Various - Teatro Alla Scala Opera Box - BLU-RAY

This new features five outstanding operas from the legendary Teatro Alla Scala. The selections include Aida InchA perfect coup de theatreInch (Giornale della Musica); I Due Foscari Inch[Domingo's performance] was sublimeInch; Die Zauberflote Inch[Adam Fischer] gets the best out of the Academy Orchestra with delicate execution and humane phrasingInch (Die Presse); Le Nozze Di Figaro Inch... when Diana Damrau enters as the Countess, we get a performance of special gravitas. Even the orchestra, under Franz Welser- Most's baton, melts to such graceInch (Financial Times); and Die Entfuhrung Aus Dem Serail A Inchmasterful use of light and silhouettesInch (Milano Post)

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.