300 YEARS: CHRISTOPH WILLIBALD GLUCK

COMPOSER: Christoph Willibald Gluck

ARTIST: Catherine Naglestad • Donald Kaasch • Johan Rydh • Catriona Smith • Chorus and Orchestra of the Staatsoper Stuttgart • Constantinos Carydis • Jossi Wieler • Sergio Morabito • Rodney Gilfry • Juliette Galstian • Deon van der Walt • Orchestra “La Scintilla” of the Opernhaus Zürich • William Christie • Claus Guth • Jochen Kowalski • Gillian Webster Jeremy Budd Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal Opera

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1 BluRay | US SRP $69.99

•       On July 2, 2014, the opera world celebrated the 300th anniversary of Christoph Willibald Gluck’s birth (1714-1787). So great was his influence on the development of music theatre in his time, he is considered the “opera reformer of the 18th century.”

•       This special Blu-ray package features three prize-winning productions of his most popular operas on one disc; Alceste, from Stuttgart, awarded “performance of the year” in 2006 by Opernwelt magazine; Iphigénie en Tauride from Zurich (2001), led by baroque specialist William Christie; and Harry Kupfer’s legendary Orfeo ed Euridice production from the Royal Opera House Covent Garden (1991) with Jochen Kowalski in the title role and won the Olivier Award.

•       Winds of Change,Winds of Love – The Life of Christoph Willibald Gluc, a documentary film by Inger Åby is included as a bonus.

VERDI & WAGNER

COMPOSER: Giuseppe Verdi • Richard Wagner • Jules Massenet • Maurice Ravel

ARTIST: Rolando Villazon • Thomas Hampson • Symphonieorchester und Chor Des Bayerischen Rundfunks • Yannick Nezet-Seguin

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1 BluRay | US SRP $39.99

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1 DVD | US SRP $24.99

Rolando Villazón, Thomas Hampson and Yannick Nézet-Séguin, along with the world’s greatest orchestras perform a bouquet of famous opera arias, duets, overtures and choruses in celebration of Giuseppe Verdi and Richard Wagner on a summer’s night at Munich’s Odeonsplatz. This scintillating opera gala offers you the chance to experience and revisit the Odeonsplatz Concert 2013 in all its glory!

•       “Sounds from heaven…great performers.” –TZ München

•       “Villazón sang with overwhelming force …” –Abendzeitung München

EL SISTEMA AT SALZBURG FESTIVAL

COMPOSER: Gustav Mahler • George Gershwin • Leonard Bernstein • Johann Strauss • Alberto Ginastera • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart • Astor Oiazolla • John Rutter • Adelis Freites • Athos Palma

ARTIST: Simon Rattle • Jesús Parra • National Children´s Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela

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1 DVD | US SRP $24.99

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1 BluRay | US SRP $39.99

•      The invitation of the National Children´s Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela and the White Hands Choir to the Salzburg Festival 2013 shows their reputation, musical and educational quality.

•      “When I first conducted the Infantil Orchestra in Caracas, I could not believe that children (age 9-14) could not only play all the notes but also make such wonderful music.” –Sir Simon Rattle on El Sistema, the internationally famous Venezuelan phenomenon

•      The second half of the program features the White Hands Choir, founded in 1995 in an effort to integrate people with handicaps into society more fully through music. The unusual ensemble is divided into two groups: children with movement, visual and cognitive disorders form the actual chorus. Their singing is transformed by the other group, children with impaired hearing, mute or deaf-mute children, into an expressive choreography of flowing hand movements, their hands clad in white or colored gloves. The program features Latin-American folk songs and Piazzolla arrangements as well as choral works by Mozart and Rutter.

DIE MEISTERSINGER VON NÜRNBERG

COMPOSER: Richard Wagner

ARTIST: Daniele Gatti • Stefan Herheim • Monika Bohinec • Anna Gabler • Roberto Saccà • Peter Sonn • Michael Volle • Markus Werba • Georg Zeppenfeld

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2 BluRay | US SRP $49.99

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2 DVD | US SRP $49.99

•      Filmed during the 2013 Salzburg Festival, this new staging of Richard Wagner’s Meistersinger, conducted by Daniele Gatti, burst upon the audience like a thunderclap. The New York Times deemed it “…fresh, charming and perceptive…magical and irresistible!” while the Neue Zürcher Zeitung noted how convincingly the chorus of the Vienna State Opera acted out the crowds and “how splendid the Vienna Philharmonic sounds.”

•      Director Stefan Herheim’s inspired staging sets this midsummer night’s dream as a fairytale narrative, and the lavish stage set radiates a youthful charm.

•      Roberto Sacca as Walther von Stolzing shows effortless control in his superb realization of the part; Michael Volle possesses the voice and acting ability to flesh out a fascinatingly multi-layered portrait of Hans Sachs.

•      The package design follows the successful Salzburg Festival serial blueprint with luxury slipcase. As a bonus this release includes “A Making of…” documentary.

ARIADNE AUF NAXOS

COMPOSER: Richard Strauss

ARTIST: Thomas Allen • Soile Isokoski • Kate Lindsey • Laura Claycomb • Dmitri Vargin • Sergey Skorokhodov • James Kryshak • Torben Jürgens • London Philharmonic Orchestra • Vladimir Jurowski

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1 DVD | US SRP $29.99

OA BD7145D | 809478071457

1 BluRay | US SRP $39.99

Director Katharina Thoma sets Richard Strauss’ comedy in a country house in the South Downs (a surrogate for Glyndebourne), immediately before and during the Second World War. The librettist Hugo von Hofmannsthals’ conceit—that a hapless young composer has to accept the simultaneous performance of his new tragic opera with a burlesque from a commedia dell’arte troupe—is turned into a touching wartime drama of nurses, invalids, and airmen, and of painful delusions and soul-searching, before final happiness. The excellent cast is led by Thomas Allen as the Music Master and Soile Isokoski as Ariadne.

•      Extra features include When Two Worlds Collide, Thomas Allen at Glyndebourne, Vladimir Jurowski on his final production as Music Director and a cast gallery.

•      “In 40 years of watching Ariadne, the opera has never moved me more.’’ –The Daily Mail

•      ‘‘...a terrific evening of onstage entertainment …For any Strauss lover ...an absolute must.” –MusicalCriticism.com

HIPPOLYTE ET ARICIE

COMPOSER: Jean-Philippe Rameau

ARTIST: Ed Lyon • Christiane Karg • Sarah Connolly • Stephane Degout • Katherine Watson • Francois Lis • Julie Pasturaud • Samuel Boden • Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment • The Glyndebourne Chorus • William Christie

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2 DVD | US SRP $29.99

OA BD7150D | 809478071501

1 BluRay | US SRP $39.99

•      Jonathan Kent’s production, Paul Brown’s designs and Ashley Page’s choreography aim to flood the senses and bring to life Rameau’s inventive take on Racine’s great tragedy Phèdre, a first for Glyndebourne.

•      Ed Lyon and Christiane Karg star as the titular young lovers, while Sarah Connolly made a welcome return to Glyndebourne as Phaedra.

•      A leading exponent of early music, William Christie “set an exhilarating pace, galvanizing…playing of tremendous panache” (Daily Telegraph).