First Opera Film Festival

V studni

Artaserse

Live broadcast of the opera performance held on November 10, 2012 at the Opéra national de Lorraine in Nancy, performed by five world-class countertenors.

Puccini: Turandot

Franco Zeffirelli's magnificient staging of Puccini's final opera - a fairy tale set in a mythical China - is one of the most popular in the Met repertory. In this Live in HD production, Maria Guleghina takes on the title role and Marcello Giordani is Calaf, the unknown prince. Marina Poplavskaya and Samuel Ramey co-star, and Andris Nelsons conducts in his Met debut.

Rakovina vůle

An interesting look at love destroyed by the demon of drugs, which uses opera singing instead of spoken word. A story about the relationship of two young people and drug addiction.

Amadeus

Disciplined Italian composer Antonio Salieri becomes consumed by jealousy and resentment towards the hedonistic and remarkably talented young Salzburger composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Don Quichotte

Don Quichotte (Don Quixote) is an opera in five acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Henri Caïn. It was first performed on 19 February 1910 at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo.

Beethoven: Fidelio

Beethoven’s only opera is a masterpiece, an uplifting story of risk and triumph. In this new production, conducted by Antonio Pappano, David Butt Philip plays the political prisoner Florestan, and Lise Davidsen his wife Leonore (disguised as ‘Fidelio’) who daringly sets out to rescue him. Set in strong counterpoint are the ingredients of domestic intrigue, determined love and the cruelty of an oppressive regime.

Zvíkovský rarášek

Adolphe Appia Visionary of Invisible

The life and work of stage designer ADOLPHE APPIA, originator of the most profound agitations in contemporary theatre. Through the dynamic alternation of animated drawings and choreographies specially conceived for the film, we discover the steps of his artistic evolution.

Confession of the Vanished

The film follows the staging of the opera Olimpiade while at the same time exploring the dramatic life of its composer Josef Mysliveček, a friend and teacher of W. A. Mozart.

Marco Polo (An Opera Within an Opera)

Tan Dun portrays the Venetian explorer's travels to the Far East as a journey of both inner and physical discovery, a voyage depicting spiritual experiences as well as a geographical expedition. Pierre Audi's mythical staging and Jean Kalman's fabulous set design complement the composer's own musical direction, forging the dazzlingly versatile soloists, the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra and Cappella Amsterdam to a stunning symbiosis of elements across time and space, a true testimony to cultures intertwined in globalization.

Salome

This filmed version of Strauss' shocker features Teresa Stratas as opera's most depraved teenager, and she's as perfect a Salome as one would ever hope to see or hear. Stratas inhabits the role, exploring the character's sensuousness as she vainly woos Jochanaan, her venomous hatred when she's rejected, the crazed look in her eyes when she demands his head--on a silver platter, no less. Such complete identification with a role, especially of a character so malignant helps make this 1974 Salome stand out among the many fine DVDs of the opera.

Médée

A lonely mother and her son go to the opera where a performance of Cherubini’s opera Medea is given. It is the mother’s birthday and she wanted to surprise her son by inviting him to the opera. But, the son’s plan were different and he is quite upset about it. His mother tries to break the silent barrier behind which he hides. A semblance of discussion begins, not without humour. Tension is present but, as the performance goes on, both find themselves astounded, captured, alone in the opera house.

Madama Butterfly

Opera at La Scala Milan

Strauss II: Die Fledermaus

Glyndebourne's pulsating new production of the Waltz King's much-loved comic operetta. Its story centers on a magnificent masked ball, given by a Russian prince, that brings together all the main characters in various disguises. The three-act journey from boudoir to ballroom to jail provides ample opportunities for farce and humor, but also for genuine human emotion and a surprisingly realistic view of urban life.

Richard Strauss - Der Rosenkavalier

La Scala: The Force of Destiny

Legendary opera house, La Scala is more than just a stage— it’s a dream factory. And this year, over the course of four intensive months, 900 people will work relentlessly to incarnate Verdi’s opera masterpiece, ‘‘The Force of Destiny”. Under the masterful eyes of director Léo Muscato, we will follow set designer Federica Parolini, as her sketches evolve into towering architectural marvels crafted by dedicated artisans. In the costume workshop, Silvia Peroni and her team weave magic with fabric and thread through their expert hands. Then, a stellar international cast of virtuosos arrives in Milan, ready to fill La Scala’s hallowed halls with their soaring voices. But with the clock ticking, and expectations going through the roof, tensions unfold like an opera of its own. As Milan holds its breath for the legendary Prima on the 7th of December, the stakes couldn’t be higher. Will they be ready in time for curtain rise?

Hippolyte et Aricie

In October 1733, the audience at the Académie Royale de Musique witnessed the birth of a revolutionary work: Hippolyte et Aricie. With its inventiveness and musical richness, Rameau’s opera marks a break in the history of French music. A similarly revolutionary duo – Jeanne Candel and Raphaël Pichon – get to grips with this work for the Opéra Comique.

Jenůfa

When a beautiful young woman in rural Moravia becomes unexpectedly pregnant, she learns that love is sometimes only skin-deep. Janáček took Gabriela Preissová's grim tale of infanticide and redemption, and condensed it into a masterful, spine-chilling drama. The tragic plight of the protagonists is presented with unsentimental realism that cannot help but trigger a response of deep compassion. Premiered at the National Theatre in the composer's hometown of Brno 115 years ago, the opera took him nine years to complete and is the first in which his distinctive voice can clearly be heard.

"The Silent Woman" by Richard Strauss @ Berlin State Opera

Ageing misfit Sir Morosus lives alone in an old-style apartment in Charlottenburg in Berlin. He is wealthy, but also lonely and a bit grumpy. Then his nephew Henry moves in with him and his life takes a turn for the better. Director Jan Philipp Gloger homes in on two of the most pressing problems of the day: loneliness and the housing shortage. The Staatskapelle Berlin is conducted by Christian Thielemann.