Jessica Pratt

Regarded by many as an influential figure in the history of cassette culture and DIY recording, Martin Newell has been an integral part of the British music scene since the 1970s, and his music career spans over six decades. He’s been produced by XTC’s Andy Partridge, and written for the likes of Captain Sensible of The Damned. Though it would be wrong to call him an "unknown", he has never been directly in the limelight. This film brings to light the amazing career and life work of the artist, who, on top of being the most published contemporary British poet as well as an established gardener, continues to record and release music today.

In this New Year’s Day performance, Laurent Pelly’s storybook staging of Massenet’s Cendrillon, a hit of the 2017–18 season, is presented with an all-new English translation in an abridged 90-minute adaptation, with mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard as its rags-to-riches princess. Maestro Emmanuel Villaume leads a delightful cast, which includes mezzo-soprano Emily D’Angelo as Cinderella’s Prince Charming, soprano Jessica Pratt as her Fairy Godmother, and mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe and bass-baritone Laurent Naouri as her feuding guardians. This live cinema transmission is part of the Met’s award-winning Live in HD series, bringing opera to movie theaters across the globe.

Aureliano in Palmira celebrated its rst première on 26 December 1813 at the Scala in Milan. Soon afterwards the work was played in different theatres all over Europe. Nevertheless Rossini's piece fell into oblivion more and more compared to the great competitors like "Tancredi" or the "Barber of Seville" for which Rossini recycled musical parts of "Aureliano". But since a few years there are ambitions to play this work about love, war, jealousy, loyalty and magnanimity more frequently. The direction in Pesaro was in the proven hands of the famous lm director Mario Martone. Conductor Will Crutcheld contributes to the successful performance of the newly edited "Aureliano in Palmira" and masterfully directs the Orchestra Sinfonica G. Rossini.

Vincenzo Bellini wrote two tragic operas for Teatro La Fenice: I Capuleti e i Montecchi and Beatrice di Tenda. The first, composed in 1830 and to the story of Romeo and Juliet but not based on Shakespeare but rather on an early nineteenth-century tragedy by Luigi Scevola in a new production by Arnaud Bernard (direction), Alessandro Camera (sets) and Maria Carla Ricotti (costumes), co-produced with Fondazione Arena di Verona (where it was presented at the Teatro Filarmonico in November 2013) and with the Greek National Opera of Athens. The cast includes Jessica Pratt and Mihaela Marcu as Giulietta; Sonia Ganassi and Paola Gardina as Romeo; Shalva Mukeria and Francesco Marsiglia as Tebaldo; Rubén Amoretti as Capellio; and Luca Dall’Amico as Lorenzo, conducted by Omer Meir Wellber.

Live performance from Teatro La Fenice, 29 Nov. 2013.

"It can be truly said of Adelaide di Borgogna that, like a rose, it bloomed but a day - l'espace d'un matin." First performed in Rome on the 27th December 1817, it enjoyed very few revivals. In 2011 the Rossini Festival in Pesaro presented the second staged performance of Adelaide di Borgogna since 1825. The story of the opera was taken from a historical event that took place in the medieval period, marking the end of an independent Italian kingdom and leading to the birth of the German Holy Roman Empire through the efforts of Otto I of Saxony. Caught between political rivalry and the love of two men, Adelaide of Burgundy struggles to fight for her people and chooses Otto, the better ruler, for herself and her kingdom.

The Biblical story of Belshazzar's hubristic arrogance, set against the valour of the young warrrior-leader Cyrus, provided the 20-year-old Rossini with a dramatic story enriched by West-Eastern implications which still speak to us today. For the title role of Cyrus, Rossini wrote what would be his longest-ever contralto role, to which the great Rossini singer Ewa Podles´ is both naturally attracted and ideally suited. She is partnered by two young stars of Rossini singing, Jessica Pratt and Michael Spyres, and a conductor-scholar, Will Crutchfield, of great experience and sympathy. Filmed in High Definition and recorded in true Surround Sound.