchanting melodic arcs, animating the sadness, vulnerability, and desire of the bereft princess...

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In 1920s Germany, Erich Korngold's work was considered “degenerate” and banned. Eventually, in 1934, he left for Hollywood. There, he made a name for himself as a film composer and only rarely wrote great works for the stage. Many of his quite successful operas, composed between 1913 and 1927, stopped being performed after World War II. Among these was his perhaps most significant work, Die tote Stadt (“The Dead City”), which was performed again for the first time after a long hiatus in 1955 in Munich. Further productions followed. Nevertheless, Götz Friedrich's version of 1983 for the Deutsche Oper Berlin was only the fifth new production of the opera after 1945.

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George Balanchine's abstract ballet danced to existing pieces of music by composers Faure, Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky. Each section represents a different jewel: Emerald, Ruby and Diamond.

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Gaetano Donizetti and his librettist Felice Romani kept the focus of their opera ANNA BOLENA on the personal rather than the political in this fictionalized Tudor tale: Henry VIII of England wants to get rid of his second wife, Anne Boleyn, so that he can marry her lady-in-waiting, Jane Seymour. He brings Lord Richard Percy, Anne's first love, back from exile so that he can find an excuse to accuse her of adultery. With the unwitting aid of Smeaton, a court musician, and Lord Rochefort, Anne's brother, the trap is easily sprung. This 2011 live recording from the Wiener Staatsoper showcases Anna Netrebko as she "scored a personal triumph" in her debut as the hapless Tudor Queen, while her stage partners - notably Elīna Garanča as Jane Seymour and Ildebrando D'Arcangelo as Henry VIII - were likewise showered with critical acclaim.

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Christian Thielemann and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra performing Beethoven Symphonies Nos. 1, 2 and 3

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Wiener Philharmoniker, conductor Franz Welser-Most

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Stephen Wadsworth’s production of Mussorgsky’s epic masterpiece brilliantly captures the suffering and ambition of the Russian people at a critical time in their nation’s history. René Pape is riveting as the Tsar of the title, giving a commanding and charismatic performance of one of the greatest bass roles in the repertoire—his Boris is dominating, tortured, flawed and utterly unforgettable. The extraordinary cast and the Met Orchestra and Chorus are led by Russian maestro Valery Gergiev, the foremost Mussorgsky interpreter of our time.

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After over a century out of the Met’s repertoire, audiences were thrilled to discover just what a sensational evening in the theater Thomas’s Hamlet can be. Simon Keenlyside’s riveting performance as the tortured Prince of Denmark in Patrice Caurier and Moshe Leiser’s starkly brooding production had critics raving that Keenlyside’s superb singing, coupled with his deftly delineated three-dimensional Hamlet, was one of the greatest examples of operatic drama of our time. The cast includes Marlis Petersen as the long suffering Ophélie, who brilliantly shows why her mad scene is so justly famous, along with Jennifer Larmore and James Morris as Gertrude and Claudius.

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In Concert at the Met (DVD) - Highlights Five of the Met's greatest stars - Price, Horne, Troyanos, Domingo, and Milnes - joined James Levine for a series of irresistible concert programs, originally telecast in the 1980s. Featuring works by composers ranging from Handel to Meyerbeer to Puccini and Verdi, these performances include some of opera's favorite moments, delivered by a stunning group of legendary artists. Plàcido Domingo, Tatiana Troyanos (February 28, 1982) Leontyne Price, Marilyn Horne (March 28, 1982) Plàcido Domingo, Sherrill Milnes (January 30, 1983)

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A world-class pairing, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and their charismatic new Music Director Gustavo Dudamel, mark the start of their partnership with this concert, filmed live at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. The program defines everything that is fresh and exciting about their collaboration: a John Adams world premiere, City Noir, music that steps back into the dark past of Los Angeles, and the allembracing First Symphony by Mahler, the composer who launched Dudamel's dazzling international career. "This was an exceptional and exciting concert by any standard." - The New York Times

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Performance of Schoenberg's Gurrelieder by SBR, conducted by Mariss Jansons

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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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Live from Munich 2009

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Herbert Wernicke's production of Richard Strauss's "Der Rosenkavalier", filmed live at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden on 31 January 2009. Renée Fleming is the Marschallin, Diana Damrau is Sophie, Sophie Koch is Octavian, Franz Hawlata is Baron Ochs, Franz Grundheber is Faninal, Jane Henschel is Annina, and Jonas Kaufmann is the Italian singer. Christian Thielemann conducts the Münchner Philharmoniker.

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This elegant romance is the least-known work of the mature Giacomo Puccini . The story concerns a kept woman who defies convention to chase a dream of romantic love with an earnest, if naïve, young man. This Met Opera production features the dynamic soprano Angela Gheorghiu and Frenchborn tenor Roberto Alagna performing the roles of Magda and Ruggero, it blooms into its rightful place in the glorious Puccini canon. La Rondine (The Swallow) was commissioned by Vienna s Carltheater in 1913. Due to the impending outbreak of World War I, premiered in 1917, at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo with Gilda Dalla Rizza and Tito Schipa. Set in a Parisian salon, it is the story of Magda, the glamorous mistress of wealthy banker Rambaldo. Her yearning for romantic love compels her into the arms of the ardent and adoring young Ruggero.

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The ever popular New Year's Concert from Vienna returns in another sparkling performance, broadcast live to over 50 countries! Daniel Barenboim makes his New Year's Concert debut and brings with him a number of works that have never been performed at the concert before. The live concert features popular waltzes, gallops and polkas from the Strauss family including The Blue Danube, The Gypsy Baron March, Thunder and Lightening Polka and much more.

