Famed tenor José Carreras takes the stage at Moscow's Bolshoi Theatre with soprano and fellow Spaniard Montserrat Caballé in this memorable evening of music filmed live in 1989. Selections include ballads, arias and duets by some of the world's most famous composers, including Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi, Gioacchino Rossini, Antonio Vivaldi, Vincenzo Bellini, Alessandro Scarlatti and Alessandro Stradella.
An all-star cast led by soprano Montserrat Caballé in one of her most acclaimed portrayals. Fiorenza Cossotto sings the role of Adriana’s nemesis, the Princess of Bouillon, and José Carreras is Adriana’s lover, Maurizio, in this live 1976 performance from Tokyo. The NHK Symphony Orchestra is under the direction of Gianfranco Masini. This performance of Adriana Lecouvreur documents the art of Montserrat Caballé at its peak, the soprano employing her singularly ravishing vocal quality and staggering technical facility fully in the service of the drama. In her portrayal of the title character - described in the opera as a supreme tragedienne, self-trained and completely artless - Caballé matches Adriana's attributes with a naturalistic approach that is profoundly moving in its honesty and directness. This production also boasts the presence of Fiorenza Cossotto and José Carreras, stars of the highest caliber with whom Caballé performed this opera on many occasions all over the world.
A retelling of the story of John the Baptist, Salome, Herod Antipas and Herodias, but strikingly less psychological and bloody than Richard Strauss's opera "Salome".
Archive footage of interviews, concerts and personal material bring to light the solo performance work of Mercury, the lead singer of Queen.
Oroveso, a Druid High Priest, gathers his people in a sacred forest and prays to their gods for help in vanquishing the Romans who have taken over Gaul. Unbeknownst to Oroveso, his daughter, Norma, a High Priestess, has for some time been the lover of Pollione, the leader of the Romans; she has, in fact, not only broken her sacred vow of chastity but has borne two children to the warrior. Norma uses her position to dissuade the Gauls from attacking the Romans, claiming that the gods have told her that the time is not favourable. Recorded at Théâtre Antique d'Orange, 1974
Freddie Mercury (1946-91) was not just a man with one of the most pure and amazing voices the world has heard, but he was also the lead singer for Queen, the most enthusiastic rock band in history.
Biography of Julian Gayarre (1844-1890), one of the best tenors of all times. At 19, a professor at the Conservatory of Music in Madrid heard him singing for the first time and offered him a scholarship to continue his studies. His artistic life runs between continued success, becoming the world's greatest tenor. But in 1890, while singing at the Teatro Real in Madrid, a failure in his voice is like a cruel reminder of what would happen a few days later: his death at a young age. The doctors gave a diagnosis, but his friends know that Julian Gayarre died because he could not sing anymore.
The ambiguities of Verdi’s theatre are particularly clear in his baritone roles, among which is that of Boccanegra, corsair turned doge of Genoa and the troubled observer of the conflicts that tore apart 14th century landowners and peasants. An eminently political opera in which power struggles are interwoven with family conflicts, Simon Boccanegra echoes the life of its composer – the man who championed the cause of Italian unification and overcame the loss of his wife and children.
Mercury and Caballé singing "Barcelona" on October 8th 1988 at huge open air La Nit festival staged in Barcelona, which was held to celebrate the arrival of the Olympic Flag from Seoul.
How does a country go from a dictatorship to a democracy? A detailed report on the political representation in the heart of the Spanish Transition, only a few months after General Franco’s death, when the sincere democratic vocation of Spanish people must effort to destroy, one heavy brick after another, the wall that those who supported the dictatorship and those who fought it from the exile built with resentment, hatred and prejudices.
Freddie’s promos and his stage performances with Montserrat Caballé include eight that have been painstakingly reassembled from the original 35mm film rushes to give them the best-ever visual and sound quality.
This documentary spans the life and career of Spanish soprano Montserrat Caballé, one of the very best ever - a legend, arguably the "queen" of all divas still singing. In locations throughout the world where Ms. Caballé sang, we hear interviews with Ms. Caballé, her family, and by opera and music giants like Claudio Abbado, José Carreras, Giuseppe Di Stefano, Plácido Domingo, Renée Fleming, Dame Joan Sutherland, and Zubin Mehta, also appearing often in clips showing joint collaborations. Of these, the film includes passages from Caballé's most acclaimed roles such as "Norma"', "Tosca" , "Turandot" and her earliest recorded live performance (1966) as "Anne Boleyn," in addition to poignant and powerful live concert duets with fellow Spaniards Plácido Domingo, Juan Pons, and José Carreras.