Dido and Aeneas(1996)

Mr. Death(no)

An exclusive interview with Death as he goes about his everyday business.

The Sound and the Fury(en)

A look at the trials and tribulations of The Compson siblings, living in the deep south during the early part of the 20th century.

Drown(en)

Len is a Surf Lifesaving champion, a legend in the cloistered surf club just like his father. When the younger, faster, and fitter Phil arrives at the club, Len’s legendary status starts to crumble. Then Len sees Phil arriving in the company of another man. Phil is gay.

Royal Opera House: Madama Butterfly(it)

Cio-Cio-San, the young Japanese bride of dashing American officer Lieutenant Pinkerton, finds her romantic idyll shattered when he deserts her shortly after their marriage. She lives in hope that one day he will return. Three years later, Cio-Cio-San and her little son see Pinkerton’s ship in the harbour. She excitedly expects his visit – but Pinkerton and his American wife Kate have come only to take the boy away, to raise him in America. Cio-Cio-San bids her son farewell and then takes her own life.

I'll Give a Million(en)

After saving a tramp from suicide, a millionaire takes his clothing and disappears. Word is out that he will give a million dollars to anyone who is kind to a tramp.

The ROH Live: Nabucco(en)

Nabucco, King of Babylon, takes Jerusalem in his war with the Israelites – but his daughter Fenena loves the Israelite Ismaele. She releases their prisoners, leading her vengeful half-sister Abigaille to plot to take power. Nabucco declares himself a god and is struck by a bolt of lightning. Abigaille tricks the now feeble king into signing a death warrant for the Israelites, including Fenena and Ismaele. Nabucco prays to the God of Israel for forgiveness; his sanity is restored and he saves the prisoners from death. He converts himself and his people, while Abigaille commits suicide.

Stand By(en)

A painter gets infected by AIDS, and finds himself at disease clinic in Belgrade. He shared the hospital room with an ex-musician, junkie who tries to discontinue treatment and returns home to his wife. The painter believes in recovery through his paintings, believing that they have supernatural powers. In their room, the medics bring a boy suspected to be infected with the AIDS virus. Meanwhile, the musician's wife leaves him. Having desire for revenge, high on drugs and labile, he rapes nurse. The painter's health deteriorates and he dies. Shortly afterwards, the musician commits suicide. Only the boy remains in the room - a child of uncertain fate and in possession of dozens of "totemic paintings".

Through the Breakers(en)

Through the Breakers, the 1928 Joseph C. Boyle silent South Seas tropical island seafaring romantic love triangle melodrama about a London socialite who loves a man who is assigned to be a plantation manager on a South Seas island. She agrees to join him after a year, but puts it off, but later winds up shipwrecked on the same island. An island girl there is in love with him, but when he refuses to reciprocate her love and returns to his old sweetheart, she chooses to commit suicide rather than marry one of her own kind.

Oh, for a Man!(en)

Disenchanted opera star Carlotta Manson falls for ruffian cat burglar Barney McGann and gives up her career to marry him. But Barney grows disenchanted himself at being known as the husband of a diva and itches to get back to his life of crime and manliness.

Me and Veronica(en)

Two sisters share a disturbing family secret.

Tosca(it)

Live Metropolitan Opera performance March, 1985.

The Threepenny Opera(de)

The Threepenny Opera proclaims itself "an opera for beggars," and it was in fact an attempt both to satirize traditional opera and operetta and to create a new kind of musical theater based on the theories of two young German artists, composer Kurt Weill and poet-playwright Bert Brecht. The show opens with a mock-Baroque overture, a nod to Threepenny's source, The Beggar's Opera, a brilliantly successful parody of Handel's operas written by John Gay in 1728. In a brief prologue following the overture, a shabby figure comes onstage with a barrel organ and launches into a song chronicling the crimes of the notorious bandit and womanizer Macheath, "Mack the Knife." The setting is a fair in Soho (London), just before Queen Victoria's coronation. In this production, Weill champion HK Gruber led the Ensemble Modern in a performance of Weill's complete original score, the first time it had been heard in Germany in many years. This production was broadcast on German television (3sat).

Cosi Fan Tutte(it)

Officers Ferrando and Guglielmo are certain that their lovers Dorabella and Fiordiligi are faithful to them, but the cynical Don Alfonso challenges them to a bet that the women will be unfaithful given the chance. The officers thus pretend to go off to war, and return in disguise as Albanian strangers, to woo Dorabella and Fiordiligi incognito. The ladies are initially frosty, but soon warm to their new suitors, spurred on by their maid Despina. Performed at the La Scala Theatre in Milan.

Mozart: Così Fan Tutte (Zurich Opera House)(it)

A production of Mozart's opera recorded live at Zurich Opera House in 2000. Cecilia Bartoli leads an all-star cast including Roberto Saccà, Liliana Nikiteanu, and Agnes Baltsa. The conductor is Nikolaus Harnoncourt. Filmed live at the Zurich Opera House in February 2000 on a set which visualises the subtitle "The School for Lovers", the plot revolves around two army officers arguing about the fidelity of their brides, then setting out to test their chastity. Despite the often playful humour, this is not only psychologically telling music-making, but reveals Mozart exploring the structure of opera, discarding convention to mix large ensemble sections with arias for as many different combinations of singers as possible. With Liliana Nikiteanu attractively contrasted with Bartoli, and thoroughly convincing performances by Roberto Sacca (Ferrando) and Oliver Widmer (Guilelmo), this Così has a freshness and flow which, coupled with the timeless romantic themes, feels very contemporary.

The Death of Mr Goluza(sh)

Traveling salesman in a small town before WW2 makes a solemn promise to kill himself. Later he finds that the local people took him very seriously.

To Each His Own(ja)

Takashi Aoyama has way too much work to do and pushes himself mentally too hard. He blacks out and collapses at a railroad station. When he is about to be hit by a train, he is saved by Yamamoto. After his encounter with Yamamoto, Takashi recovers his bright personality and gets better results at work. One day, Takashi sees Yamamoto boarding a bus to the cemetery with a serious expression.

La Cenerentola(en)

Gioacchino Rossini's sparkling version of the Cinderella story comes live from the Salzburg Festival with Ann Murray and Francisco Araiza as Cinderella and the Prince. Director Michael Hampe envisions La Cenerentola less as a fairy tale and more as a gently satirical comment on the nature of society and the relationship between people. Conductor Riccardo Chailly's masterly display of the Rossini style is visually matched by the opulent and elegant set designs by Mauro Pagano. 162 minutes.

The Lodge(en)

When a father is forced to abruptly depart for work, he leaves his children, Aidan and Mia, at their holiday home in the care of his new girlfriend, Grace. Isolated and alone, a blizzard traps them inside the lodge as terrifying events summon specters from Grace's dark past.

Mia(it)

The story of a small, simple and happy family in which a boy, a manipulator, violently enters, which distorts the life of this wonderful fifteen-year-old and makes her a nightmare.

Romeo et Juliette - Liceu(es)