L'elisir d'amore - Wiener Staatsoper

Janacek's opera performed in Vienna on April 11, 2016

In this documentary portrait prepared for the anniversary of Ludwig Van Beethoven's 200th birthday, Leonard Bernstein illustrates his analysis with excerpts from his performances of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Major and the Ode to Joy from the Ninth Symphony.

Strauss’s elegant romance brings the glamour and enchantment of 19th-century Vienna to cinemas worldwide in a sumptuous production by legendary director Otto Schenk that “is as beautiful as one could hope” (The New York Times). Soprano Rachel Willis-Sørensen stars as the title heroine, a young noblewoman in search of love on her own terms. Radiant soprano Louise Alder is her sister, Zdenka, and bass-baritone Tomasz Konieczny is the dashing count who sweeps Arabella off her feet.

Witty, fun, intoxicating film of Johann Strauss II's popular operetta, based on a stage production from Vienna State Opera; this is a showcase for the entire cast, but most especially Eberhard Wächter as the insufferably boorish Gabriel Eisenstein, and Gundula Janowitz as his long-suffering wife. Open the champagne, have yourself some torte, and enjoy this delectable comedy from Vienna.

Professor Karl Michaeli is a former star cellist and grantler , as he is in the book. After the death of his beloved wife Maria in 2014, the retired music professor lives alone in a three-room apartment in Vienna. To his displeasure, several foreign families are housed in his apartment building. The widowed, free-spirited apartment building owner Esther Polgar also houses refugees in his home. These are a special thorn in Karl's side.

Felicity Lott, Anne-Sofie Von Otter, and Kurt Moll star in this production of Richard Strauss' opera, staged in Vienna in 1994. A romantic comedy of errors. Princess von Werdenberg must hide her affair with Octavian from her family; when he disguises himself as a chambermaid to avoid scandalizing the Princess, he is pressed into presenting a gift to Baron Ochs von Lerchenau, who has arrived to propose marriage to Sophie von Faninal. However, Ochs soon finds himself infatuated with the chambermaid, much to Octavian's chagrin, which proves to be only the first of a long series of romantic misunderstandings. This production of Der Rosenkavalier is performed by the Vienna State Orchestra and Chorus, under the direction of Carlos Kleiber.

As renowned for its harmonious overture as for its romantic storybook characters, this three-act masterwork features some of the composer’s most groundbreaking and unforgettable music, as well as a theme the young Wagner would revisit again and again later in his career—the redemptive and transcendent power of a woman’s love. The enchanting plot harks back to medieval history: Wolfram is a lovesick troubadour who desires the virtuous Elisabeth. She, however, has eyes for another: the rebellious knight Tannhäuser, who in turn cannot get over an overwhelming sensual experience in the realm of the goddess Venus, and is banished for singing her praises at court. Only saintly Elisabeth’s death can atone for his misdeeds.

The fairy Lacrimosa's daughter lives with a forest farmer. If she marries a poor man, her mother will regain her magical powers. «Envy» wants to prevent this and turns the forest farmer into a hard-hearted millionaire.

James Levine leads a stirring performance of Wagner’s epic comedy, seen in Otto Schenk’s classic production. Baritone Michael Volle stars as Hans Sachs, the cobbler-poet at the heart of this story of love, art, and youth vs. age. Leading Wagnerian tenor Johan Botha is Walther von Stolzing, the young knight whose new ideas upset the traditional ways of the mastersingers, and Annette Dasch sings Eva, the girl he loves, whose hand has been promised to the winner of a singing contest. Johannes Martin Kränzle as the pedantic town clerk Beckmesser, Hans-Peter König as Pogner, Eva’s father, and Paul Appleby as David, Sachs’s apprentice complete the stellar cast.

The plot of Die Fledermaus is woven around a ball given by Prince Orlofsky.

Vienna no longer has anyone like him: Karl Farkas. "Look at that!" was the leitmotif of his life. He was the only one of the postwar generation who could demonstrate how cabaret had been performed during the interwar period: primarily with Jewish wit, humor, and plenty of personality. Farkas became known throughout Austria through his legendary TV shows "Balance Sheets." His "Annual Balance Sheets" remained a television hit until his death. Among those appearing in the best Farkas shows are Ernst Waldbrunn, Maxi Böhm, Gerhard Bronner, Fritz Muliar, Otto Schenk, Ossy Kolmann, and Fritz Imhoff. The DVD "Look at that!" brings together the highlights from "Simpl" and TV's "Balance Sheets." A classic of intelligent humor from 1965-1971.

In October 1936, a high official in the Austrian government receives a letter from a German Jewish woman with whom he had an affair in 1925 asking him to help place an 11-year-old, half Jewish boy in a good Austrian school. Is the child his? Should he help? And above all should he help now, at a time when Nazis are becoming powerful in Austria?

Through the eyes of psychologist Thomas Meiberger, we examine the mental, social and psychological factors of how and why criminal acts are committed. Even in cases that seem unsolvable, Meiberger is able to follow a thread back to the suspect by interpreting the sequence of events, the victim's behavior and subtle details that are invisible to others.

An old, rich bachelor learns that he has a granddaughter ...

Renée Fleming sings one of her signature roles, the title character in Dvořák’s sumptuously melodic Rusalka. The story of the opera, which is about a water spirit’s tragic romance with a human prince, is drawn from several folktale sources including Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Little Mermaid.” Star conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin leads a cast that also includes Piotr Beczala as the handsome Prince whom Rusalka yearns to love; Dolora Zajick as the cackling swamp witch Ježibaba; Emily Magee as the Foreign Princess, Rusalka’s rival; and John Relyea as Rusalka’s father, the Water Sprite.