Opera

Don Giovanni (Mattei)

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Mozart Don Giovanni opera to libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte. Directed 2011 by Robert Carsen at the Teatro alla Scala. Stars Peter Mattei (Don Giovanni), Bryn Terfel (Leporello), Anna Netrebko (Donna Anna), Giuseppy Filianoti (Don Ottavio), Barbara Frittoli (Donna Elvira), Štegan Kocán (Maseto), Anna Prohaska (Zerlina), and Kwangchul Youn (Commhendatore). Daniel Barenboim conducts the  Orchestra and Chorus of the Teatro alla Scala. Set designs by Michael Levine; costumes by Brigitte Reiffenstuel; lighting by Robert Carsen and Peter van Praet; choreography by Philippe Giraudeau. Directed for video by Andreas Morell. Released 2015. Grade: NA

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Tannhäuser

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Wagner Tannhäuser opera to libretto by the composer. Directed 2014 by Sasha Waltz (not a typo) at the Staatsoper Berlin. Stars Peter Seiffert (Tannhäuser), Marina Prudenskaya (Venus), Ann Petersen (Elisabeth), Peter Mattei (Wolfram von Eschenbach), René Pape (Hermann, Landgraf von Thüringen), Peter Sonn (Walther von der Vogelweide), Tobias Schabel (Biterolf), Jürgen Sacher (Heinrich der Schreiber), Jan Martiník (Reinmar von Zweter), and Sónia Grané (Ein Hirtenknabe). Daniel Barenboim conducts the Staatskapelle Berlin. Choreography by Sasha Waltz; costume design by Bernd Skodzig; set design by Pia Maier Schriever and Sasha Waltz; lighting design by David Finn. Directed for TV by Vincent Bataillon; produced by François Duplat. Sung in German. Released 2015, disc has dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA

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Macbeth

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Verdi Macbeth opera to a libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. The 2007 Adrian Nobel production is revived in 2014 at the Met and directed by Assistant Stage Directors Gregory Anthony Fortner and Gina Lapinski. Stars Željko Lučić (Macbeth), Anna Netrebko (Lady Macbeth), René Pape (Banquo), Joseph Calleja (Macduff), Raymond Renault (Duncan), Noah Baetge (Malcolm), Claudia Waite (Lady-in-waiting), Christopher Job (Servant), Moritz Linn (Fleanzio), Richard Bernstein (Murderer), Seth Malkin (Herald), James Courtney (Doctor), David Crawford (Warrior Apparition), Ashley Emerson (Bloody Child Apparition), and Jihee Kim (Crowned Child Apparition). Fabio Luisi conducts the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Chorus (Donald Palumbo Chorus Master) and Ballet (Sue Lefton Choreographer). Stage band conducted by Jeffrey Goldberg. Sets and costumes by Mark Thompson; lighting by Jean Kalman; directed for live TV by Gary Halvorson; music producer Jay David Saks. Supervising Producers are Mia Bongiovanni and Elena Park; Producers are Louisa Briccetti and Victoria Warivonchik. Released 2015, disc has 5.0 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA

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Les contes d'Hoffmann

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Offenbach Les contes d'Hoffmann opera to a libretto by Jules Barbier. New version directed 2014 by Christoph Marthaler with Joaquim Rathke at the Teatro Real. Stars Eric Cutler (Hoffmann), Anne Sofie Von Otter (La Muse/Nicklausse), Vito Priante (Lindorf/Coppélius/Dr. Miracle/Dapertutto), Christoph Homberger (Andrès/Cochenille/Frantz/Pitichinaccio), Ana Durlovski (Olympia), Measha Brueggergosman (Antonia/Giulietta), Altea Garrido (Stella), Lani Poulson (La Mère d’Antonia), Jean-Philippe Lafont (Maître Luther/Crespel), Gerardo López (Nathanaël), Graham Valentine (Spalanzani), Tomeu Bibiloni (Hermann), and Isaac Galán (Schlemil). Actors and dancers are: Joaquín Abella, Catalina Amorós, Mauricio Bautista, Beatriz Bergamín, Paco Celdrán, Veronica Garzón, Haizam Fathy, Ada Fernádez, Macarena Hoffmann, Carolina Isach, Jack Jamison, Antonio Jiménez, and Fátima Rojas. Sylvain Cambreling conducts the Orchestra & Chorus of the Teatro Real de Madrid (Chorus Master Andrés Másparo). Sets and costumes by Anna Viebrock; lighting by Olaf Winter; dramaturgy by Malte Ubenauf; choreography by Altea Garrido; directed for TV by Jérémie Cuvillier; produced by François Duplat and Xavier Dubois. Sung in French. Released 2015, Blu-ray disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: A-

