DVD Film Collection

When Mozart arrives at the court of Emperor Joseph II, court composer Antonio Salieri is horrified to discover that the godlike musical gifts he desires himself have been bestowed on a bawdy joker. Mad with envy, he plots to destroy Mozart by any means.

The story of Loretta Lynn, who rose from the poverty-stricken Appalachian area to become one of the biggest country singers of all time.

Portrait of the artist as a young man. In spring, 1965, Bob Dylan a 23 year-old, pixyish troubador, spent three weeks in England. Follows him from airport to hall, from hotel room to public house, from conversation to concert. Joan Baez and Donovan, among others, are on hand. It's the period when Dylan is shifting from acoustic to electric, a transition that not all fans, including Baez, applaud. From the opening sequence Dylan is playful and enigmatic.

Based on the incredible life story of the Godfather of Soul, this film gives a fearless look inside the music, moves and moods of Brown, taking audiences on the journey from his impoverished childhood to his evolution into one of the most influential figures of the 20th century.

Based on the life of composer Ludwig Beethoven. A letter found after his death leads to efforts to uncover the mystery of who was his immortal beloved.
Mystery based on the tumultuous real life of composer Ludwig van Beethoven, the passionate, volatile genius who inspired love and hatred in equal measure. Whether seducing regal followers or criticizing the ruling class, Beethoven made many enemies. But he also had one true love - the unnamed "Immortal Beloved" mentioned in an enigmatic letter discovered upon his death. The thrilling search for the identity of this mystery woman leads us into Beethoven's dark past, his hidden passions, and ultimately, into the unparalleled genius of his music.

This sparkling documentary features rare TV and movie clips, along with commentary by a stellar group of jazz instrumentalists and singers who knew her well.

Presents a rare, behind-the-scenes look at Jackson as he developed, created, and rehearsed for his sold-out concerts at London's 02 Arena. Drawn from more than one hundred hours of behind-the-scenes footage, the singer, dancer, filmmaker, architect, creative genius, and great artist at work is captured in raw and candid detail as he created and perfected his planned final London shows.

The story of one of America's true musical geniuses, Ray Charles, from his humble beginnings in the South through his meteoric rise to the top of American musical charts.

In 1987, five young men, using brutally honest rhymes and hardcore beats, put their frustration and anger about life in the most dangerous place in America into the most powerful weapon they had: their music. Taking viewers back to where it all began, the film tells the true story of how these cultural rebels-armed only with their lyrics, swagger, bravado and raw talent-stood up to the authorities that meant to keep them down and formed the world's most dangerous group, N.W.A.

In Afghanistan you risk your life to sing. After thirty years of war and five devastating years of Taliban rule, pop culture is beginning to return to the country. Since 2005, millions have been tuning in to Tolo TV's wildly popular American idol-style series, Afghan star. Like its Western predecessors, people compete for a cash prize and record deal. More surprisingly, the contest is open to everyone across the country despite gender, ethnicity, or age.

A joyous cinematic exploration of music's capacity to reawaken our souls and uncover the deepest parts of our humanity. Filmmaker Michael Rossato-Bennett chronicles the astonishing experiences of individuals around the country who have been revitalized through the simple experience of listening to music.

Tells the story of black South African freedom music and the central role it played against apartheid. Specifically considers the music that sustained and galvanized blacks for more than 40 years. Focuses on the struggle's spiritural dimension named for the Xhosa word for "power". An uplifting story of human courage, resolve and triumph.

A great day in Harlem tells the story of Art Kane's famous 1958 group photograph of the jazz greats of the period. Includes home movie footage of that day of the musicians arriving and greeting each other the morning of the shoot. Also includes conversations with musicians and archival performance footage.

A story about the transformative power of music, which also highlights two vital issues of our times: poverty and waste pollution. The film follows the Recycled Orchestra of Cateura, an orchestra performing on instruments made out of recycled trash, led by music director Favio Chávez. As the group takes its inspiring spectacle of trash-into-music around the world, we follow the lives of a garbage picker, a music teacher, and a group of children from a Paraguayan slum in Asunción.

