Opera

Richard Wagner's epic cycle of four operas--"Das Rheingold," "Die Walkure," "Siegfried" and "Gotterdammerung"--staged to great acclaim by the Metropolitan Opera and conducted by James Levine. Singers include Alan Held, Anthony Raffell, Gary Lakes, Heinz

Two DVD set. In spring 2011, the first-ever performances at New York's Metropolitan Opera of Rossini's Le Comte Ory brought standing ovations and critical-acclaim. The spectacular trio of Juan Diego Florez, Diana Damrau and Joyce DiDonato ignited vocal and theatrical fireworks. Le Comte Ory tells the story of a libidinous and cunning nobleman who disguises himself first as a hermit and then as a nun ("Sister Colette") in order to gain access to the virtuous Countess Adele, whose brother is away at the Crusades. The 2011 Met production was directed by the Tony Award-winning Broadway director Bartlett Sher, who in recent years has also staged Il barbiere di Siviglia and Les Contes d'Hoffman for the Met. Sher presented the action as an opera within an opera, updated the action by a few centuries and giving the costume designer, Catherine Zuber, the opportunity to create some particularly extravagant headgear. Juan Diego Florez starred as the title role while Diana Damrau plays his love interest, Countess Adele, and Joyce DiDonato was in breeches as his pageboy Isolier. The trio had appeared in Sher's production of Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia. Conducted with verve and finesse by Rossini specialist Maurizio Benini, the production also features the stylish French baritone Stephane Degout as Ory's bibulous conspirator Raimbaud (quite a change from his previous Met role - Debussy's gentle Pelleas), charismatic Italian bass Michele Pertusi as the Count's long-suffering Tutor, and, formidable as Adele's housekeeper Ragonde, the Swedish dramatic mezzo Susanne Resmark.

Fiorenza Cedolins, Marcelo Alvarez, and Ruggero Raimondi star in this Arena di Verona production of the Puccini opera conducted by Daniel Oren and directed by Hugo de Ana. Extras include over 140 minutes of highlights from 47 critically acclaimed opera, b

Angela Gheorghiu, Ramon Vargas, and Roberto Frontali star in this 2007 La Scala production of the Verdi Opera conducted by Lorin Maazel.

The inaugural broadcast of the Peabody and Emmy®-award winning series The Met Live in HD.

The Magic Flute has delighted audiences of all ages for centuries. Julie Taymor's dazzling English-language production brings one of Mozart s greatest works to life as never before.

James Levine leads a cast that includes Ying Huang as Pamina in her Met debut, Nathan Gunn, Matthew Polenzani, Erika Miklosa and Rene Papa.

Taken from the December 30, 2006 live performance.

Angela Gheorghiu, Jonas Kaufmann, and Olga Borodina star in this Royal Opera production of the Cilea opera conducted by Mark Elder and directed by David McVicar.

Natalie Dessay made her first European appearances as Violetta in Verdi's La Traviata in a new production by the French director Jean-Francois Sivadier at the 2011 Aix-en-Provence Festival. This DVD captures her intense performance in the company of American tenor Charles Castronovo as Alfredo and French baritone Ludovic Tezier as his father, Giorgio Germont. "Her theatrical impact is devastating," wrote the Financial Times. She made her debut in the role in 2009 at the Sante Fe Festival in the US, and subsequently sang Violetta in Japan. Dessay's 2011-12 season will include La Traviata at the Vienna State Opera (in this Aix-en-Provence production by French theatre and opera director Jean-Francois Sivadier) and the New York Metropolitan. Violetta makes tremendous demands on a singer, both vocally and dramatically, and signals Dessay's transition from lighter coloratura roles to the more full-bodied lyric repertoire. "I'm tired of playing weeping girls," she told the French magazine Tele 7 Jours, "Violetta is a real woman. That makes a nice change!" Sivadier's production was staged in the open air, in Aix-en-Provence's exquisite Theatre de l'Archeveche with its huge spiral staircases, medieval arches and 18th-century wings. The stage decor was minimal, the simple costumes evoked the 1940s or 1950s, and the prime focus was on intense characterization.

Already brimming with symbols and transformations, the epic fairytale recounted by Strauss and his librettist Hofmannsthal in Die Frau ohne Schatten acquires a further allegorical dimension in Christoph Loy's inventive production for the Salzburg Festival. The central character, the Empress - half-spirit, half-human, and unable to bear children until she finds a shadow - here becomes a young soprano who makes a voyage of personal and professional discovery as she records the opera. A superb cast fulfils the complex vocal and dramatic demands of the piece while Christian Thielemann and the Vienna Philharmonic rise gloriously to the challenges of Strauss's most ambitious and splendid operatic score.

A red hot ticket at the Metropolitan Opera in 2010/2011 was Donizetti's comic gem, Don Pasquale, with Anna Netrebko reviving Norina, the part that made her a star in New York.

John Del Carlo's impressive singing and acting chops as the Don are given every boost by Otto Schenk's hilarious staging and James Levine's witty conducting. Leading this opera for the first time at the Met, the renowned maestro demonstrates that his gifts suit Donizetti as perfectly as Wagner.