Madama Butterfly - Teatro alla Scala

The Waldbühne in Berlin, one of the most appealing outdoor amphitheatres on the European continent, is the home of the Berliner Philharmoniker’s summer concerts. With audiences of more than 20,000, these are some of the most popular classical music concerts in the world. Riccardo Chailly is famous for having one of the broadest and most eclectic repertoires. Here, under his baton, the orchestra presents perennial favourites by Shostakovich, Rota and Respighi. Live recording from the Waldbühne, Berlin, 23 August 2011, directed by Kasten Henning, produced by Jan Bremme. TV Producer: Dorothea Diekmann, RBB. Repertoire Dmitry Shostakovich: Suite No. 2 for Jazz Orchestra (Suite for Variety Orchestra), Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk Suite – Allegretto; Nino Rota: ‘La Strada’ Ballet Suite; Ottorino Respighi: Fountains of Rome • Pines of Rome • Danza gueresca ‘Belkis’; Paul Lincke: Berliner Luft

The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and their Music Director Riccardo Chailly have already acquired legendary status – glorious reviews and many awards for their recordings testifying to their continuing success. At Leipzig’s International Mahler Festival, to mark the centenary of Mahler’s death, they performed his monumental Second Symphony in the Gewandhaus – together with two marvellous soloists and choral forces quite beyond compare. About the final movement the composer said: “The increasing tension, working up to the final climax, is so tremendous that I don’t know myself, now that it is over, how I ever came to write it.” The painting “Morgenrot” was chosen by internationally acclaimed artist Neo Rauch to feature on the cover of this release on DVD and Blu-ray.

Rigoletto is a jester in the court of the Duke of Mantua. He has a hunch-back and he's rather unattractive, but he's good at his job of humiliating the courtiers for the amusement of the Duke. The courtiers, of course, are not amused. The Duke is a ladies man who feels his life would be meaningless if he couldn't chase every skirt he sees. In fact, we learn as the opera begins that he's recently been noticing a young lady every Sunday on her way to church, and he's vowed to have his way with her. What nobody realizes is that the girl is the jester's beloved daughter, Gilda, and that Gilda has seen the Duke every Sunday and is smitten with him. Suddenly Count Monterone appears at court, furious that the Duke has seduced his daughter. Rigoletto ridicules Monterone, the Duke laughs, and Monterone casts an awful curse on both of them. Later, the courtiers discover that Rigoletto is secretly living with Gilda...

Riccardo Chailly inaugurates the 2024-2025 Opera Season with a new production of La forza del destino, conducting his ninth Verdi title at La Scala. Leo Muscato will direct yet another cast of extraordinary prestige. A complex opera in terms of dramaturgy, first performed in St. Petersburg in 1862 and debuting in its final form at La Scala in 1869 with the creation of the famous overture, La forza del destino offers some of the most memorable Verdi melodies. It has been absent from the programme since the Verdi centennial in 2001, when it was brought to La Scala by the artists of the Mariinsky Theatre of St. Petersburg; the La Scala Orchestra and Choir have not performed it since 1999.

As per tradition, the 2021/22 season opened in December at La Scala in Milan, this time with a new production of Giuseppe Verdi's 'Macbeth' directed by Davide Livermore and conducted by Riccardo Chailly. Verdi's Shakespeare drama features a star-studded cast: Anna Netrebko and Luca Salsi embody the regicide Macbeth and his lady.

A passionate conductor and composer, Gustav Mahler never received the recognition he deserved during his lifetime but has since come to be known as a prominent post-Romantic master of song and symphony. Filmed in Vienna, Austria; Budapest, Hungary; Hamburg, Germany; and the Czech Republic, this documentary explores the Bohemia-born Mahler's life and inspirations, from his turbulent childhood years to his ambitious adult career.

