Christian Baumgärtel

Johan Strauss Eine Nacht in Venedig (1883) together with Die Fledermaus and Die Zigeunerbaron, has long been among the three most popular of the more than a dozen operettas composed by the 19th c. Waltz King. This Rudolf Bibl conducted performance was recorded live during the Seefestspiele Moerbisch Austria Festival in 1999 and features Marc Clear, Gideon Singer, Evelyn Schörkhuber , Ingrid Habermann, and Anton Steingruber.

Christian Thielemann conducts this Staatskapelle Dresden production of Richard Strauss' chamber opera. The opera follows events at the home of the wealthiest man in Vienna, who has booked both a comedy burlesque act and a serious opera group for entertainment. When the dinner runs long he declares that both forms of entertainment must take place at the same time - much to the chagrin of the opera's proud young composer. Filmed live in Baden-Baden on Feb. 25 by the veteran director Brian Large, Renée Fleming makes her debut in the role of Ariadne together with fellow key Strauss interpreters Sophie Koch and Christian Thielemann, following on from their Rosenkavalier triumph. Thielemann conducts the Staatskapelle Dresden, the orchestra to whom Strauss dedicated his Alpine Symphony and which premiered Feuersnot, Salome, Elektra, Der Rosenkavalier and Daphne.