1. Positive
Twenty-two year old Neuroscience student Wendy is in the midst of a transition from pre-med to performance when she is thrown into quarantine with her 17 year-old sister, April. Suddenly sharing a full-sized bed, the sisters struggle to make peace with their newfound living quarters. But, while editing April’s college essays, Wendy discovers her purpose–to help April find hers. Over fourteen days, the girls grow from acquaintances to artistic allies as they realize their unstoppable potential to pursue their passion. Based on a true story, this film was shot in Houston with an entirely Texan cast & crew. Creator Abby Tozer donated $2500 to the Cynthia Woods Mitchell young performing artists' scholarship.
2. Falstaff
The Graham Vicks production of FALSTAFF opened the new Covent Garden Royal Opera House, and was not to everybody's taste; the garish primary colours of the costumes. The staging is effective--the complicated counterpoint of the ensembles is reflected in unobtrusive blocking that keeps the vocal lines clear and separate, especially in the final fugue. Bryn Terfel's Falstaff is a memorable creation, self-mocking and self-aggrandising at the same time--so much so, in fact, that he almost does not need the vast prosthetic body he has to wear for the part. Desiree Rancatore is an admirably sweet-toned Nanetta; Bernadette Manca di Nissa an appropriately sardonic Mistress Quickly; Roberto Frontali as Ford, in his Act 2 scena, perfectly distils and parodies every jealousy aria ever written, including Verdi's own. Haitink's conducting is exemplary in the lyrical passages, gets almost everything out of the fast and furious comic sections.
It has an average vote of 8 on TMDB.
3. Death
An operatic film adaptation of the poem by Paul Laurence Dunbar of the same name.
4. Gallup (Na'nízhoozhí)
Two mystical beings emerge from the scenery, embarking on a journey through Gallup— Na'nízhoozhí in the Navajo language— before melting back into the desert at nightfall.
5. L'heure espagnole (L'heure espagnole)
(L'heure espagnole)
6. The Zolle Suite
A dead woman wanders through the shadowy space between memory and reality, tracing the lines of her identity through the land she once walked—an immigrant in death as in life.
7. Verdi: Un Ballo in Maschera (Verdi: Un Ballo in Maschera)
Passion, loyalty and political conspiracy are the three pillars of Un ballo in maschera , the 'most operatic of all operas'. Set in 19th-century Boston, Mario Martone's atmospheric production for the Teatro Real brings out all the innate theatricality and drama of Verdi's work. World famous Argentinean tenor Marcelo Álvarez, in the role of Riccardo, leads a fabulous cast including Lithuanian soprano Violeta Urmana as his lover Amelia, and Elena Zaremba as the witch Ulrica. Jesús López Cobos conducts the Madrid Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in a performance that emphasises the lyricism and majesty of this wonderful work, in which grand opera and opera comique are woven into the Classical Italian Opera style.
8. La Bohème (La Bohème)
Live performance of Puccini's opera at the Salzburg Festival in Austria. Piotr Beczala stars as Rodolfo with Anna Netrebko as Mimi, Massimo Cavalletti as Marcello and Nino Machaidze as Musetta. Daniele Gatti conducts the Vienna Philharmonic, the Vienna State Opera Chorus and the Salzburg Festival and Theatre Children's Choir.
It has an average vote of 8 on TMDB.
9. Vincenzo Bellini - Norma (De Nederlandse Opera) (Vincenzo Bellini - Norma (De Nederlandse Opera))
In Guy Joosten's ingenious production of Bellini's masterpiece, Norma is about more than just beautiful singing. It becomes a layered, timeless drama in which Norma is the archetypal successful woman struggling to retain her dominant but vulnerable position. Hasmik Papian's lyrical and intense interpretation of the title role accentuates the striking similarity between a Druid high priestess and a modern opera diva. Conductor Julian Reynolds guides the brilliant cast, choir and Netherlands Chamber Orchestra to great heights, providing a refreshing new take on the chef d’oeuvre of bel canto.
10. Tannhäuser (Tannhäuser)
(Tannhäuser)
It has an average vote of 7 on TMDB.
11. Cosi fan tutte (Cosi fan tutte)
(Cosi fan tutte)
12. Intimate Apparel
Experience the story of seamstress Esther who begins writing to a mysterious suitor laboring on the Panama Canal. Featuring a libretto by Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage, this powerful opera is directed by Tony winner Bartlett Sher.
13. Rossini: L'italiana in Algeri (Rossini: L'italiana in Algeri)
(Rossini: L'italiana in Algeri)
14. Saul
Glyndebourne's Saul stole the summer and had critics raving. The Guardian applauded virtuoso stagecraft from director Barrie Kosky in his debut production there, calling the show a theatrical and musical feast of energetic choruses, surreal choreography and gorgeous singing. For The Independent, which ranked it amongst five top classical and opera performances of 2015, there was no praise too high for the cast. The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment under Ivor Bolton sparkles from the pit with period panache, and designer Katrin Lea Tag's exuberant costumes set the Old Testament story in Handel's time, with a witty twinge of the contemporary.
15. Amadeus
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is a remarkably talented young Viennese composer who unwittingly finds a fierce rival in the disciplined and determined Antonio Salieri. Resenting Mozart for both his hedonistic lifestyle and his undeniable talent, the highly religious Salieri is gradually consumed by his jealousy and becomes obsessed with Mozart's downfall, leading to a devious scheme that has dire consequences for both men.
It has an average vote of 8.038 on TMDB.
16. Et avec la Lumière et la Mort sans cesse (Et avec la Lumière et la Mort sans cesse)
(Et avec la Lumière et la Mort sans cesse)
17. Hippolyte and Aricie (Paris National Opera)
Topi Lehtipuu and Anne-Catherine Gillet star in the 2012 Opera National de Paris production of Jean-Philippe Rameau's opera Hippolyte et Aricie. Also starring Sarah Connolly and Stephane Degout.
It has an average vote of 10 on TMDB.
18. The Cunning Little Vixen
Nicholas Hytner's enchanting production, sung in the original Czech, is conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras, a master of the best Janacek style. Through myriad shifts of scene, the episodic story is presented in brightly-colored sets and costumes of blissful innocence and simplicity, designed by Bob Crowley. Jean-Claude Gallotta's choreography for the insects and animals, and Jean Kalman's lighting add to the nostalgically poetic effect of the whole. With Thomas Allen as the Forester, the cast includes Eva Jenis, Hanna Minutillo, Richard Novak and Ivan Kusnjer. This live recording comes from the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris.
19. Siegfried (Longborough Opera Festival 2022)
The hero Siegfried reforges his father’s shattered sword, embarking on a quest for the greatest prize of all – the love of the valkyrie Brünnhilde, who lies trapped in a ring of fire. Siegfried is the third opera in Richard Wagner’s four-opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen. Wagner broke off composition at the end of Act II of Siegfried to write Tristan und Isolde and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, returning to Siegfried seven years later. Longborough Festival Opera, known as the British Bayreuth, calls on renowned Wagnerian Anthony Negus to conduct and Amy Lane to stage this new production of Siegfried in the bucolic English Cotswolds.
20. Bastien a Bastienna (Bastien a Bastienna)
(Bastien a Bastienna)