London Philharmonic Orchestra
Actor
The London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) is one of five permanent symphony orchestras based in London. It was founded by the conductors Sir Thomas Beecham and Malcolm Sargent in 1932 as a rival to the existing London Symphony Orchestra and BBC Symphony Orchestra. The founders' ambition was to build an orchestra the equal of any European or American rival. Between 1932 and the Second World War the LPO was widely judged to have succeeded in this regard. After the outbreak of war, the orchestra's private backers withdrew and the players reconstituted the LPO as a self-governing cooperative. In the post-war years, the orchestra faced challenges from two new rivals; the Philharmonia and the Royal Philharmonic, founded respectively in 1946 and 1947, achieved a quality of playing not matched by the older orchestras, including the LPO. By the 1960s the LPO had regained its earlier standards, and in 1964 it secured a valuable engagement to play in the Glyndebourne Festival opera house during the summer months. In 1993 it was appointed resident orchestra of the Royal Festival Hall on the south bank of the Thames, one of London's major concert venues. Since 1995 the residency has been jointly held with the Philharmonia. In addition to its work at the Festival Hall and Glyndebourne, the LPO performs regularly at the Congress Theatre, Eastbourne and the Brighton Dome, and tours nationally and internationally. Since Beecham, the orchestra has had ten principal conductors, including Sir Adrian Boult, Bernard Haitink, Sir Georg Solti, Klaus Tennstedt and Vladimir Jurowski. The orchestra has been active in recording studios since its earliest days, and has played on hundreds of sets made by EMI, Decca and other companies. Since 2005 the LPO has had its own record label, issuing live recordings of concerts. The orchestra has played on numerous film soundtracks, including Lawrence of Arabia (1962) and the Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001–03).
Movies10
Movie8.5MusicLive from Glyndebourne 1994. The first production to be filmed Live in Glyndebourne´s new opera house May 1994. The Marriage of Figaro is a continuation of the plot of The Barber of Seville several years later, and recounts a single “day of madness” in the palace of the Count Almaviva near Seville, Spain. Rosina is now the Countess; Dr. Bartolo is seeking revenge against Figaro for thwarting his plans to marry Rosina himself; and Count Almaviva has degenerated from the romantic youth of Barber into a scheming, bullying, skirt-chasing baritone. This follows the Count trying to obtain favours from Susanna, Figaro’s bride to be, under the nose of the Countess.
Movie4.5DramaMusicA young woman, married to a wealthy man, but miserably lonely; trapped within a world ruled with an iron fist. Katerina is driven by a lust for life and for love. Her husband, though, is impotent; her father-in-law a tyrant. No wonder, then, that she longs to free herself from this yoke. When Sergei starts work on the family estate, she sees in him a chance for salvation. However, their subsequent affair marks the beginning of a descent into crime.
Movie9.5MusicThe celebrated mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli joins Bryn Terfel for a recital of arias and duets recorded at Glyndebourne Opera House in 1999. The programme features favourite pieces from Mozart, Rossini and Donizetti, with the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Myung-Whun Chung.
Cecilia & Bryn at Glyndebourne
1999 · 2 votes
Movie9.5MusicIn late 18th-century Italy, in the mansion of Don Magnifico, the young and pretty Angelina works as a maid. Teased by her two frivolous half-sisters, Clorinda and Tisby, Angelina believes she is in love with a young valet and goes to the ball. Dressed in her finest finery, she meets the man who is in fact the Prince and flees from him after giving him a bracelet that will allow him to recognise her a little later. The masks come off, and kindness and love triumph! ‘La Cenerentola’ is the last opera buffa composed by Gioachino Rossini for an Italian audience. A dramma giocoso in two acts, with a libretto by Jacopo Ferretti, freely adapted from Charles Perrault’s fairy tale ‘Cinderella’ (1697), omitting the magic in favour of a realism tinged with humour and social criticism. Premiered for the Rome Carnival at the Teatro Valle in Rome on 28 January 1817. Recorded live at Glyndebourne Opera, Lewes, East Sussex, on 2 and 4 June 2005.
Rossini: La cenerentola
2005 · 1 votes
Movie9.0MusicIn the mid-20th century, in Fucecchio, near Florence, Buoso Donati, an elderly collector and wealthy antique dealer, has just passed away. He lies in his bed, surrounded by relatives feigning grief. They are all worried, as the deceased has bequeathed his entire fortune to a monastery. They search frantically for the will. The young Riniccio, Donati’s nephew, finds it but agrees to show it to the family only if they promise to let him marry Lauretta, the daughter of Gianni Schicchi, a local figure of dubious reputation. Everyone accepts the condition and discovers to their horror that the rumour was true: the monks are set to inherit the fortune. Riniccio suggests calling on Schicchi for help, much to the family’s disgust. Summoned, Riniccio arrives at the house accompanied by his daughter. He proposes keeping the death a secret, taking his place, and instructing a doctor and a notary to alter ‘his’ testamentary dispositions. But has the hunter become the hunted? Not so sure...
Giacomo Puccini: Gianni Schicchi
2004 · 1 votes
Movie5.2MusicLive performance of Mozart's opera buffa "Le nozze di Figaro" from the Glyndebourne Festival Opera in 1973, featuring Knut Skram, Ileana Cotrubas, Benjamin Luxon, Kiri Te Kanawa, and Frederica von Stade.
The Marriage of Figaro
1974 · 2 votes
MovieMusicThe devil is hard at work in Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress! The three-act opera was premiered at Venice’s La Fenice in 1951 and is whimsically staged and performed in this production from the 2010 Glyndebourne opera festival.
Movie10.0MusicCaptain Vere, an old man, is haunted by a moment in his life when he was tested and found wanting. Based on Herman Melville's novella of naval life in the late 18th Century, Benjamin Britten's 'Billy Budd' is a gripping reflection on good and evil, innocence and corruption.
Britten: Billy Budd
2011 · 1 votes
MovieMusicIn “a Wagner staging to treasure” (The Sunday Telegraph), the 2011 Glyndebourne Festival brings to life the legendary German composer’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. Staged by David McVicar, the production features an all-star cast of leads supported by the London Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Vladimir Jurowski.
MovieA remote English country house, and old and faithful housekeeper, two young orphan children and an eager new governess sent down from London to look after them. But all is not quite as it seems in the sheltered world of Bly. Britten's brilliantly scored, insidiously compelling adaptation of Henry James's novella takes its themes of of childish innocence and adult corruption, then twists and turns them to disturbing and ultimately devastating effect.