As Riccardo Chailly points out, "The Fifth begins with a dark, gloomy, and tragic tone, but then is enlivened in the Scherzo and Adagietto, and eventually ends with a more positive character in the Finale perhaps for the last time in Mahler's life. The Adagietto is a revelation, a spiritual oasis. It is not an expression of pain, but rather Mahler's declaration of love to Alma a song without words." With the Gewandhaus Orchestra, Chailly gives the piece an unsurpassed intensity of sound and emotional expression. He achieves a compelling arc of tension in which the symphony's unique fascination unfolds. The Wiener Zeitung characterized Chailly's interpretation as "impressive with powerful and unreserved intensity."

Tosca, features an outstanding cast, including Catherine Malfitano in the title role, Bryn Terfel as Scarpia (his role debut), and Richard Margison as Cavaradossi. The visually spectacular staging by Nikolaus Lehnhoff brings the world of James Bond to Puccini's operatic thriller. Modern yet sinister sets and costumes create a fresh and at times horrifying interpretation, a bold departure from traditional stagings, of this classic work. Riccardo Chailly conducts the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and the chorus of The Netherlands Opera.

Juan Pons, Barbara Frittoli, Mariana Lipovsek, and Leo Nucci star in this 2008 La Scala production of the Puccini trilogy (Il Tabarro, Suor Angelica, and Gianni Schicchi) conducted by Riccardo Chailly.

On the 50th anniversary of Shostakovich’s death, La Scala opens the Season with his masterpiece Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District, based on the novella by Nikolai Leskov. After its premiere in St. Petersburg, the opera – which was intended to be the first part of a trilogy on women’s condition in Russia – enjoyed great success at home and abroad. Stalin attended a performance in Moscow in 1936; two days later, the famous denunciation titled “Chaos Instead of Music” appeared in Pravda, through which the regime blacklisted the opera and its composer. Years later, Shostakovich prepared a new version that was staged in Moscow in 1963 under the title Katerina Izmailova, after Superintendent Ghiringhelli had unsuccessfully tried to secure its premiere for La Scala. Today, the theatre presents the original 1934 version, conducted by M° Chailly and the debut of director Barkhatov.

In this majestic production of Verdi’s Don Carlo, Riccardo Chailly’s qualities as a Verdi conductor are brilliantly displayed in the dramatic precision and transparent instrumental detail he draws from both orchestra and cast. Willy Decker directs a wonderful piece of stagecraft, letting the tragedy unwind with minimal, yet telling, interventions. The drama takes place in the mausoleum of Filippo II’s Escorial, where the tombs of countless generations of Spanish royalty line the walls. Filippo’s confrontation with Il grande inquisitore - which takes place over his own coffin, its resting place in the wall ready and waiting - is chillingly symbolic, as are the feet of the giant crucifix that hangs over Don Carlo as he sees his life sacrificed by his father.

On the shores of Lake Lucerne, Riccardo Chailly and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra continue their Rachmaninov odyssey with the Symphonic Movement, a rarely performed piece, as well as the Symphonic Dances and the Scherzo in D minor. The highlight of the evening is the Piano Concerto No. 1, performed by Alexander Malofeev, a rising star on the keyboard. Chapters : Sergueï Rachmaninov - Scherzo in D minor - Symphonic movement in D minor (youth symphony) - Piano Concerto No. 1 in F sharp minor, Op. 1 - Danses symphoniques, op. 45

Since its founding in 2003, the Lucerne Festival Orchestra has established itself as a benchmark in the interpretation of Mahler. The composer's Symphony No. 10 and his Rückert Lieder, performed by Elīna Garanča and conducted by Riccardo Chailly will open the 2025 Lucerne Festival with a tribute to Pierre Boulez, another figure of this renowned festival.

I Vespri Siciliani must me Verdi's most underrated masterpiece. Most people are put off by the fact that it has 5 acts, therefore they conclude that it must be incredibly long. It is long but not as long as some people may fear as most of the acts are under half an hour each. The total length of the DVD in question is 171 minutes, just under 3 hours, including titles at the beginning, applauses and curtain calls between the acts and at the end. The opera contains Verdi's most powerful overture and a number of very elegant arias, duets and ensembles for the principals.