‘In the conception of a film, I need people to be my allies. With Michel Legrand, the bond is even stronger: he’s not a collaborator but a brother. Nor is he a composer but a fountain of music.’ With those words, Jacques Demy hailed his musical double, friend and partner in creation for thirty years and nine feature …
“Based on the acclaimed memoir by renowned guitarist Andy Summers, Can t Stand Losing You: Surviving The Police follows Summers journey from his early days in the psychedelic 60s music scene, when he played with The Animals, to chance encounters with drummer Stewart Copeland and bassist Sting, which led to the formation of a punk trio, The Police. …
Virtuosity – The Fourteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition [Blu-ray]
Virtuosity searches for the musical souls of the most gifted young pianists as they try to make a name for themselves at the 2013 Van Cliburn International Piano Competiton. The film focusses on this group of young musicians as they articulate their personalities through their music: brilliant, eccentric, tender, touching, dazzling, deadly serious, wildly entertaining. …
Wagners tale of the struggle between spiritual and profane love, and of redemption through love, is given a radical visual update in Sebastian Baumgartens controversial yet thought-provoking Bayreuth production. Joep van Lieshouts giant installation The Technocrat dominates the stage, its industrial interior giving credence to the idea that Tannhäuser is one big experiment and playing host to some …
Gioachino Rossinis Aureliano in Palmira celebrated its first premiere on 26 December 1813 at La Scala in Milan. Soon afterwards the work was played in different theatres all over Europe. Nevertheless Rossinis piece fell into oblivion more and more compared to its great competitors like Tancredi or the Barber of Seville for which Rossini recycled musical parts …
Jacques Offenbachs La Belle Hélène has always been one of its composers most successful works. Its first performance in Paris was quickly followed by productions in Vienna, Berlin, London, Milan and New York. A satire of middle-class values, this opéra bouffe pillories narrow-mindedness in society. Adopting a pro-active stance, director Renaud Doucet and designer André Barbe treat the …
Verdi’s tragic masterpiece is elegantly updated by director Tom Cairns in this ‘fresh and thrillingly unfamiliar’ (Independent) Glyndebourne production, in which Violetta’s death is cast as an idée fixe, creating a liberating framework that is well supported by Hildegard Bechtler’s semi-abstract designs. Described as a soprano of ‘huge presence, compelling to watch’, Venera Gimadieva is ‘thrilling’ (Guardian) in …
The Dynamic label presents, in a world premiere on Blu-ray Francesco Cileas rarely heard or produced opera LArlesiana (1897, rev. 1898). Its the story of Federico, the older son of the widow and farm owner Rosa Mamai, and his insane passion for a mysterious woman who, in the opera, is never shown. Federico wants to marry her …
Welcome to Rossiniland: where the 1800s meet the 2000s, and tourists are free to wander and gawp at the scintillating spectacle taking place around them. Innovative theatre company Teatro Sotterraneo transferred Rossinis light-hearted one-act operatic farce to a modern-day theme park. Mistaken identities and general confusion abound, all exaggerated to a delightful degree by Rossinis forward-thinking …
Georges Bizets Carmen, one of the worlds most beloved operas and a staple of the operatic since its premiere a mere three months before the composers death in June, 1875 was staged at the world-famous Arena di Verona in June, 2014 in an opulent production directed by the flamboyant Franco Zeffirelli and filmed in High Definition. The …