Jules Massenet: Le Roi de Lahore

A spectacular concert at the site of Beijing’s Forbidden City. The concert features the renowned Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and Maestro Long Yu, who perform Orff’s Carmina Burana with Aida Garifullina, Toby Spence and Ludovic Tézier, before being joined by Daniil Trifonov for Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No.2 and Mari Samuelsen for Max Richter’s Violin piece "November". Length 114′ (complete repertoire) / 71′ (Carmina Burana & Jasmine Flower Song) / 43′ (Piano Concert & November)

In England, at Windsor during the reign of Henry IV of England (1399–1413). Sir John Falstaff, also known as ‘Il Pancione’ (the Potbelly), has two identical love letters sent out, one to Meg Page and the other to Alice Ford, then delivers a sarcastic lecture on honour to his servants Bardolfo and Pistola. In Ford’s garden, his wife Alice and her friend Meg notice the similarity between Falstaff’s letters and decide to take revenge on him by pretending that Alice is receiving him at home whilst Ford is away. ‘Falstaff’ is a three-act opera buffa by Giuseppe Verdi, with a libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Shakespeare’s ‘The Merry Wives of Windsor’ and ‘Henry IV’, Parts I and II. It premiered on 9 February 1893 at La Scala in Milan and on 18 April 1894 at the Opéra-Comique in Paris. It was the last opera composed by the composer, then aged 80. Taken from the 27-opera Verdi box set “Tutto Verdi”. Recorded live at the Teatro Regio in Parma on 10, 12, 15, 22 and 25 October 2011.

The story of Cio-Cio-San, called Butterfly, a young Nagasaki geisha who, abandoned by her American lover after giving birth to their son, ultimately kills herself, continues to impress audiences today. In this outstandingly authentic and elegant production from the Sferisterio Opera Festival, Puccini's highly emotional music is expertly delivered. The superior cast is headed by Raffaella Angeletti, "certainly one of the best Butterflies of our time" (ForumOpera.com), who has performed this role in many Italian theatres, as well as in Madrid and at the Vienna Staatsoper.

Daniel Barenboim conducts the Staatskapelle Berlin in this production of Verdi's opera starring Anna Netrebko and Plácido Domingo. The Count Di Luna believes that his younger brother was murdered years before by a vengeful gypsy but still hopes that he may be alive. When he attempts to court the beautiful Leonora, he is enraged to discover that she has a lover – the troubadour, Manrico. Manrico and the Count duel, and afterwards Manrico reveals to Azucena, the woman he believes to be his mother, that when he had the opportunity to kill the Count he felt something holding him back.

‘Nabucco’, or ‘Nebuchadnezzar’ (Italian: Nabucco), is an opera by Giuseppe Verdi with a libretto by T. Solera, based on events described in the Bible. (Nabucco is a shortened Italian rendering of the name of King Nebuchadnezzar II). It was this opera, the third in Verdi’s oeuvre, that brought him true fame. It tells of the tribulations of the Jews, their captivity by the Babylonians, and their subsequent release to their homeland by Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon. Giuseppe Verdi’s opera ‘Nabucco’, is a monumental work that tells the story of the enslavement of the Hebrew people by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar (Nabucco) and their journey towards redemption. The premiere took place on 9 March 1842 at La Scala in Milan. The first performance of the final version was held at the Teatro San Giacomo in Corfu in September 1844. From the box set of 27 Verdi operas, ‘Tutto Verdi’. Recorded live at the Teatro Regio in Parma, 12–14 October 2009.

The grand scale and magnificent acoustics of the Roman arena in Verona are ideally suited to the pageantry of Verdi's Egyptian opera, presented here in a staging that is true to the original 1913 production, framed by obelisks and sphinxes and filled with chorus and dancers. Chinese soprano Hui He has won international acclaim for her portrayal of the eponymous slave girl whose forbidden love for the war hero Radamés (Marco Berti, the experienced Verdi tenor) brings death to them both.

In Aquileia, around the middle of the 5th century. Odabella, daughter of the city’s lord, lost her family during the sacking carried out by Attila and intends to take revenge by killing him (Santo di patria indefinito amor). She herself was spared by Uldino, one of Attila’s slaves. Impressed by her courage, Attila gives her his sword. General Ezio, sent from Rome, proposes to Attila a deal to divide the Empire (Avrai tu l'universo, resti l'Italia a me!). But Attila denounces him as a traitor and refuses. Attila is an opera in a prologue and three acts by Giuseppe Verdi, with a libretto by Temistocle Solera based on Zacharias Werner’s tragedy, Attila, König der Hunnen, and premiered at the Teatro la Fenice in Venice on March 17, 1846. From the box set of 27 Verdi operas, “Tutto Verdi.” Recorded live at the Teatro Verdi in Busseto on October 21 and 25, 2010.

