In celebration of the 150th anniversary of Tristan & Isolde this production was premiered on 25 July 2015 and marked the high-point of the Bayreuth Festival. An important and highly-anticipated new production of Wagner’s take on this ultimate, immortal tale of love and longing by the composer’s great-granddaughter Katharina Wagner. Enjoy some of today’s most prominent vocalists and Christian Thielemann, arguably the most important Wagner conductor of our day and age. “… a sensationally good musical realisation.” BBC Music
Bayreuth Festival 2016: Parsifal
No burkas and no bikinis – long before Bayreuth’s latest Parsifal had opened in Uwe Eric Laufenberg’s new reading, these two phrases had done the rounds, their emotive content ensuring that the production was hotly debated. Laufenberg shows us everything: the Grail chalice, the dead swan, the wound, the lance. Such realism in the staging, which above all reveals an eye for intricate detail, creates the impression of a new radicalism. With Klaus Florian Vogt “as a powerfully heroic Parsifal (…), the beautiful gold, silver piercing iron of Elena Pankratova’s voice as Kundry (…), Georg Zeppenfeld as a slim Gurnemanz providing unparalleled vocal command (…) and Ryan McKinny as a noble and agonised Amfortas.” (The Telegraph)
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
You don’t just see an Ailey performance, you feel it. Experience this electrifying modern dance program that includes four audience favorites: Wayne McGregor’s sumptuous “Chroma” with a score by Jack White and Joby Talbot; Ronald K. Brown’s powerful “Grace”, with music by Duke Ellington, Roy Davis Jr., and Fela Kuti; Robert Battle’s humorous, high-flying “Takademe”; and Alvin Ailey’s beloved “Revelations” – “one of the great works of the human spirit” (New York Times) – that will rock your soul.
CARMEN.maquia and Club Havana
Ballet Hispánico, a “strong ambassador of not just Latino culture but of dance itself” (Broadway World), brings its bold and eclectic brand of contemporary dance to the screen with two audience favorites: CARMEN.maquia, an electrifying modern take on Bizet’s passionate opera choreographed by Spaniard Gustavo Ramírez Sansano, and Cuban-born Pedro Ruiz’s Club Havana, a virtuosic re-imagining of a sizzling nightclub filled with the exhilarating rhythms and colors of Havana’s golden era.
George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker
Experience the wonder of New York City Ballet’s iconic holiday classic on the big screen. In George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker™, Tchaikovsky’s beloved melodies transport the young and young at heart to a magical world where mischievous mice besiege a battalion of toy soldiers, and an onstage blizzard leads to an enchanted Land of Sweets. Balanchine’s stunning choreography shines amidst awe-inspiring set pieces, ornate costumes, and grand one-of-a-kind visual effects, like the one-ton Christmas tree that grows to an astonishing 40 feet.
Romeo & Juliet
With its passionate choreography, spine-tingling swordsmanship, and celebrated score by Sergei Prokofiev, this colorful and emotional retelling of Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet has packed houses around the world. Helgi Tomasson’s bravura interpretation of the Bard’s greatest tragedy “lifts Shakespeare’s complex and familiar language off the gilded pages and translates it into lucid classical choreography that is visceral, fresh, and ultimately sublime.” (Huffington Post)
Salzburg Festival: L’Upupa – The Hoopoe and the Triumph of Filial Love
The world premiere of Hans Werner Henze’s opera, recorded live at the Salzburg Festival in 2003. The libretto is based on an old Syrian fairy tale concerning three rulers, three sons and three treasures. Matthias Goerne leads an international cast including Laura Aikin, John Mark Ainsley, Alfred Muff and Hanna Schwarz. Markus Stenz conducts the Wiener Philharmoniker.
2Cellos at Sydney Opera House
2Cellos at a special Sydney show that see them perform in the iconic Sydney Opera House, accompanied by the prestigious Sydney Symphony Orchestra, playing famous film scores. PROGRAM: Film Music – Now We Are Free (The Gladiator); Cinema Paradiso; Malena; Love Story; For the Love of a Princess (Braveheart); Schindler’s List Main Theme; The Godfather Theme; May it Be (Lord of the Rings); Moon River (Breakfast at Tiffany’s); Rain Man Theme; Cavatina (Deer Hunter); Game of Thrones Medley; My Heart Will Go On (Titanic)
Il Volo – Notte Magica “A Tribute To The Three Tenors”
“Notte Magica – A Tribute To The Three Tenors” – on July 7, 1990, a magical night took place in Rome: José Carreras, Plácido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti sang together for the very first time in one of the most evocative temples of opera, the ancient Baths of Caracalla in Rome giving life to the biggest classical music project of the century, The Three Tenors. Twenty-six years later, worldwide platinum selling artists, Il Volo, pay tribute to the event and to the Three Tenors with a live concert event, “Notte Magica – A Tribute to The Three Tenors”. The concert took place at the Piazza Santa Croce, one of the most beautiful plazas in Florence with the famous Teatro Massimo di Palermo Orchestra. Il Volo performed some of the most famous Neapolitan songs and arias from the Italian and international operatic repertoire all of which were sung by the original Three Tenors. As a special guest, Maestro Plácido Domingo conducted almost half of the program and joined Il Volo singing the classic “Non ti scordar di me”. Although Il Volo were not yet born when The Three Tenors first performed, they grew up listening to them, being fascinated and inspired by their voices and legendary achievements. Now, Il Volo deliver this music to a younger audience so they can experience the same emotions from that long ago magical night.
La Rondine
Internationally acclaimed tenor and stage director Rolando Villazon’s new production of Giacomo Puccini’s La Rondine. Fabulous and emerging soprano Dinara Alieva (described by soprano Montserrat Caballe as “a singer who possessed the gift of heaven”) appears in the leadying-lady role of Magda. World-renowned Charles Castronovo – one of the leading lyric tenors of his generation – sings the hero’s role of Ruggero.