Tosca

Japanese-Italian adaptation of Puccini's opera.

After he is rejected by the Great Poochini as an opening act, Mysto the Magician gets his revenge by conducting his next operatic performance.

David McVicar's spellbinding production of LE NOZZE DI FIGARO is set in 1830s post-revolution France, where the inexorable unravelling of an old order has produced acute feelings of loss. In the relationship between Finley's suave, dashingly self-absorbed Count and Röschmann's passionately dignified Countess, which lies at the tragic heart of the opera, the sexy ease between a feisty Figaro (Erwin Schrott) and a sassy Susanna (Miah Persson) is starkly absent, the tenacious spark between Marcellina (Graciela Araya) and Bartolo (Jonathan Veira) suggesting what might be rekindled. The production is superbly complemented by the beauty of Paule Constable's lighting and Tanya McCallin's evocative sets. Antonio Pappano conducts (and accompanies the recitatives) with invigorating wit and emotional depth.

Opera is an inherently theatrical medium that does not lend itself readily to the realism of film treatment. The shining exception is Puccini's Tosca, an action-packed melodrama that unfolds in three taut and gripping acts like the meatiest of Hollywood films noir. And unlike most operas, these three acts are set in three very specific Roman locales. Thus this 1976 film takes place in the church of Sant'Andrea della Valle (Act 1), the Palazzo Farnese (Act 2), and the Castel Sant'Angelo (Act 3).

Benoit Jacquot's acclaimed 2002 film of Puccini's opera stars Angela Gheorghiu in the title role, with Roberto Alagna, Ruggero Raimondi and the Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, under Antonio Pappano.

Macbeth, the Thane of Glamis, receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will become King of Scotland. Consumed by ambition and spurred to action by his wife, Macbeth murders his king and takes the throne for himself.

The star singers in this revival of the 2006 production were Angela Gheorghiu, Jonas Kaufmann and Bryn Terfel; the Royal Opera Chorus and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House were under the baton of Antonio Pappano, the Music Director of the Royal Opera House. The pageantry of church ritual, the darkness of a brooding study with its hidden torture chamber and the false optimism of the light of a Roman dawn - all throw into relief the love of the beautiful diva Tosca, the idealism of her lover Cavaradossi and the deadly, destructive obsession of the malevolent Chief of Police, Scarpia. Drama, passion and fabulous music.

This 2008 version of Puccini's LA RONDINE (The Swallow) features acclaimed conductor Carlo Rizzi and polished theatre-direction from Graham Vick, recorded at the Teatro La Fenice, in Venice.

2013 revival of Andrei Serban's 1984 production. Recorded live at the Royal Opera House, September 2013. Andrei Serban's spectacular and thrilling 1984 production of Puccini's final and grandest opera has long been a classic at the Royal Opera House. First filmed for BBC TV in the 80s, this new recording – of its fifteenth revival – is in stunning HD and makes this famous production available for the first time on DVD and Blu-ray. The release will rightfully take its place alongside the outstanding Royal Opera Puccini DVDs of La Bohème, Tosca (on EMI) and Trittico. American Lise Lindstrom is one of the very few contemporary Turandots who can genuinely sing this ‘killer’ role, and is supported by a touching Liù from Japanese soprano Eri Nakamura and an unashamedly Italianite Calaf from Marco Berti. The young Hungarian conductor Henrik Nánási directs the large orchestra and all-important chorus.

Puccini’s melodrama about a volatile diva, a sadistic police chief, and an idealistic artist has offended and thrilled audiences for more than a century. Critics, for their part, have often had problems with Tosca’s rather grungy subject matter, the directness and intensity of its score, and the crowd-pleasing dramatic opportunities it provides for its lead roles. But these same aspects have also made Tosca one of a handful of iconic works that seem to represent opera in the public imagination.

Live from ROH 1985. Giordano's Andrea Chenier is one of the greatest of verismo operas, full of heart-stopping big tunes and powerful emotional situations. If it is not as well-known as it should be, it is because in summary it sounds a little too like Puccini's Tosca: there is a tussle between political opponents over a woman, an attempt to save a condemned man, a tenor aria about writing poetry on the eve of execution. The difference is that Gerard (Giorgio Zancanaro) is not a villain like Scarpia, he is an idealist whom the French Revolution has betrayed as much as it has his rival the poet Chenier (Placido Domingo). His temptation to abuse his power to seduce the virtuous Maddalena (Anna Tomowa-Sintow) is a momentary one, though its consequences are terrible. There is a streak of post-Wagnerian decadence in much of this--Maddalena is at least as much in love with death as she is with Chenier, and the final love duet has a deeply sinister aspect. -- From Amazon.co.uk

Tosca is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900. This version is conducted by Riccardo Muti at La Scala, Milan.

