A new generation of rising stars shines in Franco Zeffirelli’s classic production of Puccini’s most popular opera. Vittorio Grigolo is the poor poet Rodolfo who falls head over heels for his neighbor, the seamstress Mimì, sung by the radiant Kristine Opolais. Susanna Phillips is the flirtatious Musetta, Massimo Cavaletti is her sweetheart Marcello, and Patrick Carfizzi as Schaunard and Oren Gradus as Colline complete the ensemble. Stefano Ranzani conducts.
Elton John on his extraordinary career and his songwriting partnership with lyricist Bernie Taupin.
Concert film of The Police during the 2007-08 reunion tour. Recorded in concert in Buenos Aires at the beginning of December 2007, it’s released on the band’s original label, A&M, via Universal. Recording the Argentinian leg of the band’s momentous reunion tour, the album captures the three piece in concert, crammed with every hit from ‘Message in a Bottle’, ‘Walking on the Moon’, ‘Don't Stand So Close to Me’, ‘Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic’, ‘Wrapped Around Your Finger’, ‘Can't Stand Losing You’, ‘Roxanne’ and ‘Every Breath You Take’, closing with the punk urgency of the first track from their 1978 debut, ‘Next to You’.
Elmer Fudd introduces two pieces of classical music: "Tales of the Vienna Woods" and "The Blue Danube", and acted out by Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Laramore the Hound Dog, a family of swans, and a juvenile Daffy Duck.
In 2007 the legendary American duo White Stripes toured Canada. Besides playing the usual venues they challenged themselves and played in buses, cafés and for Indian tribal elders. Music video director Emmett Malloy followed the band and managed to capture both the special tour, extraordinary concert versions of the band's minimalist, raw, blues-inspired rock songs and the special relationship between the extroverted Jack White and the introspective Meg White - a formerly married couple who for a long time claimed to be siblings. The film makes striking use of the band's concert colors: red, white and black.
The pianist Kyra Steckeweh and the filmmaker Tim van Beveren search for traces where Countess Dora Pejačević (1885-1923) lived and worked. Their documentary is a journey through time to a half brilliant, half broken Europe.
50 years after the release of the Pet Sounds album with the Beach Boys, this is Brian Wilson at la Baloise Session.
Woody Allen's production of the Puccini comic opera at LA Opera in 2015
The sweetheart of Motown roars back on stage in this fantastic concert! Recorded in front of a energetic audience, the show contains performances of the Reeves classics Dancing In The Street, Nowhere To Run, (Love Is Like A) Heat Wave and lots more! Reeves has been shining in the spotlight recently with appearances on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, performing with The Crystal Method, as well as a recent performance on the hit TV show Dancing With The Stars.
Bastien a Bastienna
There is hardly a better way to approach Ludwig van Beethoven than through his piano concertos. Beethoven’s own instrument was the piano, and in his improvisations – which made him the darling of the Viennese salons – he merged virtuosity and unbridled expression. The piano concertos give a clear idea of these performances. At the same time, they are prime examples of Beethoven’s ability to create large orchestral works with seemingly endless arcs of tension. The complete recording of all five works with Mitsuko Uchida and Sir Simon Rattle was one of the most spectacular projects of the Berliner Philharmoniker during the Rattle era – and at the same time the highlight of the collaboration between the orchestra and the pianist, which began in 1984.
Richard Wagner called Die Walküre the “first evening” of the Ring of the Nibelung; he called Das Rheingold the prologue or Vorabend. Musically and dramatically, we are introduced to a radically new and different world when the opening bars of Die Walküre resound. A fully developed orchestral palette of Leitmotivs paints a wild storm scene, and the curtain rises on a modest dwelling: a fully human scene that has nothing to do with the gods, dwarves and nymphs of Das Rheingold. At the same time, however, the way Die Walküre portrays radical beginnings reveals some telling reminiscences of the unfolding of Das Rheingold. Die Walküre is exciting and deeply feeling drama.
Bonus DVD from the best-of 2015 Spock's Beard compilation containing live footage, interviews and background stories.
Shortly after WWII, the DEFA Studios produced a series of operas and operettas which belonged to the classical German musical heritage. This enchanting film, the very first opera production of DEFA, stands out because of its lavish decor and costumes, its outstanding actors and their masterful voices of that time.
Take a perfect cast, a great conductor and a groundbreaking staging in-out makes a 'Tristan' for eternity. The 1983 performance in Bayreuth was a great moment for the world of opera. The ensemble performance of René Kollo, Johanna Meier and Matti Salminen with, then as now the Wagner admirer, Daniel Barenboim conducting the Bayreuth orchestra inspired singers and instrumentalists to peak performance. Jean-Pierre Ponnelle created a dream-beautiful stage.
"Jellicle" cats join for a Jellicle ball where they rejoice with their leader, Old Deuteronomy. One cat will be chosen to go to the "Heavyside Layer" and be reborn.
Live in London is a live concert recording of George Michael's final two concerts in London's Earl's Court arena on 24th and 25th August 2008 as part of his 25 Live tour. It features a career-spanning set that includes Wham! classics and his solo hits. This is the first live DVD of George Michael's career.
A glimpse into K-pop group CIX’s first world tour, featuring the members preparing and crafting their show, as well as a behind the scenes look of the entire process.
A dead woman wanders through the shadowy space between memory and reality, tracing the lines of her identity through the land she once walked—an immigrant in death as in life.
On 3 May 2022, Cameron Mackintosh invited many of Stephen Sondheim’s old friends to join him in London’s West End for a thrilling, joyously staged production. He had specially devised it to celebrate Sondheim’s extraordinary talents as a composer and lyricist. Featuring an all-star cast including Michael Ball, Helena Bonham Carter, Rob Brydon, Petula Clark, Anna-Jane Casey, Rosalie Craig, Janie Dee, Judi Dench, Daniel Evans, Maria Friedman, Haydn Gwynne, Bonnie Langford, Damian Lewis and Julia McKenzie.