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A period movie, set around an English country house whose owners want to arrange a marriage of convenience between their elder daughter and an aristocratic heir of a hard-up noble family. The planned marriage suffers a last-minute upset when the would-be husband switches affections to the bride's sister.

An opera by Benjamin Britten, on a libretto by E.M. Forster and Eric Crozier, adapted from the story by Herman Melville. Billy Budd is a young sailor aboard a British man-o'-war, persecuted by his master-at-arms, Claggart. Accused of mutiny, Budd accidently strikes Claggart dead, leaving Captain Vere with no choice but to hang him.

Cleopatra and Ptolemy vie to become monarch of Egypt, while Caesar and Cleopatra fall in love and Ptolemy attempts to kill Caesar. Pompey's widow is wooed and imprisoned by Ptolemy and Achilla, and his son Sexto wants to kill them.

On 8th January 1735 at the Covent Garden in London, Georg Friederich Handel presented his new opera Ariodante on a libretto by Antonio Salvi adapted by Paolo Rolli and inspired by Ariosto. The opera did not immediately win public favour and thus failed to furnish a definitive solution for the fate of Handel's company, but with time it was to be understood and appreciated and has remained on playbills among the more successful and interesting titles. Handel's particular attention to the expressive aspect was most probably the reason for the opera's limited commercial success: the characters fit only partially into the customary types of opera of the day. The tendency to formulate autonomous patterns in the expressive genre is also underlined by an illustrious contemporary, John Mainwaring, in his Memoirs of the life of George Frederick Handel. Extraordinary is also the strength of the instrumental composition, which again in Ariodante is intended now as support to the voices now as independent, coinciding with steps in the sinfonia and with delightful dance motives. In this production of the Spoleto Festival, at his 50th anniversary, Alan Curtis conducts the Complesso Barocco and an extraordinarily agile Ann Hallenberg in the title role. Scenes and costumes by John Pascoe. Together with Giulio Cesare and Rodelinda, Ariodante is considered one of Handel's operatic masterpieces. It was composed for London's Covent Garden theatre, where it was first performed on January 8th, 1735. Alan Curtis and his Complesso Barocco rank among the best specialists in baroque music, and regularly record for Virgin, Deutsche Grammophone and now also for Dynamic. Thanks to the interesting and personal touch of the director Alan Pascoe, this production comes across as a very credible show. Pascoe and Curtis, incidentally, already gained remarkable success with Vivaldi's Ercole sul Termodonte, published by Dynamic in 2007

Mike Leigh directs ENO's comic opera The Pirates of Penzance by Gilbert and Sullivan.

Part of a series of opera shorts by different directors. Herzog combines O Soave Fanciulla ("Oh you vision of beauty" from Puccini's La Boheme) with images of harsh life in Africa.

This opera is set in Persia (present day Iran) in 480 BC and is very loosely based upon Xerxes I of Persia. Apart from the reported infatuation of King Xerxes with a plane tree and his reported construction of a bridge, this tale is pure supposition. Xerxes is engaged to Amatris, but wishes to marry Romilda, the daughter of his successful general. Romilda wants to marry Arsamenes, the brother of the King, but Atalanta - Romilda's sister - wants Arsamenes to be her husband.

The son of the Mikado of Japan, a wandering minstrel, falls for a girl who is engaged to her guardian.

'A mix of futurism à la Metropolis, fantasy à la Batman and quotes from Piranesi's Carceri, juxtaposed in the form of photo montages, enhanced with...robots, a helicopter, a shark and the winged vehicle of a pop star Pope', was how the Neue Zürcher Zeitung described this astonishing Salzburg Festival production of Berlioz's Benvenuto Cellini. The high-calibre cast, headed by Burkhard Fritz as the temperamental Renaissance artist and the 26-year-old Latvian soprano Maija Kovalevska as Teresa, the woman with whom he tries to elope, is conducted by Valery Gergiev who 'pulled out all the stops. He whips the Vienna Philharmonic into a delirium similar to that which possibly took hold of the composer'. (Der Standard) This is French grand opera at its fast-paced and spectacularly-staged best.

