Chamber Music & Recitals

Fantastic storylines abound in opera, but these grand musical settings of much-loved fairytales embrace the imaginary, giving free rein to dreams. The Royal Opera's acclaimed Hansel and Gretel combines the directors' characteristic wit and knack for dark...

Always smile and always be cheerful, always satisfied, no matter what happens, smile in spite of your sorrows and a thousand aches and pains, sings Prince Sou-Chong, thus introducing the fundamentally melancholic tone of Das Land des Lachelns (The Land...

Verdi: Il Trovatore / La Traviata / Macbeth DVD

Philip Glass wrote about his compositional processes: "I don't care about music theory, I'm only interested in listening to music. I begin by listening. Like images emerging from the mist and becoming visible." This seminal work of avant-garde opera from...

For their 88th year the prestigious Arena di Verona Festival paid tribute to internationally acclaimed Italian stage director Franco Zeffirelli. Zeffirelli delivers an opulent staging of the fairy-tale story of the Chinese Princess Turandot, who will...

This special collection includes three Royal Ballet performances of Tchaikovsky's beloved masterpieces: Anthony Dowell's majestic production of the beautiful and romantic tragedy Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty in it's detailed re-creation by Monica Mason...

In August 2020, Herbert Blomstedt made his debut with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra. You could hardly tell that the maestro had celebrated his 93rd birthday only a month prior for he continuously exudes vitality, awareness, and curiosity. "I'm in love...

Exactly 80 years before the Opening Concert of the 2019 Lucerne Festival, Sergei Rachmaninoff himself appeared for the first time on August 11, 1939 at the "International Music Festival Weeks". The roaring success of the performance stands in direct...

Mieczyslaw Weinberg's Trumpet Concerto op. 94 was composed in his most productive creative phase and premiered in Moscow on 6 January 1968. Shostakovich once described it as a "symphony for trumpet and orchestra" - no wonder, since it showcases the whole...

Christian Spuck puts the literary origin at the heart of his choreography of "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King", emphasizing the fantastical nature of the original rather than the delightful Christmas fairytale and bringing back the tale of princess...

Elena DVD

Ludwig van Beethoven's 9th Symphony and the musical city of Leipzig are closely intertwined with each other: Felix Mendelssohn, Kapellmeister of the Gewandhausorchester, made the work an indispensable part of the concert hall repertoire and Arthur...