Voltaire

Rossini: Semiramide

A rarely performed bel canto gem, Rossini’s Semiramide returned to the Met for the first time in nearly 25 years during the 2017–18 season. Set in ancient Babylon under the reign of the mythic Queen Semiramis, the opera features political scheming, mistaken identity, divine intervention, and bloodthirsty revenge—not to mention one virtuosic vocal display after another. Soprano Angela Meade is the fierce title monarch, whose quest for power comes to a halt with the discovery that the object of her affection, the warrior Arsace—sung by mezzo-soprano Elizabeth DeShong—may actually be her long-lost son. Together, the two square off in a pair of dazzling duets and deliver some of the opera’s most challenging arias. Bel canto specialist Maurizio Benini takes the podium to lead a cast that also stars tenor Javier Camarena as the ardent prince Idreno, bass Ildar Abdrazakov as the scheming Assur, and bass Ryan Speedo Green as the stern high priest Oroe.

Alzira

Part of Tutto Verdi series - Alzira (2012) Dobbiaco. This is a concert performance. Alzira is an opera in a prologue and two acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Salvatore Cammarano, based on the play Alzire, ou les Américains by Voltaire. The first performance was at the Teatro San Carlo, Naples, on 12 August 1845.

El Infierno Perfecto

This is tragic comedy about how Candide was brought up in the best of all possible worlds, and how he was expelled from it; how he lost his beloved Beatrice and his master Azcarate; passing through existential storms and shipwrecks; of faith and encounters with the miseries of the universe; and how Candide wanted, at all times, that this was the last day of the world

Candide

Concert performance of Bernstein's Candide, with additional connecting texts by Loriot (Vicco von Bülow).

Tancredi

Live performance from Schwetzinger Festspiele, 1992. Based on Voltaire's tragedy, TANCREDI is a story of innocence wronged set against a backdrop of Turks at war with Syracuse. Amenaide, the daughter of Argirio, leader of the senate, is in love with the exiled knight Tancredi. Argirio offers Amenaide's hand in marriage to Orbazzano, the leader of a rival faction, as a token of reconciliation. Amenaide resists this and sends a letter to Tancredi, who is back in Syracuse in hiding. The letter is intercepted, and it is mistaken as an invitation to the Turk Solamir to enter Syracuse. Amenaide is sentenced to death for treachery, but Argirio allows a champion to fight for her vindication... will her beloved Tancredi save her? Bernadette Manca di Nissa, Maria Bayo, and Raul Gimenez star in this Rossini opera with Gianluigi Gelmetti conducting the Radio Symphony Orchester Stuttgart.

Semiramide

In ancient Babylon, SEMIRAMIDE (Anderson) encourages her lover Assur (Ramey) to murder her husband, King Ninus. Her son, Ninius, disappears, believed dead, and Semiramide rules in her own right. 15 years later, as the opera opens, she is about to announce the name of her successor. Idreno (Olsen) and Assur are the leading candidates for the throne and the hand of Princess Azema (Shin), but Semiramide has taken a fancy to young Arsace (Horne), her victorious military leader who has been summoned back to Babylon. Only the high priest Oroe (Cheek) knows that Arsace is actually Ninius, spirited away to safety after the coup. As the queen announces Arsace as her successor, the ghost of her husband appears from his tomb, demanding that Arsace punish the late king’s murderers... Filmed at New York's Metropolitan Opera, John Copley's production of Rossini's last, longest and most elaborate dramatic opera brings together what many consider the definitive contemporary cast.

Leonard Bernstein - Bernstein - Candide

This is the historic concert performance of the final operatic version of Bernstein's Candide. It was recorded on December 13, 1989 at the Barbican Centre, with Leonard Bernstein conducting the London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, with a stellar cast of operatic stars gracing the solo parts. The programme lasts a full 2hrs 27 mins. It marks the end of a long and tortured journey for the musical/operetta that spent much of its first 35 years as an orphan in the musical wilderness.

Dandy

A selection of seemingly unconnected scenes featuring Nick Cave, Blixa Bargeld, Nina Hagen and Lene Lovich. Losely based on Voltaire's satire "Candide".

Erotic Adventures of Candy

A young Southern belle goes on a sexual odyssey after losing her virginity to a gardener.

The Artless One

Inspired by a Voltaire tale, a satire of society and its values through the astonished and critical eyes of a newly arrived "ingénue" who ridicules all customs in order to marry the woman of his heart.

The Adventures of Zadig

In the time of King Moabdar, in ancient Babylon, the young philosopher, Zadig, undergoes many misadventures.

L’Or et le plomb

The story is based on Voltaire's tale "Le monde comme il va" ("The world as it is"). Sent by the genie who presides over the destiny of Persepolis (Paris!), the Scythian Babouc carefully informs himself of everything, to tell the genie whether or not to destroy the city. This is the pretext for a series of interviews, scenes taken on the spot or reconstructed in the studio. We meet a musician who lives for his art and a Marxist historian, both of them optimists in the end; but also a war widow and an economically weak old lady: while the "fureur de vivre" gives free rein to the Golf Drouot and socialites hide their turpitudes behind a façade of good manners. A large, poorly housed family bravely faces up to its fate, and the children are happy; a working-class household talks about the union struggle, inhumane working conditions and reasons for hope. Finally, a poet sums it all up by talking about his commitment to the service of mankind.

Candide or The Optimism in the 20th Century

Charming and innocent, Candide is vigorously chased away by the Baron, for his close encounters with the pretty Cunégonde. World War II breaks out, and when he is drafted and taken prisoner, he is forced to take German nationality and ends up guarding the camp where he was imprisoned. He crossed into Switzerland, but as he had no bank account, he was incarcerated for eight days for trespassing. Hunted by the Gestapo, he kills two men to free Cunégonde, who has finally been found. They both flee to Argentina, and their world tour begins. In Paris, Moscow, New York, Borneo and Alexandria. They try to follow Dr. Pangloss' optimistic rule of life. Tossed about, separated, they find themselves grown old and wiser, thinking only of cultivating their garden on the shores of the Mediterranean.

Candide

The innocent Candide discovers that human beings aren't all they are cracked up to be and ultimately focuses on building his own life on his own terms.

Candinho

Candinho is a hillbilly who leaves the countryside, taking his donkey along, and goes to São Paulo, trying to find his mother.