The Earl of Essex, Robert Devereux, is hot-blooded and jealous of anyone who might win the Queen's favour. He provokes a fight with the tournament victor, Charles Blount, Lord Mountjoy, but then the Queen and her entourage arrive. She orders the two men to make up, but later she discusses the rivalry of Mountjoy and Essex with her chief adviser, Sir Robert Cecil. She admires Essex, but Cecil warns her of the political dangers of showing affection for him. He also reports that a new Armada may be on the way. Essex comes in and requests permission to go to Ireland to suppress the Tyrone rebellion. He accuses Cecil and Sir Walter Raleigh of intriguing against him. The Queen resists and sends him away. Essex complains to his wife Frances about the way Elizabeth thwarts his desire to go to Ireland. Lady Essex gives a ball at which she dresses extravagantly and looks finer than her queen, but when the ladies return from changing their dresses after a dance, Lady Essex says that her dress was stolen, and it is clear that the larger woman, Queen Elizabeth, is wearing it. Essex is furious about his wife's humiliation, but the Queen says he will be appointed Lord Deputy in Ireland. In the final act, however, Essex has failed to put down the Irish rebellion. Though Elizabeth likes him, she cannot approve his failure or his paranoia and political battles at court. The Queen orders him imprisoned, and some citizens sympathize with Essex though others declare him a traitor and call for his death. Queen Elizabeth must now ponder her relationship with Essex in order to come to the best decision.

A musical version of Elmer Rice's play in which twenty-four hours elapse on the stoop of a Hell's Kitchen tenement as a microcosm of the American melting pot interacts with each other during a summer heatwave.

ENO's revival of Calixto Bieito's hugely successful production of Carmen. Steeped in the political and historical influences of his native Spain, Bietito's Carmen reveals a modern, uncompromising approach to this masterpiece.

La Traviata tells the moving story of how the beautiful but fragile courtesan Violetta is coerced into sacrificing her one hope of personal happiness for the sake of her lover's reputation.

Hermia is promised to wed Demetrius, but she loves Lysander, so Hermia and Lysander take refuge in the forest to escape the wrath of the Duke of Athens, who wants the planned wedding to occur. Demetrius follows them and is followed by Helena, who loves him, though he despises her. The two young couples wander in the forest trying to sort out their loves and hates. Meanwhile, Oberon and Titania, the king and queen of the fairies, are arguing. Oberon orders his servant Puck to fetch a magic herb. When the young lovers all approach, Oberon apprehends the situation and in amusement orders Puck to use the magic to 'cure' Demetrius of his dislike of Helena. In another subplot, Bottom and his tradesmen friends rehearse to put on a play for the Duke's wedding celebrations. Puck mistakenly applies the love-potion to the eyes of Lysander, so that when he awakens and sees Helena, he falls in love with her, which she believes to be mockery. Oberon also applies the potion to the sleeping Titania, and she falls for Bottom, whom Puck has mischievously and magically transformed so that he has a donkey's head. When Puck realizes that he gave the potion to Lysander, he applies it next to Demetrius, who also awakens and sees Helena; now both of them are in love with her, whereas at the beginning they both loved Hermia. All four quarrel so much that Oberon is angry at Puck. The next morning, the fairies reconcile and the lovers resolve their situation to everyone's satisfaction. A comedy of magic, mistaken identity, reconciliation, and self-discovery.

Experience the searing psychological drama, intrigue and suspense of Benjamin Britten's opera Peter Grimes, performed by English National Opera and screened live from the London Coliseum in stunning cinematic HD.

The grandest of grand operas, and a brilliant balance of spectacular pageantry and emotional intimacy. A bitter love triangle plays itself out against a backdrop of war and cultural oppression in this compelling tale of conflicting loyalties and forbidden passion. As Aida, soprano Micaela Carosi's "voice wasn't only luminous; she was alive in the role...every fear, frustration and outburst of love registered in her voice, face, body" (San Jose Mercury News). Tenor Marcello Giordani plays Radames, "mustering a ringing sound and suitably ardent phrasing" in the opera's climax (San Francisco Chronicle). "Mezzo-soprano Dolora Zajick delivered a powerhouse performance as Amneris, cloaking her unstoppable dramatic fury in plush and impeccably controlled tones." -San Francisco Chronicle "As Amonasro, baritone Marco Vratogna emitted gorgeous, orchestra-defying sounds." -San Francisco Classical Voice "Glamour came from Zandra Rhodes's fantastically colorful production. Gold for days, patterns upon patterns (based upon authentic Egyptian designs), and costumes that more than a few singers undoubtedly wished they could take home forever." -San Francisco Classical Voice

The Government Inspector enters a church after leaving a session with the Foreign Affairs Select Committee.

Classic 1986 ENO production. Framed as the bizarre dreams of a sleeping Victorian teenager (Eilene Hannan) who dreams herself as Rusalka, and bargains everything she has with a witch (Ann Howard) for a prince who's love may wane.