John Copley's enduring production of one of the most famously melodious and popular of all operas is a classic of the Royal Opera repertory. With historically accurate designs by Julia Trevelyan Oman and an excellent cast headed by Hibla Gerzmava and Teodor Ilincai, this 2009 revival, in which conductor Andris Nelsons makes a distinguished Royal Opera House debut, does full justice to Puccini's masterpiece. Recorded 2009.

Determined to wed, a foolhardy old man is tricked by his friends into a sham wedding with an impish widow who turns into a harpy -- which subsequently cures his desire to marry in composer Gaetano Donizetti's famous opera buffa. Baritone Alessandro Corbelli plays the title character in this lush 2002 production also starring soprano Eva Mei and tenor Antonino Siragusa, with maestro Gérard Korsten leading the Chorus and Orchestra of Teatro Lirico.

Opera at La Scala Milan

Leah Remini, along with high level former Scientology executives and Church members, explores individual accounts from ex-Church members and their families through meetings and interviews with Leah. Each episode features stories from former members whose lives have been affected by the Church's harmful practices, even well after they left the organization.

Acorralada is an American telenovela produced by Venevisión. Univision aired Acorralada from January 2007 to October 2007 on weekday afternoons at 2 pm central. It was rebroadcast in late 2011 through April 2012 on Univision's sister network, Telefutura. It was filmed in Miami, Florida, and lasted about 187 episodes. It is the second long-running telenovela that Venevisión Productions has produced without its former co-producer Fonovideo.

Anna and Kitty. Two lives. One of desperate passion that ends in tragedy, the other, an existence made real through love. Two destinies that interweave, giving rise to two, so very different stories, yet lived in pursuit of the same desire- to find a love that lets them fully be themselves, to live without having to conform to society’s pretenses.

Christianity has produced some of the greatest works of art of all time, in which believers and non-believers alike can explore the great themes of life and death. It is the language in which Leonardo and Michelangelo, Dali and Rembrandt speak to us all about love and suffering, loss and hope. To mark the year 2000, these four programmes, written and presented by Neil MacGregor, Director of the National Gallery, London, consider how artists over two millennia have tackled the extraordinarily difficult task of representing Christ. Without contemporary accounts of Jesus' appearance, artists through the ages have been free to create many images of him - images that sometimes reflect the spiritual world of the artist and other times the desires of the patron or the needs of the spectator. Seeing Salvation is a four part series surveying the historical representations of Jesus Christ in Western European art and sculpture over the centuries since Roman Times.

This extension of the long-running true-crime series 'Snapped' shifts the focus to couples whose passion drives them to commit terrible criminal acts. Using re-creations and gripping firsthand accounts, each episode takes a deep dive into a case, telling the story of the couple's romance, how the relationship evolved from love to manipulation, and what ultimately drove the couple to commit the crime.

The Killer Beside Me exposes the dark underbelly of workplace evil where rivalry, romance, and the abuse of power culminate in a brutal slaying. Each episode in this series retells the shocking events leading to a horrific murder. How well do we really know our co-workers?

A resilient girl with a tragic past and a heart of gold falls in love with a bad boy race car driver.

Discover the untold story of the toxic and abusive environment inside '90s kids' TV. Hear harrowing accounts from former child stars and crew who probe the balance of power in the industry and reveal an era that inflicted lasting wounds still felt today.

The documentary series explores different political figures throughout history.

Ririko Seko (Kuroki Haru), who works in the accounting department of a major publishing company, Kusunoki Publishing, is not very good at understanding other people's feelings or reading the atmosphere, but she has a strong desire to learn about the world and other people. In the accounting department, she is also known as Cerberus, the watchdog of hell, because of her strict checking skills.

Convicted stalkers and survivors share harrowing accounts of harassment, abuse and other crimes in this documentary series.

Since the creation of currency, money has made the world go round and people have done anything and everything in their power to get their hands on a lot of it, including formulating some of the most devious and high-stakes heist attempts of all time. Using dramatic recreations, dynamic storytelling and cutting-edge visual effects, alongside first-person witness accounts from the people who were there, “History’s Greatest Heists with Pierce Brosnan” delves into the intricate schemes and audacity of the criminal masterminds who risked their freedom for a shot at a lifetime of wealth and riches. Brosnan, who is embedded into each heist through state-of-the-art technology, brings each global news headline to life by putting viewers at the heart of the action and breaking down every aspect of the plan including the conniving team, the mark, the execution and finally the aftermath.

Laura, a young noblewoman who grew up in a convent, is given in marriage to the baron of Carini, an overbearing and lustful man. The life of the young baroness seems destined for unhappiness until she meets Luca Corbara, who arrives in the country to find his origins.

Monica Grossi wakes up after four months from a coma without remembering anything about the last eight years of her life. With the help of Stefano, brother of her alleged lover, who died in mysterious circumstances, she tries to reconstruct her past step by step to understand if she is really the woman that everyone remembers.