The Indian Queen — HDVDARTS

Purcell The Indian Queen opera to a libretto by John Dryden and Sir Robert Howard. Directed by Peter Sellars (assisted by Robert Castro) who substantially revised the original libretto, imported other music from Purcell, and added narration from Maritxell Carrero based on Rosario Aguilar’s novel The Lost Chronicals of Terra Firma. All this results in a modern version of the Spanish conquest of the New World from the viewpoint of the aboriginals. Stars Julia Bullock (Teculihuatzin/Dona Luisa), Vince Yi (Hunahpu), Nadine Koutcher (Dona Isabel), Christophe Dumaux (Ixbalanque), Markus Brutscher (Don Pedrarias Davila), Noah Stewart (Don Pedro de Alvarado), Maritxell Carrero (Leonor), and Celine Peña (Leonor’s Child). Teodor Currentzis conducts the Perm Opera MusicAeterna Orchestra (baroque instruments) and Choir (Chorus Master Vitaly Polonsky). Sets by Gronk; costumes by Dunya Lamicova; lighting by James F. Ingalls; choreography by Christopher Williams. Sung in English. Released 2016. Grade: NA

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Here's news about high-definition video disc ("HDVD") recordings of opera, ballet, classical music, plays, fine-art documentaries, and paintings. In the journal below are independent (and hard-to-find critical) reports on hundreds of HDVDs. Pick the best titles for your excelsisphere.

Feb 25. We have just completed one of our most ambitious reviews: Einstein on the Beach opera, the surreal 4 and 1/2 hour cult legend. Kudos, encomiums, and accolades to Opus Arte for giving us this authoritative and weirdly fascinating recording, which we grade A+. Absorbing and learning Einstein is uniquely challenging. We try to help out by providing aids not included in the keepcase materials: an accurate libretto and a list of segments in the opera with correct Opus Arte time stamps. Good luck!

We have some other good grades with an A for the recent Met The Pearl Fishers (Les pêcheurs de perles) and a B- for an earlier The Pearl Fishers from Naples. Also, we recently gave an A- for the new Don Quixote from the Vienna State Ballet.