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Macbeth, Lego Dimensions and North by Northwest top August Events listMacbeth, Lego Dimensions and North by Northwest top August Events listScott Goodyer8/1/2017 11:00:00 Am It's been a very rainy summer so why not take advantage of those gloomy days and come see a special event screening this month? The following is a list of some screenings you should definitely check out and for more information on each event, click on their titles: August 2nd: Kiki's Delivery Service (Japanese w/e.s.t.) From the legendary Hayao Miyazaki comes the beloved story of a resourceful young witch who uses her broom to create a delivery service, only to lose her gift of flight in a moment of self-doubt. It is tradition for all young witches to leave their families on the night of a full moon and set out into the wide world to learn their craft. When that night comes for Kiki,...

Enter here for your chance to win two passes to all of the 2016 performances in the Metro Detroit area that are part of the Metropolitan Opera’s award-winning Live in HD series of cinema presentations, including Les Pêcheurs de Perles (The Pearl Fishers), Turandot, Manon Lescaut, Madama Butterfly, Roberto Devereux, and Elektra.

Go behind the scenes with the Met’s stars! During intermission, interviews with cast, crew, and production teams give a revealing look at what goes into the staging of an opera. Celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Metropolitan Opera’s Peabody and Emmy Award-winning series The Met: Live in HD.

For your chance to receive two (2) complimentary passes to all of the performances listed below, just look for the “Enter the Contest” box further down on this page (we’ll ask what city you live in so we know what might be the closest theater to you).

But,...

My usual explanation in this space: I am especially interested in piano and choral music, plus symphonies, so that’s what I get the most promos of. Other stuff obviously gets through my filters, but the percentages of what comes in inevitably affect what comes out, i.e. this list. That said, in terms of number of centuries spanned, rather than genres or formats or whatever, I think I'm covering as much or more musical territory than most critics. By the way, look for a shorter list of my favorite classical reissues of 2012, to follow in a day or two.

1. Tokyo String Quartet, Jon Manasse, Jon Nakamatsu Brahms: Piano Quintet, Clarinet Quintet (Harmonia Mundi) There were recordings this year that were more important in terms of bringing new repertoire to light, or featuring young artists, or bringing classical into the 21st century, or being more controversially newsworthy. Examples of all of those follow.

Damrau/Flórez/Lucic/Dresden Strate Opera Chorus/Dresden Staatskapelle/Luisi

(Virgin Classics)

Recorded in Dresden in 2008, Nikolaus Lehnhoff's production of Rigoletto is a ferocious, if uneven affair, that awkwardly positions the opera between religious drama and psychopathology. Lehnhoff roots the tragedy in the dysfunctional relationship between Rigoletto (Zeljko Lucic) and Gilda (Diana Damrau), rather than in the jester's developing conflict with the Duke (Juan Diego Flórez). Yet he also takes on board a comment in the text that this world is hell: the Duke's cronies don demonic disguises to carry out Gilda's abduction, while her final act of self-sacrifice, played out against a Michelangelesque backdrop of the day of judgment, acquires ambivalently redemptive, Christ-like overtones. Some of this strains against the score, since Damrau and Lucic have to pitch their characterisations as more neurotic – therefore less sympathetic – than the music suggests. But vocally they've rarely been bettered, while Flórez,...