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A striking interpretation of Mozart's opera that became a sensation at the 2008 Salzburg Festival. This is not only a rethinking of the place and time of the opera, but also a deep disclosure of the characters' characters, their ambiguous inner world. A simple, at first glance, plot is turned by the creators of the play into a dynamic psychological thriller.

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Inspired by one of the twentieth century's greatest novels, composer Lorin Maazel evokes Orwell's totalitarian nightmare, where "Big Brother" is always watching, and those guilty of "thoughtcrime" are condemned to face their worst fears in the infamous "Room 101". Filmed during world premiere performances of Robert Lepage's spectacular and psychologically gripping Royal Opera production and conducted by the composer, an international cast brings George Orwell's dark vision to shattering operatic life.

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Richard Wagner's opera Lohengrin staged in 1987 by Werner Herzog in Bayreuth.

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In what many believe to be the finest production of Otello in modern times, Plácido Domingo and Kiri Te Kanawa lead a world-class cast under the exquisite musical direction of Sir Georg Solti. An outstanding performance of the first of Verdi's two late Shakespearian operas, universally regarded as sublime masterpieces of grand opera.

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One of today’s most compelling singing actresses, Karita Mattila takes on the irresistible role of Manon Lescaut, the headstrong young woman torn between a life of luxury and the call of her true love: the Chevalier des Grieux, played by Marcello Giordani. The young Puccini lavished some of his most sensual music on this early hit, conducted here by James Levine.

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Part of the 'Classic Archive series, this programme features full-length, complete musical performances coupled with encore material as well as rare bonus footage.

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Kiri Te Kanawa, Alexandru Agache, Michael Sylvesyer, and Roberto Scandiuzzi star in this Covent Garden production of the Verdi opera conducted by Sir Georg Solti. Verdi's tale of the eponymous medieval Doge of Genoa marries the political and the intimate to dramatic effect, both elements given their full due in this well-sung production led by Sir Georg Solti.

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The Wiener Philharmoniker mounts, and Andrea Breth stages, this 2007 production of Pyotr Illych Tchaikovsky's opera Eugene Onegin, starring Peter Mattei, Joseph Kaiser, Anna Samuil and Renée Morloc. The Konzertvereinigung Wiener Staatsopernchor lends added musical accompaniment, under the baton of Daniel Barenboim.

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The pain of unrequited love is portrayed unforgettably by two of today’s greatest stars. Renée Fleming is musically and dramatically radiant as the shy Tatiana, who falls in love with the worldly Onegin, played with devastating charisma by Dmitri Hvorostovsky. Their mesmerizing vocalism and chemistry explode in one of opera’s most heartbreaking final scenes. With Valery Gergiev on the podium conducting Tchaikovsky’s passionate score, this performance is one for the ages.

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The incomparable Plácido Domingo began a new chapter in his legendary Met career when he created the role of Emperor Qin in the world premiere of Tan Dun’s epic opera. Staged by revered film director Zhang Yimou, The First Emperor is both a rich pageant of ancient China and a fascinating study of the ruler who united it. Conducted by the composer, it also stars Paul Groves and Elizabeth Futral and features a riveting turn by Peking Opera performer Wu Hsing-Kuo as the Yin-Yang Master.

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This new production of Bellinis Norma by Jürgen Rose (sets, costumes, stage direction, and lighting) to honor Edita Gruberovas first staged assumption of the title role was taped in January and February of 2006 in Munich. It does neither the opera nor the soprano any favors. In most ways, its a pretty gloomy affair.

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With their “musical comedy” in the spirit of Mozart, Richard Strauss and his brilliant librettist Hugo von Hofmannsthal created the most popular of all their works and one of the most frequently performed operas of all time. Disguised as a refined comedy, light as a feather and extremely entertaining, “Der Rosenkavalier” tackles universal themes such as love, sexuality, marital fidelity, and the changes that human relationships undergo over time. All set to music of the most sumptuous kind. With its prestigious cast under the inspired direction of Harry Kupfer, the 2014 Salzburg Festival production of *Der Rosenkavalier* was one of the most internationally acclaimed interpretations of the work since the start of the new millennium.

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Live performance of Puccini's opera at the Salzburg Festival in Austria. Piotr Beczala stars as Rodolfo with Anna Netrebko as Mimi, Massimo Cavalletti as Marcello and Nino Machaidze as Musetta. Daniele Gatti conducts the Vienna Philharmonic, the Vienna State Opera Chorus and the Salzburg Festival and Theatre Children's Choir.

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The Queen of the Night enlists a handsome prince named Tamino to rescue her beautiful kidnapped daughter, Princess Pamina. Aided by the lovelorn bird hunter Papageno and a magical flute that holds the power to change the hearts of men, young Tamino embarks on a quest for true love, leading to the evil Sarastro's temple where Pamina is held captive. The Pierre Audi production of Mozart's Die Zauberflöte was recorded live at the 2006 Salzburger Festpiele.

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The Vienna Philharmonic's 2004 New Year's Concert was conducted by Riccardo Muti and featured a traditional program of music by the Strauss family and their contemporaries, performing well-known pieces like the "An der schönen blauen Donau" waltz and the "Radetzkymarsch". The event took place at the Musikverein in Vienna, the orchestra's home, and was broadcast to a massive global audience. It is part of a long-standing tradition of the Vienna Philharmonic to present this concert, which is considered a significant event in the classical music calendar.

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