Marie Arnet

On a mission to Afghanistan, a military officer suffers a traumatic period in captivity. When he finally returns home, he finds his relationship with his family has changed forever. Icelandic composer Daníel Bjarnason and Danish director Kasper Holten transform Susanne Bier’s film Brødre into a captivating and vivid opera. Written to celebrate Aarhus as European Capital of Culture 2017, Bjarnason now conducts his bold domestic drama in his homeland for the first time.

Nicholas McGegan conducts the Festspieleorchester Gottingen in this production of Handel's opera, recorded live at the Internationale Handel-Festspiele Gottingen, with performances from Tim Mead, Marie Arnet and Kirsten Blaise.

The libretto is by Mussorgsky himself and takes the eponymous “romantic tragedy” by the celebrated Russian poet Alexander Pushkin as its starting point. Boris Godunov is Mussorgsky’s masterpiece and his only complete opera. It’s a vast sprawling tapestry of Russian life, which centres on the Russian people – represented in the opera by a large and powerful chorus – rather than on the title figure. The staging was produced at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona and is based on the original version of the score.

In 1976, Jack Unterweger was convicted for the murder of Margaret Schaefer and sentenced to life in prison. While imprisoned, he committed himself to reading and writing, eventually earning literary respect both inside and outside the penitentiary. In 1984, his autobiography "Fegefeuer" (Purgatory) became a bestseller.