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Falstaff

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Verdi Falstaff opera to libretto by Arrigo Boito. Directed by Robert Carsen at the Metropolitan Opera. Stars Carlo Bosi (Dr. Caius), Ambrogio Maestri (Sir John Falstaff), Keith Jameson (Bardolfo), Christian Van Horn (Pistola), Jennifer Johnson Cano (Meg Page), Angela Meade (Alice Ford), Stephanie Blythe (Mistress Quickly), Lisette Oropesa (Nannetta), Paolo Fanale (Fenton), and Franco Vassallo (Ford). James Levine conducts the Metropolitan Opera, Orchestra & Chorus (Chorus Master Donald Palumbo). Set design by Paul Steinberg; costume design by Brigitte Reiffenstuel; lighting design by Robert Carsen and Peter Van Praet. Released in 2015, disc has dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA

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L'elisir d'amore

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Donizetti L'elisir d'amore opera to libretto by Felice Romani. Directed 2005 by Otto Schenk at the Baden-Baden Festspielhaus. Stars Rolando Villazon (Nemorino), Anna Netrebko (Adina), Leo Nucci (Belcore), and Ildebrando d'Arcangelo (Dulcamara), Inna Los (Gianneta) and Michael Burggasser (Dulcamera's assistant). Alfred Eschwé conducts the Orchester and Chor der Wiener Staatsoper. Sets and costumes by Jürgen Rose; directed for TV by Karina Fibich. Released 2015. Grade: NA

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Król Roger

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Karol Szymanowski King Roger opera to libretto by the composer and Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz. Directed 2015 by Kasper Holten at the Royal Opera House. Stars Mariusz Kwiecien (King Roger II of Sicily), Georgia Jarman (Roxana), Saimir Pirgu (Shepherd), Kim Begley (Edrisi), Alan Ewing, (Archbishop), and Agnes Zwierko (Deaconess). Antonio Pappano conducts the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House (Concert Master Peter Manning) and the Royal Opera Chorus (Chorus Director Renalto Balsadonna). Designs by Steffen Aarfing; lighting design by John Clark; video design by Luke Halls; choreograpy by Cathy Marston; dramaturgy by John Lloyd Davies; directed for video by Ian Russell. Released in 2015, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio surround sound. Grade: NA

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La finta giardiniera

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Mozart La finta giardiniera opera (composed at age 18) to a libretto possibly from Giuseppe Petrosellini. Directed by Tobias Moretti at Opernhaus Zürich in 2006. Stars Eva Mei (Sandrina), Christoph Strehl (Il Contino Belfiore), Rudolf Schasching (Il Podestà Don Anchise), Isabel Rey (Arminda), Liliana Nikiteanu (Il Cavalier Ramiro), Julia Kleiter (Serpetta), and Gabriel Bermúdez (Nardo). Nikolaus Harnoncourt directs the Orchestra "La Scintilla" of the Zurich Opera. There is no chorus. Set design by Rolf Glittenberg; costumes by Renate Martin and Andreas Donhauser; lighting by Jürgen Hoffmann; directed for TV by Felix Breisach. Released 2009, disc has 5.1 dts-HD sound. Grade: A

