The Death of a Composer: Rosa, a Horse Drama

"Rosa", with a libretto by Peter Greenaway and score by Louis Andriessen, is the first in a projected series of 10 operas, each dealing with the death of a famous composer - some real, others fictional. "Rosa" falls into the latter category; it tells the story of Juan Manuel de Rosa, a Brazilian who went to study music in America but spent most of his time in the cinema instead, becoming particularly entranced by Westerns. Now 32 years old and residing in an abandoned Uruguayan slaughterhouse, Rosa has become one of Hollywood's foremost composers, specialising in Westerns. He also has a beautiful 19-year-old fiancee, Esmeralda, but he pays her little heed, instead lavishing his attentions on a black mare named Bola. One day, a group of men attired as cowboys arrive at the abattoir and kill both Rosa and Bola; an investigation is conducted, with particular suspicion!

The Metropolitan Opera - Puccini: Madama Butterfly

Anthony Minghella’s beautiful, atmospheric production enhances Puccini’s drama of unfortunate, doomed love. Soprano Kristine Opolais brings all of her passionate commitment to her portrayal of Cio-Cio-San, the teenage geisha who gives up everything for Lt. Pinkerton. Roberto Alagna is the American naval officer who does not understand the depth of Cio-Cio-San’s love, and whose subsequent marriage to an American woman precipitates Butterfly’s suicide. Maria Zifchak is Suzuki, Cio-Cio-San’s faithful servant, and Dwayne Croft plays the American consul Sharpless, who tries to avert the tragedy. Karel Mark Chichon conducts.

Naši furianti

La Bohème

In the early 1960s two artistic giants, conductor Herbert von Karajan and director Franco Zeffirelli, joined forces to create this milestone production of Puccini’s masterpiece at Milan’s Teatro alla Scala. Filmed in that legendary opera house in 1965, with Zeffireli himself directing for the cameras, this “Bohème” has been acclaimed universally for its unique theatrical impact and visual splendour. Starring the young Mirella Freni in her carreer-making performance. – For the first time the full dimension of opera on film.

L'Elisir d'Amore

John Copley’s colorful production, with designs by Beni Montresor, was created around the beloved superstar Luciano Pavarotti. As the simple, good-hearted Nemorino, he enchanted audiences with his larger-than-life personality as well as his golden voice. Enzo Dara as the quack Dr. Dulcamara provides the elixir of the title that helps Nemorino win the heart of Adina, the girl of his dreams, sung with youthful energy by Kathleen Battle.

Maria Callas in Concert - Hamburg 1959 and 1962

The 1959 concert finds Callas just 1 year before the loss of her voice and although her voice is not what it was in 1952 you can still hear the Vocal Miracle. The repertoire interchanges between heavy dramatic soprano (Lady Macbeth, Elisabetta), to soprano coloratura (Rosina) and to soprano dramatico d'agilita (Imogene in Pirata, Gulia). The maturity of the interpretation regarding the legatti, the phrasing is astounding and Callas dominates each aria singing them in the only possible way. "Tu che invoco" appears as a cataract of dramatic phrases in a fine classical style of this classical period opera, then Lady Macbeth appears diabolical & dark although she avoids keeping her voice in the high C, her Rosina is sparkling and facile in the coloratura as if it is a natural way of speaking and Elisabetta is where time stops: the drama in this aria holds a metaphysical aura. Finally her entire Mad Scene from Pirata shows all her talent as an actress and bel canto singer.

The Metropolitan Opera: Salome

Met performances of Strauss’s white-hot one-act tragedy, which receives its first new production at the company in 20 years. Claus Guth, one of Europe’s leading opera directors, gives the biblical story—already filtered through the beautiful and strange imagination of Oscar Wilde’s play—a psychologically perceptive Victorian-era setting rich in symbolism and subtle shades of darkness and light.

