An exploration of opera in unconventional ways attempting to attract not just existing opera fans, but also those less familiar with the art form. The host guides the viewer to the places of origin of each opera, and explores the culture, history—and modern and current trends and how they apply to opera.
Òpera en Texans
A behind-the-scenes look at the Royal Opera House.
Looks at Mozart's extraordinary short life and revolutionary music through a distinctive mix of costume drama and documentary.
For centuries in western culture, opera has been the greatest show on earth. Historian Lucy Worsley explores how history and opera go hand in hand. She visits the great European cities where some of the most famous operas were written, tells the stories of the colourful characters who composed them, and shows how they reflected the turbulent times they were composed in and the lives, hopes and fears of the people who lived in them. Whilst Lucy visits the cities and European opera houses, Antonio Pappano, music director of London's Royal Opera, helps us understand some of those operas' greatest musical moments.
Graines d'étoiles
More than 20 years since OG reality icons Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie first took the world by storm, the life-long friends reunite in a new special. Follow the dynamic duo as they try to produce a once-in-a-lifetime operatic performance based on their self-coined phrase, "Sanasa."
Opera singer Carina Henriksson, who has lived and worked in several world metropolises, takes the lure of the fine arts and opera to one of Sweden's most sparsely populated areas.
Sarah is a young autistic woman with an extraordinary ability for lyrical singing. She begins taking lessons with renowned soprano Leonor Delise, but there is tension in the relationship. Sarah will learn to turn her silences into emotions; Leonor will have to restore her faith in humanity and reconcile with her daughter. Music will be the bond that transforms their lives.
Spanish maestro Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos (1933-2014) concluded his acclaimed international conducting career spanning nearly six decades with two memorable years as the revered Principal Conductor of the Danish National Symphony Orchestra. Recorded live at Copenhagen's new DR Koncerthuset, Koncertsalen from 2012 to 2014, this exclusive recording combines Fruhbeck de Burgos's powerful interpretation of Ludwig van Beethoven's complete symphonies with his spectacular renditions of Hector Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique and Richard Strauss's Eine Alpensinfonie, as well as Joaquin Rodrigos's popular Concerto de Aranjuez, with world-renowned Spanish guitarist Pepe Romero.
Count de Chagnie has discovered Christine's singing talent on a market place and sent her to his friend Carriere, the director of the Parisian opera. However just when she arrives Carriere's dismissed. His arrogant successor refuses to let a woman of low birth sing in his opera, but graciously employs Christine as gadrobiere for his wife Charlotta, who's installed as first singer. He also fights the phantom, an unknown guy who lives since many years in the catacombs below the opera and was granted privileges by Carriere. However the phantom knows how to defend himself and at the same time helps Christine to her career. The Phantom of the Opera is a 1990 NBC two-part drama television miniseries. It is adapted from Arthur Kopit's book for his then-unproduced stage musical Phantom, which is based loosely on Gaston Leroux's novel.
Les Grands Airs de Tebaldo
小白玉霜
Newly appointed inspector Shi Jiangchengzhou and head constable Meng Jiu'an are drawn into a series of perplexing cases, with the city’s information hub, Baihua Fang, and its enigmatic owner Baihua Wuming, playing a central role. As threats loom over the city, their investigation becomes increasingly unpredictable and dangerous.
A four-part history of the Inquisition, a 500-year campaign against heretics by the Roman Catholic Church initiated by Pope Gregory IX. The series benefits from the 1998 release of secret Vatican files.
Doctors and Nurses at War
How the Other Half Live is a British documentary series, broadcast on Channel 4 by the creators of the similar social benefit programme The Secret Millionaire. The show features a wealthy family providing 'sponsorship' for a family living in poverty in the UK. There have been two series broadcast so far, one in 2009 and another in 2010. The series' are six episodes long and each episode lasts roughly an hour with commercial breaks. Every episode focuses on a new pair of families. The children of the families swap DVDs and meet in person with their parents to explore their mutual lives and homes. The richer family then provide social and economic support to improve the situation for all involved, which normally includes the families meeting in person multiple times, and educational improvements for the children, as well as housing and monetary assistance.
Dateline NBC, or simply Dateline, is a weekly American television newsmagazine series. It was previously the network's flagship newsmagazine, but now focuses mainly on true crime stories with only occasional editions that focus on other topics.
Major real-life air disasters are depicted in this series. Each episode features a detailed dramatized reconstruction of the incident based on cockpit voice recorders and air traffic control transcripts, as well as eyewitnesses recounts and interviews with aviation experts.
Driven was a motoring television programme launched by Channel 4 in 1998 as a rival to the successful and long-running BBC series Top Gear. The style was similar to its rival, but with additional features such as the "Driven 100", a road test of three cars in the same class, where each car would be given marks for qualities such as practicality, desirability and cost of ownership. The car with the highest total score would be the winner. The programme launched with the concept that the presenters should interact with each other rather than present items on their own, as was then the case on Top Gear. The first series also featured a "headquarters", a racing team truck, set on a former air force base at which cars were put through their paces. These concepts resurfaced in the reborn Top Gear soon after.