Hadrian

Rufus Wainwright's original opera finds Emperor Hadrian devastated after his lover Antinous drowns in the Nile River. While matters of state encroach on his grief, and advisors clamour for war against a radical new threat to the Empire, Hadrian slips out of time to re-encounter the vision and reality of Antinous—and learn the truth about what happened on the Nile.

Berlioz: La Damnation de Faust

Radiant mezzo-soprano Susan Graham and dashing Italian tenor Marcello Giordani are unlucky lovers in La Damnation de Faust, Hector Berlioz’s classic take on dancing with the devil.

Of Love, Death, and Beyond: Exploring Mahler's Resurrection Symphony

“What is this life—and this death?” Gustav Mahler famously asked when composing his second symphony. Does consciousness “continue” on a higher cosmic level, he wondered, or is it “only an empty dream?” Narrated by renowned baritone Thomas Hampson, this film explores the musical, biographical, and philosophical background of the monumental work. Viewers are treated to beautifully produced historical reenactments as well as interviews with many of the world’s most respected Mahler scholars and biographers, including Henry-Louis de La Grange, D...

Samuel Barber: Absolute Beauty

Known for his mournful "Adagio for Strings," Samuel Barber was never quite fashionable. This acclaimed film is a probing exploration of his music and melancholia. Performance, oral history, musicology, and biography combine to explore the life and music of one of America’s greatest composers. Features Thomas Hampson, Leonard Slatkin, Marin Alsop and many more of the world's leading experts on Barber's music, with tributes from composers Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, Virgil Thomson and William Schuman. The film was broadcast on PBS, and s...

Tosca

Live from the Zurich Opera House, 2009.

Leonard Bernstein Centennial Celebration at Tanglewood

In honor of Leonard Bernstein’s 100th birthday, Tanglewood—the famed summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra—dedicated its entire 2018 season to the iconic composer, conductor, performer, educator and humanitarian. The festivities culminated on Bernstein’s centennial birthday on August 25, 2018, in a special celebrity-studded gala concert. Directed for the stage by James Darrah, The Bernstein Centennial Celebration at Tanglewood illuminates the breadth of Bernstein’s incredible life and career, which inspired generations of music lovers...

Wonderful Town

The classic musical by Bernstein, Comden and Green is performed live in concert in Berlin, starring Audra McDonald, Thomas Hampson, Brent Barrett and Kim Criswell, and conducted by Simon Rattle.

Verdi: Don Carlo

Verdi wrote this five act opera with a French Libretto for the Paris opera. Premiere 1867. Then there are three versions of this opera, the French 1867 version, the revised Italian four Act Don Carlo 1884, plus the Modena version 1886. This version is the 1884 version with Act One reinstated, as well as the original beginning of Act 2. To complicate matters the French opera was simply translated into Italian, and then the changes were made. There is an even newer edition completed in 1980 by Ricordi, and others floating around as well.

Massenet: Thaïs

When the most voluptuous, sought-after courtesan in the world meets an ascetic monk whose life is devoted to God, you know erotic sparks are going to fly. And when the clash takes place in a glorious, but rarely performed, opera by Massenet, it’s a delight to the ear just as much as to the eye. Renée Fleming is every inch the glamorous Thaïs, swathed in elegant gowns designed by Christian Lacroix. Thomas Hampson is Athanaël, the tortured man of God. This production by John Cox, which premiered in December 2008, brilliantly sets the stage for...

The Metropolitan Opera: The Tales of Hoffmann

New tenor star Vittorio Grigolo takes on the title role in Offenbach’s fantastical opera, giving a tour-de-force performance as the tortured poet unlucky in love. He is joined by a trio of leading ladies: Erin Morley sings the mechanical doll Olympia, Hibla Gerzmava is the fragile Antonia, and Christine Rice sings Giulietta, the Venetian courtesan. Bartlett Sher’s colorful production, seen here in its second Live in HD presentation, also stars Thomas Hampson as the sinister Four Villains and Kate Lindsey as Niklausse, Hoffmann’s friend and m...

Verdi La Traviata

This DVD of a live 2005 performance from the Zürich Opera under the musical direction of Franz Welser-Möst has many things to recommend it -- the young tenor Piotr Beczala as Alfredo, the marvelous Thomas Hampson as Giorgio Germont, the playing of the Zurich Opera orchestra, the simple but effective sets by by Erich Wonder, the uncluttered stage direction by Jürgen Flimm. It also has some flaws: strangely variable volume level of the recorded sound sometimes coming on so loud as to make one reach for the volume control, and the uneven perfor...

Anna Netrebko und Rolando Villazón singen "La Traviata"

John Adams: Nixon in China

In February 1972, the American president Richard Nixon went to China to meet Mao Zedong. In the context of the war in Vietnam and the cold war, this encounter marked a turning point in Chinese‑American relations. John Adams, a major musical figure of the last forty years, made this event of contemporary history the subject of his first opera. Nixon in China tackles the political thaw instigated by ping-pong diplomacy, begun by the invitation of the American table tennis players by their Chinese counterparts, one year before the presidential ...

Don Giovanni

Don Giovanni's list of romantic conquests reaches into the hundreds. But his reputation as a lothario puts him in danger as the women he's betrayed -- and their suitors -- begin to seek revenge. A modern-day setting proves the timeless nature of Mozart's popular opera, performed with the Vienna Philharmonic as part of an epic presentation of all 22 of the composer's stage works at the 2006 Salzburg Festival, in honor of his 250th birthday.

Verdi: Don Carlos

Luc Bondy's 1996 production of Don Carlos was staged, recorded and filmed at the Chatelet in Paris. These seven performances were blessed with an all-star cast, loaded with important singers either starting their careers (Roberto Alagna) or at the height of their dramatic powers (Karita Mattila, Jose Van Dam.)

Macbeth

This hard-edged postmodern production of Giuseppe Verdi's haunting masterpiece brings the story of Shakespeare's bloody tragedy to vivid life, characterized by spine-tingling atmospherics and a triumphant debut by American baritone Thomas Hampson in the title role. This Zurich Opera House production also features a mesmerizing turn by Paoletta Marrocu as the beautiful, power-hungry Lady Macbeth, while striking sets and costumes further enhance the duality of the main character whose rise and fall mirror the darkest impulses of man. Replete w...

Amours divins !

The most famous Scenes and Arias from French operas

Parsifal

Recorded live at the Festspielhaus, Baden-Baden, Germany, August 2004. Kent Nagano, conductor. Nikolaus Lehnhoff, stage director.

Simon Boccanegra

One of the lesser known works by Giuseppe Verdi, Simon Boccanegra is regarded by most opera lovers as one of his finest. The action takes place in the 14th century and deals with the political and personal rivalry between the corsair Simon Boccanegra, who has been elected Doge of Genoa with the help of the plebeian vote, and the local nobleman, Jacopo Fiesco. Arthaus presents a visually alert, musically sensitive and disturbingly coherent (Der Standard) production of the piece on DVD. The staging was directed by one of the giants of the Euro...

Meeting of the stars

An exceptional open air concert on Munich's King's Square gathers the stars of opera: Anna Netrebko, Jonas Kaufmann and Thomas Hampson alongside Elena Zhidkova and Ildar Abdrazakov!