Content from Mezzo

The days leading up to the completion of his most famous painting, A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, Georges Seurat is struggling to make meaningful art and maintaining a relationship with his lover, Dot. Amid the scorn of the artistic community, Seurat's artistic ability thrives while his love diminishes. A century later, Seurat's descendant – named George and also an artist – finds himself burnt out and in search of what artistic path to follow, but he finds the answer to his future in the past.

The LSO’s Principal Guest Conductor Michael Tilson Thomas celebrated his 70th birthday in 2015 with a concert focusing on British and Russian music, but with a nod to his native USA. He’s joined by the sensational young Chinese pianist Yuja Wang in Gershwin’s popular Concerto. Michael Tilson Thomas gave the US premiere of Colin Matthews’ Hidden Variables, an LSO commission during Matthews’ time as an Associate Composer with the LSO.

The support group for opera addicts is in session, and its participants perform Prokofiev's Betrothal in a Monastery. Rarely performed outside Russia, and consigned to oblivion by Andrei Zhdanov's anti-formalist policies after the Second World War, the work is transformed by Dmitri Tcherniakov's extravagant staging. Under the baton of Daniel Barenboim, an all-star cast featuring Aida Garifullina and Violeta Urmana bring the characters to life on stage at Berlin's Staatsoper Unter den Linden.

Flamenco Hoy is the first live play directed by the great Spanish filmmaker Carlos Saura. For this staging it has more than 20 artists of the new generation, all of them possessing a great talent and very recognized in their field, exhibiting a lively, brilliant show, full of strength and energy. The dance, composed of 8 excellent dancers is presented with its varied samples of the traditions acquired over the years and its use of new trends such as jazz and contemporary. The cante is represented by 2 portentous cantaores who interpret the compositions and arrangements of Chano Domínguez, internationally recognized Spanish pianist and several times nominated for the Grammy. 4 musicians of great level complete the music scene.

Recorded at the Salle Pleyel, Paris, the award-winning composer, conductor, songwriter and pianist performs a selection of his film scores accompanied by the Orchestre National d'Ile-de-France. Performers featured include Patrick Fiori, Liane Foly, Maurane, Mario Pelchat, Catherine Michel and Helene Sagara.

While the young people of Europe forsake Love to follow Bellone at war, Cupid sets out to shoot his arrows into the rest of the world. A masterpiece of the Enlightenment, Les Indes galantes is sparkling entertainment. Yet Rameau’s first opera‑ballet also bears witness to the Europeans’ ambiguous view of ‘savage’ cultures. The Belgian choreographer-director Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui adapts Les Indes Galantes to a contemporary setting, where globalisation has transformed the notions of exoticism.

Envy and conspiracy, but also passionate loves, jealousy, revenge and final forgiveness come together in the masterpiece of Verdi, which aroused the anger and prohibitions of censors of the time until the composer and librettist was compelled to make changes in it: from the original Sweden to far away Boston. The great Polish tenor Piotr Beczala returns to the Liceu with one of his opening credits, accompanied by the soprano Keri Alkema. Vincent Boussard’s sets reinforce the dark and mysterious atmosphere surrounding the piece, which features costumes by Christian Lacroix and Vincent Lemaire’s sober staging, which allows one to focus their attention on the dramatic core of the score. The cast, directed by a true specialist like Renato Palumbo, also presents a leader in Verdian song: Dolora Zajick.

Guitarist Marc Ribot, a longtime legend among musicians but little-known outside the industry, finally gets the recognition he deserves in this compilation of performance footage from intimate clubs in New York's Lower East Side and Europe. These shows prove that Ribot deserves his reputation as one of the most talented and inventive composers and guitar improv performers working today, and why he accompanies so many top stars.

Lucia di Lammermoor, dramma tragico in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti (1797 - 1848). Libretto by Salvadore Cammarano, after Walter Scott's 'The Bride of Lammermoor'. First performance in Naples, Teatro San Carlo, 26 September 1835 Recording: December 23 2015 - Gran Teatre del Liceu | Barcelona Director: Fabrice Castanier Conductor: Marco Armiliato Orchestra & Chorus of the Gran Teatre del Liceu

The world famous conductor reminisces about his life in a wide ranging discussion about his varied and successful career.

This seminal work of avant-garde opera from composer Philip Glass and director Robert Wilson arrives full-circle, coming to France, the site of its 1976 Avignon Festival world premiere, at the tail end of this 2014 revival tour for a landmark Theâtre du Châtelet production and a first ever filming by award-winning arts filmmaker Don Kent. Eschewing conventional narrative, the opera revolves loosely around pacifist Einstein’s relationship to the creation of the atomic bomb.

In the 1980s, Algeria experienced a tumultuous social context which reached its peak during the riots of October 88. This wave of protest, with youth as its figurehead, echoed the texts of raï singers. Thirst for freedom, misery of life and the aspirations of youth are among the main themes of their works which will inspire an entire generation. More than music, raï celebrates the Arabic language and becomes a vector of Algerian culture, thus providing the cultural weapons of emerging Algerian nationalism With Cheb Khaled, Cheb Mami and Chaba Fadela as leaders of the movement, raï is also a way of telling and reflecting the essence of Algeria in these difficult times. While the threat weighs on artists in Algeria, their exile allows raï to be exported internationally and thus, to bring the colors of Algeria to life throughout the world.

The recording of Antonio Vivaldi's first opera from Teatro La Fenice, conducted by Diego Fasolis

Since the Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival was founded in 2020, the city of Bayreuth has become a mecca for Baroque music. Sandrine Piau invites us to savour the frivolity of 18th-century Rome through cantatas with enchanting notes.