The Metropolitan Opera: Grounded

Two-time Tony Award–winning composer Jeanine Tesori’s powerful new opera Grounded, commissioned by the Met and based on librettist George Brant’s acclaimed play, wrestles with the ethical quandaries and psychological toll of 21st-century warfare.

Force of Love

Two men meet and confront each other over a woman. Visibly different in appearance, the two men engage in a continuous battle of nerves. While the woman steps out to use the restroom, the men go up to the rooftop and start arm wrestling.

Medailon národní umělkyně Milady Šubrtové

Bratr Žak

L'incoronazione di Poppea

Love conquers all – ruthlessly and irresistibly – as Emperor Nero and his mistress Poppea remove the obstacles to their union. At Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu David Alden’s visually sumptuous production, with its suggestions of a giant game of chess, puts the opera’s potent blend of sex and politics in a context that sets ancient against modern– just as the action juxtaposes scurrilous comedy and stark drama. Monteverdi’s magnificent score, meanwhile, accommodates intrigue, wit, nobility, tragedy and sensuality, and, led by the intense Sarah Connolly and the delectable Miah Persson, the cast brings both drama and music startlingly to life.

La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein

Live performance at the Théâtre du Châtelet in December 2004. Marc Minkowski conducting Les Musiciens du Louvre-Grenoble. Stage direction by Laurent Pelly.

La Juive

Live performance from Wiener Staatsoper, 2003. Vjekoslav Šutej conducting Chor und Orchester der Wiener Staatsoper. Stage director Günter Krämer.

Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria

Live performance, part of Monteverdi cycle staged by Oper Zürich with Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducting the Zürich Opera House Monteverdi Ensemble. Staged and directed by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle

L'Orfeo

Live performance, part of Monteverdi cycle staged by Oper Zürich with Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducting the Zürich Opera House Monteverdi Ensemble. Staged and directed by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle. Filmed 28 March – 20 April 1978 in Vienna, sound recorded 1 – 25 December 1977 in Zürich.

Francesca da Rimini

Live performance at the Metropolitan Opera, 1984. James Levine conducting Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus. Stage direction by Piero Faggioni.

Jules César

Live performance 10 February 2011 at the Palais Garnier. Emmanuelle Haïm conducting Le Concert d'Astrée and les Choeurs de l'Opéra national de Paris. Directed for stage by Laurent Pelly.

The Metropolitan Opera: Madama Butterfly

Anthony Minghella’s stunning production of Puccini’s opera opened the Met’s 2006–07 season and was seen by thousands of people around the world as part of the company’s Live in HD series. Patricia Racette is Cio-Cio-San, the trusting and innocent young geisha of the title, who disastrously falls in love with American Navy lieutenant B. F. Pinkerton (Marcello Giordani), only to be abandoned by him. Maria Zifchak is her loyal servant Suzuki and Dwayne Croft is Sharpless, the sympathetic American consul who does all he can but is unable to avert tragedy. Performance Date Mar 7, 2009

L'Incoronazione di Poppea

Experience Claudio Monteverdi's three-act opera in the environment it was meant to be seen with this release of a filmed performance captured live during a 2000 production staged at the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence in France. Mireille Delunsch, Anne Sofie Von Otter, and Sylvie Brunet star, and conductor Marc Minkowski leads the Les Musiciens du Louvre, Grenoble. Klaus Michael Grüber directs for stage.

Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor

Star soprano Anna Netrebko adds Donizetti’s hapless heroine to her growing list of Met triumphs in this production by Mary Zimmerman that updates the events to the 19th century. Rising young tenor sensation Piotr Beczała is Edgardo and Mariusz Kwiecien plays Lucia’s brother Enrico whose brutal authority forces her to deny her heart and marry for the sake of her family. The famous mad scene brilliantly depicts the cascading fragments of Lucia’s disintegrating mind.

