Elijah Moshinsky
In Verdi’s retelling of Shakespeare’s towering tragedy, Renée Fleming gives a captivating performance as the innocent Desdemona, a role long considered one of her calling cards. Johan Botha as the title hero delivers an imposing portrayal of a proud warrior brought down by jealousy, and Falk Struckmann is thrilling as the villainous Iago. James Morris sings Lodovico. Elijah Moshinsky’s production is conducted by Semyon Bychkov.
Verdi's late masterpiece is presented in Elijah Mashinsky's Met production with sumptuous sets and period costumes. Semyon Bychkov conducts an all-star cast led by South African Heldentenor Johan Botha in the title role with a voice of "impressive size and bronze color" (New York Times). Renee Fleming's Desdemona enshrines one of her signature roles in a definitive performance "she knows exactly how to spin the gentle lines of the "Willow Song" and "Ave Maria" so that they softly fill the hall" (New York Times). A strong supporting cast includes the superb Falk Struckmann as Iago and star tenor Michael Fabiano as Cassio.
Simon Boccanegra is Verdi's magnificent telling of a humble 14th century Genoan who rises to become Doge of the great city. The plot centers on the political intrigues between Boccanegra (Domingo) and his adversary, the aristocratic Jacopo Fiesco, and the discovery of his long-lost daughter, Amelia. This story though replete with an inevitable tragic conclusion is ultimately one of hope, as the two great men are able to rise above their power-driven animosities to ensure peace amongst their beloved Genoa's warring factions and by placing familial and civic love ahead of their own individual desires.
Nabucco - live from Metropolitan Opera, June 2002. On its surface, Nabucco is about the epic struggle of Zaccaria and the Jews suppressed by Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar and his vengeful daughter, Abigaille. But to Italians fighting for their freedom from Austria, Verdi’s first great opera was an inspiring call to arms.
José Cura, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Verónica Villarroel and Yvonne Naef lead the star cast of Verdi's blazingly passionate opera IL TROVATORE, in Elijah Moshinsky's new Royal Opera House production co-produced with Teatro Real Madrid, with sets by the noted film designer Dante Ferretti and costumes by Anne Tilby.
Elijah Moshinsky's production of Saint-Saëns's "Samson et Dalila", recorded live at the Metropolitan Opera 28 September 1998. Plácido Domingo and Olga Borodina star as Samson and Dalila with Sergei Leiferkus as Grand-prêtre de Dagon, Richard Paul Fink as Abimélech, and René Pape as Un vieillard hébreu. James Levine conducts.
Taped live at the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, Valery Gergiev conducts this landmark production of Giuseppe Verdi's operatic masterpiece. This opera premiered at the Mariinsky Theatre in 1862, and is performed here in its original St. Petersburg version using reconstructions of the magnificent painted scenery.
After meeting her old school friend Sandra Delaney, who now works as a stripper, pub owner Maureen Hardcastle decides to spice up her flagging business by turning it into a male stripper club, with the help of untrustworthy businessman Billy Bowman.
Verdi’s monumental score is fully the equal of Shakespeare’s famous tragedy—and both demand great actors. This is one performance where both playwright and composer are well served. Plácido Domingo’s Otello is one of the glories of the operatic world, beautifully sung and so commandingly acted that audiences are devastated by the end. Renée Fleming’s ravishingly beautiful Desdemona is deeply moving, and as Iago, James Morris is as beguiling as he is menacing. Under James Levine’s conducting the Met orchestra and chorus are vital characters in the drama.
In April 1794, Georges Danton, the hero of the French Revolution, is imprisoned in a Paris jail, awaiting his morning appointment with La Guillotine. His accusers are so afraid of the strength of his popular support that they have imprisoned a decoy to frustrate any attempt to rescue him. A young guard must decide if his prisoner is the real Danton - and whether it is too risky to help him.
In the midst of World War II, Nazi officer Otto Schatz declares the execution of Jewish music-hall comedian Genghis Cohn. Many years later, Otto is comfortably retired into the life of a highly respected police commissioner, and is investigating a series of murders when he encounters the ghost of Genghis Cohn. The haunting turns into a taunting, and before he knows it, Schatz is slowly driven mad as he is lured into a trap.
Stiffelio is considered "early Verdi" to musiclogists who classify things, but, in reality, it is a final transition between the maestro's earlier (but most enjoyable) works, and the mature craftsmanship of Rigoletto. Preceded by Luisa Miller (q.v.), there is more dramatic intensity and story line than in the earlier works. The plot centers around Stiffelio, a minister, who discovers that his wife, Mina, has been unfaithful.
An alcoholic pub landlord has visions of a 17th-century doctor of the occult, beginning a monumental clash between good and evil. Adapted from the novel by Kingsley Amis.
The publication of Ghosts in 1881 caused an uproar and almost ruined Ibsen. It was banned across Europe and sales of his plays plummeted. Its themes of moral degredation - out-of-wedlock children, venereal disease, incest, infidelity, and euthanasia - proved too shocking. The play remains shocking even for modern-day audiences. Captain Alving was a respected man in his community, and on the tenth anniversary of his death, Mrs Alving is preparing for the opening of an orphanage in his honor. This effort however, is really an attempt by Mrs Alving to mask her hidden disgust with Captain Alving who in reality was a cheating, immoral philanderer who bequethed a deadly legacy to his son Oswald.
Mozart's famous Singspiel after Christoph Friedrich Bretzner's work "Belmonte und Konstanze", DIE ENTFÜHRUNG AUS DEM SERAIL comes to life in the sumptuous setting of Topkapi, the Ottoman sultans' own Istanbul seraglio (palace harem). Belmonte finds his fiancée Konstanze and her English maid Blondchen, who were captured and sold by pirates, in the Mediterranean seraglio of the Ottoman pasha Selim. Belmonte's servant Pedrillo gets him engaged as builder. After Selim tried to enforce himself upon Konstanze, Pedrillo and Blondchen, his own sweetheart, prepare their flight, managing to get Osmin, the pasha's overseer, drunk. Yet Osmin and Selim's guard still capture them, already in the garden; however the touching display of true love melts the pasha's heart, so he lets them go.
When the King of Navarre and three of his cronies swear to spend all their days in study and not to look at any girls, they've forgotten that the daughter of the King of France is coming on a diplomatic visit. And the lady herself and her attendants play merry havoc with their intentions.
Elijah Moshinsky's production of Verdi's "Il trovatore", filmed live at the Australian Opera in 1983. Joan Sutherland stars as Leonora, with Kenneth Collins as Manrico, Jonathan Summers as Count di Luna, and Lauris Elms as Azucena. Richard Bonynge conducts the Elizabethan Sydney Orchestra.
Cymbeline, the King of Britain, is angry that his daughter Imogen has chosen a poor (but worthy) man for her husband. So he banishes Posthumus, who goes to fight for Rome. Imogen (dressed as a boy) goes in search of her husband, who meanwhile has boasted to his pal Iachimo that Imogen would never betray him. And Iachimo's determined to prove him wrong.
Helena loves Bertram, but he's of noble birth, while she's just a doctor's daughter. But Bertram is at the court of the King of France, who is ill, and Helena has a remedy that might cure him and win her the right to marry Bertram. But does Bertram want to marry her?
A TV adaptation of Shakespeare's comedy, made for the BBC Television Shakespeare series.
Live from the Metropolitan Opera, 14 February 1980. This version takes place in Boston rather than Sweden.
