Aida

Originally commissioned to celebrate the completion of the Suez Canal and the opening of Cairo’s new opera house, Verdi’s Egyptian epic Aida is here seen in a spectacular new staging specially mounted by the Teatro Regio Torino to celebrate the re-opening of Turin’s historic Museo Egizio, home to the world’s largest collection of Egyptian antiquities outside of the Cairo Museum. Conducted by the Teatro Regio’s Music Director, Gianandrea Noseda – one of the world’s finest Verdians and Musical America’s Conductor of the Year 2015 – Turin’s authentically Egyptian staging is directed in true Hollywood style by the Oscar-winning American film director William Friedkin, creator of such famous movies as “The Exorcist” and “The French Connection”. Amongst the first-rate cast, critics singled out the American soprano Kristin Lewis, who exhibits “a remarkable voice, which she uses with powerful dramatic instinct” (La Stampa), and the Georgian mezzosoprano Anita Rachvelishvili, whose Amneris “dominates the stage with her dark, rounded, irrestistible voice and extraordinary stage presence” (La Gazzetta Musicale).

Aida

Probably no opera oeuvre and opera house has become more synonymous than Aida and the Arena di Verona: Verdi’s monumental most famous and most played opera established the Arena di Verona as an opera festival venue nearly 100 years ago. Since then, the Arena with its gigantic stage dimensions and its historic charm of a 2,000-year-old roman amphitheatre set in one of the most beautiful cities in the world, has staged Verdi’s masterpiece more than 500 times. As a showpiece in the repertoire Aida is a challenge to the vocal, musical and dramatic means of every opera house. The tragic love story with a political background is ideal for a performance at the Arena. The vast space of the amphitheater provides a magnificent decoration, as would be typical for an epic film. At the center of the spectacle are the singers, the elaborate scenery and the unique atmosphere of the Arena with 20,000 seats. Responsible for the staging of this production is director Gianfranco de Bosio who revives the original production from 1913. Daniel Oren, the experienced and highly estimated Maestro of the Arena for almost 30 years, conducts the Orchestra…. Chinese soprano Hui He is in the lead role of Aida, Hungarian mezzo Andrea Ulbrich her rival Amneris, Italian tenor Marco Berti Aida’s beloved Ramadès and Italian baritone Ambrogio Maestri Aida’s father Amonasro. The Opera was produced in standard High Definition 1080 as well as in 3D.

Turandot

Whether through its phenomenal acoustics or breathtaking architecture, Valencia’s spectacular Calatrava opera house “Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía” – itself a work of art – seems to bring out the best of all who gather there to celebrate artistic creation. And this production of Puccini’s “Turandot” is no exception! Internationally acclaimed Chinese filmmaker Chen Kaige (1993 Golden Palm in Cannes for Farewell My Concubine) delivers an opulent background for the fairy-tale story of the Chinese Princess Turandot, who will marry only a prince of royal blood who can solve her three riddles. With a wealth of sumptuous costumes and palace sets designed and produced in China, Kaige’s staging provides a compellingly authentic accent to Puccini’s exotic orchestral palette.

Turandot

Internationally acclaimed Chinese film-maker Chen Kaige (Palme d’Or 1993 for Farewell My Concubine) delivers an opulent staging of the fairy-tale story of Chinese Princess Turandot, who will only marry a prince capable of solving her riddles. With sumptuous costumes and palace sets designed in China, Kaige’s production adds a compellingly authentic accent to Puccini’s exotic orchestral palette. Zubin Mehta and his brilliant Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana offer “genuine fireworks of sound” (Wiener Zeitung), Maria Guleghina triumphs as Turandot.

Belcanto D´Amore (Aida, La Traviata, Madama Butterfly, Rigoletto, Turandot)

AIDA

Iano Tamar, Iain Paterson,

Tatiana Serjan, Rubens

Pellizzari

Vienna Symphonic Orchestra

Carlo Rizzi

Staged by Graham Vick

MADAMA BUTTERFLY

Raffaela Angeletti

Nino Batatunashvili

Annunziato Vestri

Fondatione Orchestra

Regionale Delle Marche

Daniele Callegari

Staged by Pier Luigi Pizzi

TURANDOT

Maria Guleghina, Marco Berti,

Javier Agulló

Orquestra de la Comunitat

Valenciana

Zubin Metha

Staged by Chen Kaige

LA TRAVIATA

Svetla Vassileva, Massimo

Giordano, Valdimir Stoyanov

Orchestra e Coro del Teatro

Regio di Parma

Yuri Temirkanov

Staged by Karl-Ernst & Ursel

Herrmann

RIGOLETTO

Francesco Demuro, Leo Nucci

Nino Machaidze, Marco Spotti

Orchestra e Coro del Teatro

Regio di Parma

Massimo Zanetti

Staged by Stefano Vizioli