Bethie's Really Silly Clubhouse

Three children visit their friend Bethie's clubhouse where they are encouraged to be as silly as possible as long as they learn and do well in school. Everything is silly at Bethie's clubhouse, the door tells knock-knock jokes, the books jockey to be read first, and the TV reminds Bethie when her favorite show "Ivana the Iguanna's Beauty Tips" is on. Add to that an assortment of silly visitors like Kitty Kat Man, Captain Schnorer the Worldwide Explorer and various talking animals who all break into wonderful musical numbers while educating the kids.

Once Upon a Time in Kurdistan

Dunia is a 17-year-old girl. After her uncle raped her, she becomes pregnant and seeks help in one of the shelters in the Kurdistan region of Iraq/Sulaimani and secretly plans to have an abortion.

Gruß und Kuss vom Tegernsee

A 1957 German musical comedy heimatfilm.

Ukraine : la fin du monde russe ?

By invading this "state fiction" that is, according to him, Ukraine, Vladimir Putin takes up the motto of the tsars: "sovereign of all Russia, the great, the small and the white". The first would have Moscow as its capital, the second, kyiv, and the last, Minsk.

The Adult Swim Golf Classic

Professional golf champions John Daly and Adam Scott (as portrayed by professional actors Jon Daly and Adam Scott) go head to head in this televised charity golf championship, set in 1966. The competition is fierce, emotions are high, the charities are real, and both men are rarin’ to prove they’re king of the links.

Greedy Lying Bastards

What happens when an industry has too much power? "Greedy Lying Bastards" presents a searing indictment of the influence, deceit and corruption that defines the fossil fuel industry.

Shadow of the Eagle

The story of a young poet who became a symbol for Finnish optimism and was subsequently forced underground during Tsar Nicholas II's oppressive dictatorship.

Polluted Ones

Mein Papi

A short documentary about Jörg Buttgereit's father.

Sappy Bull Fighters

Stranded in Mexico, the stooges need a job and a pretty actress friend gets them an engagement at the Plaza de Toros. When they accidentally switch suitcases with that of their friend, they must sneak into her house to retrieve their own and are confronted by her jealous husband who vows to kill them if he sees them again. At the arena where they perform a comedy bullfight (Joe is the matador, Moe and Larry are in a bull costume) the husband bribes the attendants to let a real bull into the ring. Joe knocks the bull out with a head butt and becomes a hero.

Rod Stewart: Unplugged...and Seated

This low-key 1993 live retrospective marked something of a return to form for Rod the Mod, who for many years had more or less abdicated his position as a performer of consequence to pursue a more frivolous pop-star persona. With his former Faces bandmate Ron Wood in tow, Stewart revisits hits like "Hot Legs," "Tonight's the Night," and "Maggie May"--and more adventurous choices like Curtis Mayfield's "People Get Ready" and Tom Waits's "Tom Traubert's Blues"--with an effortless grace and a renewed expressiveness that makes Unplugged

El Ouafi Boughera, The marathon runner of history

On August 5, 1928, after 2 hours and 32 minutes of racing, the 71st rooster wearing the bib entered the Olympic stadium in Amsterdam. Ahmed El Ouafi Bouguéra wins the gold medal and becomes the first Olympic champion from the African continent. He achieved his feat under the tricolor flag. The start of his real marathon is underway. The history of sport extends to the history of Algeria and France. This documentary retraces the different stages of the life of this great champion, not only the history of sport but also the great story. Archival photographs and interviews mingle with the painted paintings. The series thus once again gives voice to this forgotten hero, one of the great heroes of immigration who defended France for more than a century.

Luz's Motives

Luz is in jail, accused of murdering her own children. Her husband and her mother-in-law say she killed them in cold blood. Dr. Rebollar tries to help the woman, but she refuses to remember anything. Luz thinks of jail as the purgatory: it's only one step to reach the Heaven.

My Name Is Azhakan

Azhakan, who believes his name is an element of fun for many, experiences a change when he meets a girl that admires the inner artist in him.