The Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare

Thursday, 1^st March 2012 @ 7.00pm

I in earth, in heaven, or in hell? Sleeping or waking? mad or well advised? Known unto these, and to myself disguised! Two sets of twins separated at birth collide in the same city without meeting for one crazy day, as multiple mistaken identities lead to confusion on a grand scale. And for no one more so than Antipholus of Syracuse and his servant Dromio who, in search of their brothers, arrive in a land entirely foreign to their distant home.

Berlin Philharmonic, Live in HD: Christian Thielemann Albrecht Mayer
Anton Bruckner: Symphony No. 4 “Romantic”; Richard Strauss: Oboe Concerto

Sunday, 4^th March 2012 @ 6.30pm

Conducted by the greatly sought after Christian Thielemann. His interpretations of late romantic music in particular have brought him international recognition. Here he conducts the Berliner Philharmoniker’s solo oboist, Albrecht Mayer, as he performs Richard Strauss’s Oboe Concerto and Anton Bruckner’s richly atmospheric Symphony No. 4 “Romantic”.

La Boheme – Giacomo Puccini – Opera in four acts

Tuesday, 13^thMarch 2012

In La Bohème, however, the aesthetic of Verism — the Italian equivalent of the French Naturalism of Émile Zola — becomes more sentimental and the brutality of social reality is depicted less crudely than elsewhere. Four young artists live out their everyday lives amid dreams and disappointments, waiting for the event that is to win them renown, but poverty and misfortune deprive the leading characters — Mimì and Rodolfo — of the joy of mutual love. The text and music relate all this with a pleasant melodramatic tenderness with which it is easy to identify.

Romeo And Juliet; Live in Ballet in HD from The Royal Opera House

Thursday, 22^thMarch 2012 @ 7.15pm

Romeo and Juliet was Kenneth MacMillan’s first full-evening ballet, and, from its premiere in 1965, has been one of The Royal Ballet’s signature works, popular all over the world. At the beginning of the ballet MacMillan’s crowd scenes teem with life and colour. It’s a pleasure to be able to follow the characters created by members of the corps de ballet as they portray the townspeople, market traders and servants of the rival Montagues and Capulets. However, once Romeo and Juliet meet, everything else on stage can only be scenery for their story.

Rigoletto; Giuseppe Verdi Opera live in HD from The Royal Opera House

Tuesday, 17^thApril 2012 @ 7.15 pm

In Rigoletto, Verdi charts the fate of his larger-than-life characters – the tormented jester trying to avenge himself on his heartless playboy employer the Duke of Mantua, who has carelessly seduced Rigoletto’s innocent daughter Gilda – in music of immense theatrical punch and instant memorability. Based on Victor Hugo’s controversial play, Le Rois’amuse,

La Fille Mal Gardee; Live ballet in HD from The Royal Opera House

Wednesday, 16^thMay 2012 @ 7.15 pm

The simple story of Lise, her suitor Colas and Lise’s larger-than-life mother, the Widow Simone, who tries to marry her off to the simpleton son of a rich neighbour, is full of delicious comedy but also wonderful, characterful choreography. One of the greatest pleasures of Fille is the way in which the steps, though at times devilishly difficult, never get in the way of the natural, easy storytelling.