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Il barbiere di Siviglia

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Rossini Il barbiere di Siviglia opera to libretto by Cesare Sterbini. Directed 2009 by Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier at the Teatro Regio di Parma. Stars Changhan Lin (Fiorello), Juan Diego Flórez (Count Almavira), Pietro Spagnoli (Figaro), Joyce DiDonato (Rosina), Alessandro Corbelli (Doctor Bartolo), Ferruccio Furlanetto, (Don Basilio),  Jennifer Rhys-Davies (Berta), Bryan Secombe (Ambrogio), Christopher Lackner (Officer), and Andrew Macnair (Notary). Antonio Pappano conducts the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House (Concert Master Vasko Vassilev) and the Royal Opera Chorus (Chorus Director Renato Balsadonna). Set designs by Christian Fenouillat; costume design by Agostino Cavalca; lighting design by Christophe Forey; directed for screen by David Stevens; produced by Frances Whitaker. Released 2015, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA

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Maria Stuarda

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Donizetti Maria Stuarda opera to libretto by Giuseppe Bardari. Directed by David McVickar at the Met. Stars Joyce DiDonato (Maria Stuarda), Elza van den Heever (Elisabetta), Matthew Rose (Talbot), Joshua Hopkins (Cecil), Matthew Polenzani (Leicester), and Maria Zifchak (Anna Kennedy). Maurizio Benini conducts the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus. Sets and costumes design by John Macfarlane; lighting design by Jennifer Tipton; choreography by Leah Hausman. Released 2015, disc has 5.0 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA

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Monteverdi Complete Operas

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Monteverdi Complete Operas box set. This is not a collection of titles previously published separately. This box includes three operas performed on one day in September 2013 as part of a single huge production directed by Barrie Kosky at the Berlin Komische Oper:

1. L'Orfeo or La Favola d'Orfeo, written 1607(libretto by Alessandro Striggio reworked and translated into modern German by Susanne Felicitas Wolf and Ulrich Lenz). This is the earliest surviving opera still regularly seen on the boards. Performed in the morning, it's the familiar story Orpheus story for which we already have five HDVD versions.
2. Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria, written 1639 (libretto by Giacomo Badoaro, Wolf, and Lenz) here called Odysseus. Performed in the afternoon.
3. L'incoronazione di Poppea, written 1643 (libretto by Giovanni Francesco Busenello, Wolf, and Lenz),  Performed in the evening. We have an opera and a ballet version of this already in HDVD.

There are no clearly authentic musical scores for these works---instead multiple competing scores come from obscurity down to us. Here's how Shirley Apthorp put it in the Financial Times: "Composer Elana Kats-Chernin has re-imagined Monteverdi's score with a battery of exotic instruments in different chamber orchestrations for each opera. The result is a marathon for all concerned." Well, in the form of HDVD recordings, you can pace yourself and experience this over several days.

The production has 32 soloists and more than 200 supporting artists. Stars Tansel Akzeybek (Telemachos/Valletto), Thomas Michael Allen (Arnalta/Eumaios), Alexey Antonov (Pluto), Katharina von Bülow (Minerva), Brigitte Geller (Poppea), Julia Giebel (Drusilla), Karolina Gumos (Fate/Juno), Dominik Köninger (Orpheus), Theresa Kronthaler (Sylvia/Proserpina/Otho), Ezgi Kutlu (Penelope), Jens Larsen (Antinoos/Time/Neptun/Seneca), Tom Erik Lie (Amphinomos/Amme), Annelie Sophie Müller (Minerva/Tugend or Virtue), Julia Novikova (Eurydice), Christiane Oertel (Eurykleia), Günter Papendell (Odysseus), Peter Renz (Amor), Helene Schneiderman (Octavia), Stefan Sevenich (Charon), Roger Smeets (Nero), Frank Soehnle (Figuren orr Figures of Orpheus and Eurydike), Ariana Strahl (Damigella/Fate), Adrian Strooper (Eurymachos/Liberto), Christoph Späth (Pisandro/Jupiter), and Mirka Wagner (Melanto). André de Ridder conducts the Orchestra and Chorus of the Komische Oper Berlin (Chorus Master André Kellinghaus). Set designs by Katrin Lea Tag; costume designs by Katrin Lea Tag and Katharina Tasch; lighting by Alexander Koppelmann; choreography by Otto Pichler; dramatic advice by Ulrich Senz; directed for video by Peter Schöenhofer. Sung in German with subtitles in German, English, French, and Turkish. Released 2015, has 3 discs with 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA

