Stage director Frank Castorf “might have been born to direct From the House of the Dead” (Opera Today). His gritty, visually striking adaptation brings bold modern and postmodern touches to Janáček’s masterwork without ever overshadowing the intense forward momentum of the music, conducted to dramatic perfection by Simone Young and sung by an all-star cast in Munich. Janáček adapted Dostoevsky for this powerfully compelling opera set in a Siberian prison camp, full of starkly contrasting moods and motifs, unusual in its episodic structure. The last opera Janáček ever composed, its third act was on his desk when he died in 1928; attempts by his students to “complete” his orchestration have largely fallen away over the decades in favor of the original version. Despite the grimness of the setting and the brutality of several characters, the composer’s compassion shines through in tender moments, movingly illustrating his motto for the work: “in every creature, a spark of God.”

Tim Albery's Olivier-nominated production for The Royal Opera delves deep into the psychology of Wagner's cursed wanderer and his beloved Senta, detailing the monomania and uncompromising idealism that finally drives them apart. Michael Levine's elemental single set is dominated by a rolling metal hull that represents the Dutchman's phantom ship, the poverty of Senta's home and the treacherous sea.

A myth, a heroic epic, a family saga - perhaps all of these together – make up Richard Wagner’s Ring tetralogy. This epic production of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden sees a remarkable collaboration between Christian Thielemann, one of the most distinguished Wagner conductors of our time, and Dmitri Tcherniakov, one of the great, internationally celebrated opera directors of our time.

Requiring 38 soloists, chorus, and large orchestra, Hans Pfitzner's "Palestrina" is a challenging opera to stage. In Munich, the city in which it was premiered in 1917, director Christian Stückle, conductor Simone Young, and the Bavarian State Opera met those challenges with stunning success.

Siegfried's love story transposed to a high-tech hell... A fascinating re-reading of the third opera in Wagner's tetralogy, served up by Dmitri Tcherniakov's daring staging and Christian Thielemann's virtuoso musical direction.

New peoduction, 2009. Filmed by the Royal Opera House in co-production with Opus Arte, June 13/17.

Mozart's La Clemenza Di Tito was originally commissioned to celebrate the coronation of the Emperor Leopold II as King of Bohemia in 1791. This rarely-seen masterpiece was Mozart's last opera. Nicholas Hytner's elegant staging for the Glyndebourne Festival Opera sheds new light on the compelling story of passion that overrides loyalty and integrity that is tested to the extreme.

Renée Fleming is Countess Madeleine, the beautiful, enigmatic woman at the center of Strauss’s sophisticated “Conversation Piece for Music.” She is being courted by two men: Joseph Kaiser sings the composer, Flamand, and Russell Braun is Olivier, the poet. The stellar cast also includes Peter Rose as the theater director La Roche, Sarah Connolly as the actress Clairon, and Morten Frank Larsen as the Countess’s brother. John Cox’s elegant production places the action in the 1920s. Andrew Davis conducts.

British director Elijah Moshinsky traveled to Istanbul's Topkapi Palace with a cast of gifted singers and actors to film a lavish production of Mozart's Die Entfuhrung Aus Dem Serail (aka The Abduction From The Harem), and this documentary offers a look at both the behind-the-scenes efforts to put the project on screen and extended highlights from the resulting production. Mozart in Turkey also touches on the opera's performance history and Mozart's life at the time it was composed.

This is a live performance of BENJAMIN BRITTEN's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" shot at Teatro del Liceu in April of 2005 featuring singers DAVID DANIELS, OFELIA SALA, GORDON GIETZ & WILLIAM DAZELEY. HARRY BICKET conducts Orquestra Simfonica del Gran Teatro del Liceu. The production received such great reviews & audience reaction that performances continued in various opera houses throughout Europe that same year. The stage direction by ROBERT CARSEN also received rave reviews and is what is seen here in this program.