The Last Song Before the War is a feature-length documentary that captures the inspiring rise and uncertain future of Mali's annual Festival in the Desert. The festival history is told from the perspective of the co-founder and festival director, Manny Ansar, the musicians who perform and the intrepid travelers from around the world who make the long journey to attend the festival. Against the backdrop of stunning musical performances, the film subtly reveals the challenges and triumphs of creating an artistic event in such challenging economic and political circumstances. After 12 years of success and unforgettable musical moments, the Festival in the Desert came to a halt in 2012 when separatist rebels and Islamic militants seized control of Northern Mali. The Last Song Before the War chronicles the 2011 Festival--arguably the last edition that still captured its original goals--a global display of peace, reconciliation, and the healing power of music.

Take a behind-the-scenes look at the public and private lives of rising pop stars Jason and deMarco, who are gay, Christian, and in love. The two charismatic singers perform all over the country in dance clubs, at pride events, and even in churches. But their openness about their sexuality often pits them against evangelical Christianity, while their faith at times meets with resistance from the gay community. As they prepare to release a new album to appeal to a wider audience, We're all angels turns the spotlight on their struggle to integrate their sexuality and spirituality within their relationship and professional careers.

The entire performance of every artist was filmed at Woodstock. This footage has been archived since that history-making weekend and has only recently been re-discovered. Never before has the complete performance been shown, before now.

Presents the romantic adventures of a carefree young artist in post-WWII Paris.

Annie is a young, happy foster kid who's also tough enough to make her way on the streets of New York. Originally left by her parents as a baby with the promise that they'd be back for her someday, it's been a hard knock life ever since with her mean foster mom Miss Hannigan. But everything's about to change when the hard-nosed tycoon and New York mayoral candidate Will Stacks, advised by his brilliant VP, Grace and Guy, makes a thinly-veiled campaign move and takes her in.

Based on Jane Austen's classic novel, Pride and Prejudice, with a Bollywood twist. In Ammritsar, the determined Mrs. Bakshi sets out to find matches for her four daughters. Second sister, Lalita, meets American Will Darcy - is it love?

An egocentric American girl dreams of becoming a star while working in a third-rate Berlin cabaret.

At a time when crimes of passion result in celebrity headlines, nightclub sensation Velma Kelly and spotlight-seeking Roxie Hart both find themselves on Chicago's famed Murderess Row. They also share Billy Flynn, the town's slickest lawyer with a talent for turning notorious defendants into local legends.

Tevye is a poor Jewish milkman with five unmarried daughters to support in a village in Czarist Russia. With a sharp tongued wife at home and growing anti-Semitism in the village, Tevye talks to God about his troubles. His people's traditions keep him strong when his existence is as precariously balanced as a fiddler on the roof.

A musical set in Paris in which a girl trained as a high society courtesan falls in love with a rich and handsome boulevardier.

Film adaptation of the off-Broadway musical based on the Gospel According to St. Matthew. Set in contemporary New York City, the film features a cast drawn from both the original New York and various stage companies.

A modern twist on several of the beloved Brothers Grimm fairy tales, intertwining the plots of a few choice stories and exploring the consequences of the characters' wishes and quests. This humorous and heartfelt musical follows the classic tales of Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk, and Rapunzel, all tied together by an original story involving a baker and his wife, their wish to begin a family and their interaction with the witch who has put a curse on them.

The story of four young men from the wrong side of the tracks in New Jersey who came together to form the iconic 1960s rock group The Four Seasons.

Film version of the musical stage play, presenting the last few weeks of Christ's life, told in an anachronistic manner.

In Saint Louis before the 1904 World's Fair, Alonzo Smith threatens to uproot his family and move to New York, which greatly upsets his wife and four daughters.

In early 19th century France the paroled prisoner Jean Valjean seeks redemption, regains his social standing, and rises to the rank of mayor. He encounters a beautiful but desperately ill woman named Fantine and cares for her daughter, Cosette, after her death. All the while he is obsessively pursued by the policeman Javert, who vows to make him pay for the crimes of his past.

A Cockney waif is transformed by a linguistics professor into an elegant lady.

Centers on the dilemma of a young ballerina torn between the composer who loves her and the impresario determined to fashion her into a great dancer.

