Magnus Loddgard - Amahl & the Night Visitors - BLU-RAY

Premiered in 1951, 'Amahl and the Night Visitors' was the first opera specifically composed for television, though Gian Carlo Menotti admitted that he had conceived it for the stage. The magical story tells of Amahl, a disabled boy who befriends the Three Kings when they stop at his house on their journey to see the newborn Jesus. Amahl decides to give his crutch to Jesus, at which point his leg is miraculously healed. Long a Christmas favourite, this new Viennese production, sung in German, boldly re-examines the story finding it's key elements to be fantasy, empathy and the enduring power of love

This box set contains four exceptional and star-studded opera and operetta recordings from the Opernhaus Zürich Vincenzo Bellini's I Capuleti e i Montecchi with Joyce DiDonato and Olga Kulchynska, staged by Christof Loy, and conducted by Fabio Luisi. Alban Berg's Wozzeck with Christian Gerhaher and Gun-Brit Barkmin, staged by Andreas Homoki, and conducted by Fabio Luisi. Jules Massenet's Werther with Juan Diego Flórez and Anna Stéphany, staged by Tatjana Gürbaca, and conducted by Cornelius Meister. Franz Lehár's Das Land des Lächelns with Piotr Beczala and Julia Kleiter, staged by Andreas Homoki, and conducted by Fabio Luisi.

The State Opera is the first film ever made about the Bavarian State Opera, one of the world's oldest, most prestigious and internationally esteemed companies. It charts the course of three operas - Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Les Indes galantes and Un ballo in maschera - as they come to life on the stage. We meet some of the great singers, such as Jonas Kaufmann and Anja Harteros, in performance and behind the scenes, as well as artistic directors past and present, and two of the music directors in Kirill Petrenko and his predecessor Zubin Mehta. As both a celebration and an exploration, this entertaining film is a declaration of love for the operatic form.