One girl's fearless determination to rescue her captive lover from the evil clutches of the Bey of Algiers.

Recorded live at the Festspielhaus, Bayreuth.

Jacques Offenbach had already achieved fame as an operetta composer by 1866, but that year's premiere of La Vie Parisienne was his first portrayal of contemporary Parisian life. With its tale of romantic intrigues, disguises and comic celebrations of the mad gaiety of life in the French capital, La Vie Parisienne became popular in the nation's theatres, but not after a hasty re-working of its final acts after protests from the original performers....

"Two people come very close to the possibility of great happiness together and then it's denied them, by social pressure and family pressure and finally by Violetta's illness."--Booklet.

A brother and sister lose their way home and encounter a witch in the woods.

For his first opera production, Dario Fo, the theater director known for his brilliant wit, chose to stage Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia for the Netherlands Opera. First mounted in 1987, it was a huge success, and a live recording of its revival has been made.

Michael Dorsey is an out-of-work actor who makes himself up as a woman to get a job. When his girlfriend, Sandy, fails an audition for a soap opera, Michael dresses up as "Dorothy Michaels" and lands the part. All goes well until "Dorothy" falls in love with beautiful co-star, Julie, and Julie's father, Les, falls for "Dorothy."

The astonishing debut performance from Jonas Kaufmann as Goethe's love-lorn hero in Massenet's romantic opera. Kaufmann is supported by a superb cast including Sophie Koch, and Ludovic Tezier.