This film captures the last Broadway performance of the long running rock musical RENT. Loosely based on Puccini's opera "La Bohème," it tells the story of a group of impoverished young artists and musicians struggling to survive and create in New York's Lower East Side in the thriving days of Bohemian Alphabet City, under the shadow of HIV/AIDS. Roommates, friends, lovers, at times enemies, the struggles of documentary filmmaker Mark, musician Roger, dancer Mimi, performance artist Maureen, public interest lawyer Joanne, teacher/anarchist Tom Collins and his drag queen lover Angel, with their sell-out land lord Benjamin "Benny" Coffin III revolve around the rent. As a year unfolds, they face a host of personal trials and begin coming to terms with the limits of their aspirations and relationships.

Actors are caught in the bumpy transition to talking pictures; a Spoof of the early days of "talkie" films.

As Nazism takes over Austria, a governess and a widowed father fall in love and escape the country with his large family of musically-talented children.

Fred Astaire plays a gambler intent on raising $25,000 in New York in order to marry his fiance back home. Romantic complications occur when he meets dancing teacher, Ginger Rogers. Memorable songs include "The Way you look tonight".

Showman Jerry Travers is working for producer Horace Hardwick in London. Jerry demonstrates his new dance steps late one night in Horace's hotel, much to the annoyance of sleeping Dale Tremont below. She goes upstairs to complain and the two are immediately attracted to each other. Complications arise when Dale mistakes Jerry for Horace.

This musical sets the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet against a backdrop of the rivalry of two street gangs, the Sharks and the Jets, in New York of the 1950s. A young woman who is sister to the Sharks leader has her first taste of love with the former head of the Jets.

The Wiz: Dorothy is a 24-year-old Manhattan kindergarten teacher who is whisked away from her inner-city neighborhood via a snowstorm to the mysterious land of Oz. Oz is a sprawling, decaying, nightmarish, and dangerous megalopolis that resembles the physical characteristics of New York City.
The Wiz live: Staying true to the groundbreaking Broadway show that put a vivid urban spin on the land of Oz. Winner of seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical, the original hit Broadway show became a cultural touchstone that also spawned the classic film. Here a Tony-winning creative team has brought together the imaginative acrobats of Cirque du Soleil and a cast of extraordinary singers and dancers to create an exciting new version of the show unlike anything seen before.

The story of an ill-fated love affair between an idealistic poet and a comsumptive flower-maker. eresa Stratas, Renata Scotto, sopranos ; José Carreras, tenor ; Richard Stilwell, baritone ; Allan Monk, James Morris, bass-baritones ; Metropolitan Opera Chorus and Orchestra ; James Levine, conductor.

The story of a young nobleman who is obsessed with amorous conquests and his encounters with Donna Anna, who seeks revenge for her father's murder. Thomas Allen (Don Giovanni) ; Sergej Koptchak (Il commendatore) ; Edita Gruberova (Donna Anna) ; Francisco Araiza (Don Ottavio) ; Ann Murray (Donna Elvira) ; Claudio Desderi (Leporello) ; Natale de Carolis (Masetto) ; Susanne Mentzer (Zerlina) ; Orchestra and chorus of Teatro alla Scala ; Riccardo Muti, conductor.

Adapted from Shakespeare's Merry wives of Windsor and Henry IV.
Bryn Terfel (Sir John Falstaff) ; Roberto Frontali (Ford) ; Kenneth Tarver (Fenton) ; Robin Leggate (Dr. Caius) ; Peter Hoare (Bardolph) ; Gwynne Howell (Pistol) ; Barbara Frittoli (Alice Ford), Desirée Rancatore (Nannetta), Bernadette Manca di Nissa (Mistress Quickly) ; Royal Opera Chorus and Orchestra ; Bernard Haitink, conductor.

Ana Maria Gonzalez, Alfredo Kraus, Nicola Ghiuselev, Roberto Coviello, Ambra Vespasiani, Wilma Colla, Tito Turtura, vocal soloists ; Coro del Teatro Regio della Cooperativa "Artisti de Coro" di Parma ; Orchestra sinfonica dell'Emilia Romagna "Arturo Toscanini" ; Alain Guingal, conductor.

