Lorin Maazel Movies

The Teatro Alla Scalla mounted this 2008 production of Giuseppe Verdi's 1853 opera Traviata, directed by the eminent Liliana Cavani (The Night Porter) and starring Angela Gheorghiu, Roberto Frontali, Ramón Vargas and Natascha Petrinsky. The Orchestra, Chorus and Ballet of the Teatro Alla Scala provide added accompaniment under the baton of Lorin Maazel. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

This 2009 Palau De Les Arts production of Giacomo Puccini's 1926 opera Turandot marks an unusual version, in the sense that Palme d'Or winning filmmaker Chen Kaige did the lavish staging, with elaborate onstage mock-ups of palaces and opulent costumes. The imaginative story is by now well known: the work tells of Princess Turandot, who insists on only marrying a prince capable of solving her clever riddles. This version stars Maria Guleghina in the demanding title role, Javier Agulló as Altoum, Alexander Tsymbalyuk as Timur and Marco Berti as Calaf. The Cor de la Generalitat Valenciana and Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana provide musical accompaniment, with Francesc Perales serving as chorus master, and Lorin Maazel as music director. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

Robert Carsen directs this version of Guiseppe Verdi's La Traviata, based on the original stage version that premiered at the Teatro La Fenice in March of 1853 and performed live before an appreciative audience at the very same theater in November of 2004. Patrizia Ciofi, Roberto Sacca, and Dmitri Hvorostovsky headline the performance, and the Orchestra e Coro del Teatro La Fenice perform under the guiding hand of conductor Lorin Maazel. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

This elaborate performance of Giuseppe Verdi's Requiem Mass was mounted and delivered at the Arena di Verona in 1990, and features champion vocalists Luciano Pavarotti, Dolora Zajick, Paul Plishka and Sharon Sweet, backed by a chorus of 3,000 individuals. The Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, under the direction of Lorin Maazel, provides symphonic accompaniment. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

Placido Domingo and friends performed at the 1989 Unesco benefit in Paris. Arias and ensembles from Verdi and Puccini. ~ All Movie Guide

Having previously staged Verdi's 1887 opera Otello at the Met and La Scala, filmmaker Franco Zeffirelli committed his production to film in 1986. Starring as the fatally jealous Moor of Venice is Placido Domingo, who had also headlined Zeffirelli's 1976 La Scala staging (production on the film was briefly interrupted while Domingo participated in the rescue operations following the Mexico City earthquake). While Katia Ricciarelli as Desdemona and Justino Diaz as Iago perform their own singing, Zeffirelli's Cassio--played by real-life European prince Urbano Barberini--is dubbed by Ezio de Cesare. The director made several cuts in the original libretto and score in order to accommodate the film's two-hour time limit, but these excisions are done with taste and discretion. Because of the excessive violence in the third act--two murders, a suicide, a superficial throat-slashing--Otello was released with a PG rating. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Joseph Losey's 1979 film adaptation of the Mozart opera Don Giovanni adheres faithfully to the original Lorenzo Da Ponte libretto, with rakish Don Giovanni (Ruggero Raimondi) putting the make on the aristocratic Dona Anna (Edda Moser). Giovanni's enemies warn him that he'll suffer mightily for his amorous escapades. And when the gates of hell open up on cue in the last act, and Don Giovanni is dragged screaming into perdition, it turns out those enemies were right. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide