Tsar's Bride - DVD

Based on an historical case, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's The Tsar's Bride takes place in the suburbs of Moscow during the reign of Tsar Ivan IV, Inchthe TerribleInch, during the latter half of the 16th c. Widowed, he is looking for a new wife, his third. He chooses the young Marfa. She loves another man but bends to the Tsar's will and renounces her love for the other. From this plot, Russian director Dmitri Tcherniakov retains only the frame. A live competition is organized for a virtual monarch, much like the reality shows of today. Here, the characters become the various players of the audiovisual industry bringing an acerbic critic to contemporary television. Daniel Barenboim conducts the Staatskapelle Berlin. With Olga Peretyatko, Anita Rachvelishvili and Johannes and Martin Kränzle. Recorded at Staatsoper, I'm Schiller Theater Berlin, in October 2013.

Gabriela Benackova, Peter Dvorsky, Richard Novak, and Miroslav Kopp star in the 1981 TV production of the Smetana opera with the Prague Philharmonic Chorus and Czech Philharmonic conducted by Zdenek Kosler.

Marius Petipa's exotic ballet, set in legendary and mysterious India, is a story of love, death and vengeful judgment. Yuri Grigorovich's sumptuous recreation of Petipa's choreography, with breathtaking sets and costumes designed by Nikolay Sharonov, stars Svetlana Zakharova as the Bayadere Nikiya, Vladislav Lantratov as Solor and Maria Alexandrova as Gamzatti the jealous rival. The Bolchoi Theatre Orchestra is conducted by Pavel Sorokin.