Part of Tutto Verdi series - Alzira (2012) Dobbiaco. This is a concert performance. Alzira is an opera in a prologue and two acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Salvatore Cammarano, based on the play Alzire, ou les Américains by Voltaire. The first performance was at the Teatro San Carlo, Naples, on 12 August 1845.

When Ovid's “Metamorphoses” meet Vivaldi's music: conceived and directed by Barrie Kosky, an effervescent show presented at the 2025 Salzburg Festival. With Cecilia Bartoli, Lea Desandre, Nadezhda Karyazina, and Philippe Jaroussky, as well as actress Angela Winkler in the spoken role of Orpheus.

At Theater an der Wien Stanisław Moniuszko’s Polish national opera Halka is performed by a superb cast including Corinne Winters ('devotedly') , Piotr Beczała ('vocally outstanding') and Tomasz Konieczny ('his acting is piercing') (Der Standard). The Polish leading team, above all director Mariusz Treliński, puts the plot into a supercooled crime aesthetic. The ORF Radio Symphonie-Orchester Wien under the baton of Łukasz Borowicz plays with perceptible delight.

Part of Tutto Verdi series - Oberto (2007) Parma. Oberto was the first of Verdi’s operas to be staged and was heard for the first time at La Scala, Milan, in November 1839. As a young and unknown composer, Verdi was subject to the rules then governing the opera industry in Italy. Even so, there are already many scenes in this early work that reveal unmistakable signs of the composer’s individual style.

In Germany, at the castle of the Count of Stankar, on the banks of the Salzbach and in the vicinity of Salzburg, in the early 19th century. Upon his return from his travels, Pastor Stiffelio recounts his adventures: a boatman had handed him the wallet of a man who, fleeing from a woman’s bedroom, had thrown himself into the river. In the spirit of forgiveness, Stiffelio destroys the piece of evidence, unaware that it is proof that his wife, Lina, is guilty of adultery. ‘Stiffelio’ is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi, with a libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, based on ‘Le Pasteur ou l’évangile au foyer’ by Émile Souvestre and Eugène Bourgeois. Premiered in its original version on 26 December 1968 at the Teatro Regio in Parma. From the box set of 27 Verdi operas, “Tutto Verdi”. Recorded live at the Teatro Regio in Parma on 18 and 24 April 2012.

In the 14th century, Genoa was torn apart by strife between the patricians and the plebeians. The sailor Simon Boccanegra and his lover Maria Fiesco bore the brunt of these internal conflicts: Maria’s father was none other than the city’s doge, the patrician Jacopo Fiesco. When he learnt that Maria had borne Simon a child, he placed his daughter under house arrest. The two lovers had entrusted their daughter to an elderly servant, but she died, and the child mysteriously disappeared. ‘Simon Boccanegra’ is an opera in a prologue and three acts by Giuseppe Verdi, with a libretto by Francesco Maria Piave based on a play by Antonio García Gutiérrez. The first version premiered on 12 March 1857 at La Fenice in Venice. A second version, with a libretto revised by Arrigo Boito, premiered 24 years later, on 24 March 1881, at La Scala in Milan. From the box set of 27 Verdi operas, “Tutto Verdi”. Recorded live at the Teatro Regio in Parma on 23, 25 and 28 March 2010.

Axel Köhler’s production of Der Freischütz at the Dresden State Opera was described by Die Presse as “a minor miracle in Dresden”. In the words of the Salzburger Nachrichten, Köhler “scored a bulleye” with his sombre and satanic interpretation of Weber’s Romantic opera about love, temptation, souls sold to the Devil, obsession andfaith. According to the Financial Times, Christian Thielemann and the Dresden Staatskapelle conjured up a sense of “mortal terror from the orchestra pit. […] Thielemann is in command of every detail. That makes for utterly gripping listening.”

I Lombardi alla prima crociata (The Lombards on the First Crusade) was Verdi’s fourth opera and received its first performance at La Scala, Milan, in February 1843. The grandiloquent subject matter is fleshed-out with broad-brushed musical and dramatic effects and lavish choral scenes created a correspondingly impressive impact. A great success in Milan, it spread to the rest of Europe within a matter of only a few years.

It's an event that draws many thousands of music lovers to one of the most beautiful cities in the world every summer: the opera season at the ancient Arena di Verona. The 2,000-year-old roman amphiteatre with its gigantic stage dimensions is one of the largest and best preserved Roman construction of its kind, and with over 22,000 seats it is undoubtedly one of the most spectacular open-air venues of the world! The revered master of opera Franco Zeffirelli, who died shortly before the premiere of Il Trovatore, created a legendary scenery with groups of giant sized armoured knights, a fortress turning into a luminous cathedral, an enormous choir, horses, breathtaking fights: “his perhaps best arena production” (Opernglas). It brings Anna Netrebko to the Arena of Verona where she is giving her much-anticipated debut in one of Giuseppe Verdi’s most popular operas.