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Les Parapluies de Cherbourg

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Les Parapluies de Cherbourg jazz opera. Music by Michel Legrand. Based on the 1964 film of the same name directed by Jacque Demy. Directed 2014 at the Paris Théâtre du Châtelet. Stars Marie Oppert (Geneviève Emery), Vincent Niclo (Guy Foucher), Natalie Dessay (Madame Emery), Laurent Naouri (Roland Cassard), and Louise Leterm (Madeleine). Also stars, with numerous small roles each, Jasmine Roy, Franck Vincent, Franck Lopez, Arnaud Léonard, Valentin Johner, Salem Sobihi, and Elsa Dreisig.  Stage musicians are Denis Leloup (trombone), François Laizeau (drums), Claude Egea (trumpet), Pierre Boussaguet (double bass), and Pierre Perchaud (guitar). Michel Legrand conducts the Orchestre national d’Ile-de-France. Sets by Vincent Vittoz; designs by Jean-Jacques Sempé and Vincent Vittoz; costumes by Vanessa Seward; lighting by Renaud Corler. Directed for TV by Denis Caïozzi.  Released 2014, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: A+

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Britten Collection

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A Britten Collection box set has five operas previously published by Opus Arte. Four of them have already been reported on this website, and you can get more details by using the links provided:

1. Death in Venice. (Grade NA) This has been lavishly praised by the print critics.
2. Gloriana. (Grade NA) Customer reviews are split down the middle---half love and half hate---on this radical treatment of an obscure opera.
3. Billy Budd. (Grade A+) Superb production of an all-male sailor story.
4. Peter Grimes. (Grade NA) This has also been enthusiastically received by the print critics.
5. Rape of Lucretia. (We excluded this. It was originally made in 2001 as a SD video with stereo sound and was later republished as a 1080 video with engineered surround sound. We give Opus Arte full credit for disclosing this provenance in their advertisements.)

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La Traviata (Damrau)

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Verdi La Traviata opera to libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. Directed 2014 by Benoît Jacquot the Paris Opéra Bastille. Stars Diana Damrau (Violetta Valéry), Francesco Demuro (Alfredo Germont), Ludovic Tézier (Giorgio Germont), Anna Pennisi (Flora Bervoix), Cornelia Oncioiu (Annina), Gabriele Mangione (Gastone), Fabio Previati (Il Baron Douphoi), Igor Gnidii (Il Marchese d'Obigny) and Nicolas Testé (Dr. Grenvil). Francesco Ivan Ciampa conducts the Ochestre et Chœur de l'Opéra National de Paris. Sets by Silvain Chauvelot; costumes by Christian Casc; lighting by André Diot; choreography by Philippe Giraudeau. Directed for TV by Lousie Narboni and Benoît Jacquot; produced by Françoise Gazio and Laurent Métivier. Sung in Italian. Released 2015, disc has 5.1 Dolby Digital sound. Grade: NA

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Aida

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Giuseppe Verdi Aida opera to libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni. Directed 2015 by Peter Stein at the Teatro alla Scala. Stars Carlo Colombara (The King), Anita Rachvelishvili (Amneris), Kristin Lewis (Aida), Fabio Sartori (Radamès), Matti Salminen (Ramfis), George Gagnidze (Amonasro), Azer Rza-Zada (Messenger), and Chiara Isotton (Priestess). Zubin Mehta conducts the Orchestra e Coro del Teatro alla Scala (Chorus Master Bruno Casoni). Dancers are students of the Ballet Academy of Teatro Alla Scala directed by Frédéric Olivieri.  Set design by Ferdinand Wögerbauer; costume design by Nana Cecchi; lighting design by Joachim Barth; choreography by Massimiliano Volpini. Directed for TV by Tiziano Mancini. Sung in Italian. Released 2015, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA

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