An effervescent comedic opera which includes Viennese dance music and an escapist plot. Kiri Te Kanawa ; Hermann Prey ; Hildegarde Heichele ; Benjamin Luxon ; Royal Opera, Covent Garden ; Placido Domingo, conductor.

One of the most acclaimed Wagner productions of the postwar period, this electrifying, revolutionary Bayreuth staging of 'The flying Dutchman" catapulted the German director Harry Kupfer to international fame. Kupfer's psychologically acute production presents the entire story as a hallucination, in which Senta's yearning for the eternally wandering Dutchman sends her into a trance-like state.

The story of two lovers who are separated, then pursued by her brother who is convinced that they are responsible for her father's death. This tragic story of love, honor and vengence is based on the premise that fate is inexorable, that there is no free choice.

A studio performance of one of Handel's best known operas by the English National Opera. The Opera, a tale of love and power based on Shakespeare's play, was first performed in 1724 at the Haymarket Theatre in London using castrati singers in the heroes roles. This lavish production follows modern practice in using women in these parts, and in particular, Dame Janet Baker creates the virtuoso role of Julius Caesar.

Yasuko Hayashi (Madama Butterfly) ; Hak-Nam Kim (Suzuki) ; Peter Dvorsky (Pinkerton) ; Giorgio Zancanaro (Sharpless) ; Chorus and Orchestra of La Scala, Milan ; Giulio Bertola, chorus master ; Lorin Maazel, conductor.

Joan Sutherland ; Ronald Stevens ; Anne-Maree McDonald ; Anson Austin ; Gordon Wilcock ; Graeme Ewer ; Australian Opera Chorus and Ballet ; Elizabethan Philharmonic Orchestra ; Richard Bonynge, conductor.
Taped live at the Sydney Opera House, Feb. 23, 1988.

Hermann Prey (Figaro) ; Mirella Freni (Susanna) ; Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (Il Conte di Almaviva) ; Kiri Te Kanawa (La Contessa di Almaviva) ; Maria Ewing (Cherubino) ; Paolo Montarsolo (Bartolo) ; Heather Begg (Marcellina) ; John Van Kesteren (Basilio) ; Hans Kraemmer (Antonio) ; Janet Perry (Barbarina) ; Willy Caron (Don Curzio) ; Wiener Philharmoniker ; Karl Böhm, conductor.

Montserrat Figueras, La Musica ; Furio Zanasi, Orfeo ; Arianna Savall, Euridice ; Sara Mingardo, Messaggiera ; Cécile van de Sant, Speranza ; Antonio Abete, Caronte ; Adriana Fernández, Proserpina ; Daniele Carnovich, Plutone ; Fulvio Bettini, Apollo ; Mercedes Hernández, Ninfa ; Marília Vargas, Eco ; Gerd Türk, Pastores ; Francesc Garrigosa, Carlos Mena, Iván García, espíritus ; Le Concert des nations ; La Capella Reial de Catalunya ; Jordi Savall, musical director.

This video is the adaptation of the Glyndebourne Festival Opera stage production of the Gershwins' classic musical drama Porgy and Bess, which portrays the lives of the occupants of Catfish Row.

Renée Fleming (Rusalka) ; Piotr Beczała (The Prince) ; Dolora Zajick (Ježibaba) ; John Relyea (Water Gnome) ; Emily Magee (The Foreign Princess) ; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Chorus, and Ballet ; Yannick Nézet-Séguin, conductor.

René Kollo (Tristan) ; Matti Salminen (König Marke) ; Johanna Meier (Isolde) ; Hermann Becht (Kurwenal) ; Robert Schunk (Melot) ; Hanna Schwarz (Brangäne) ; Helmut Pampuch (Ein Hirt) ; Martin Egel (Ein Steuermann) ; Bayreuth Festival Chorus ; Norbert Balatsch, chorus master ; Bayreuth Festival Orchestra ; Daniel Barenboim, conductor.
Set design, costumes, staging and direction, Jean-Pierre Ponnelle ; artistic supervision, Wolfgang Wagner.