Richard Bonynge Movies

This classical music-themed compilation release offers, in a single collection, many of the finest onstage moments from the career of Australian opera star Dame Joan Sutherland, widely regarded as one of the most gifted sopranos in the world. The featured selections were pulled from works including Adriana Lecouvreur, Lucia di Lammermoor, Il Trovatore and many other operas. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

One of the great diva of the American operatic stage, Joan Sutherland closed the book on her career as a live performer in 1981 with her starring role in this production of Giacomo Meyerbeer's drama, which contrasts the beauty and romance of 16th Century France with the corruption which led to the slaughter of thousands of Protestants in the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre. Les Huguenots was staged for Opera Australia by director Lotfi Mansouri; the cast also includes Amanda Thane, Anson Austin, and Suzanne Johnston. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Voice of Firestone: Twelve Prima Donnae From the Golden Age of Opera features television performances dating between 1050 and 1963 by a dozen famous sopranos. Among the famous performers that appear are Eleanor Sterber, Joan Sutherland, Leontyne Price, Renata Tebaldi, Roberta Peters, and Jeanette Macdonald. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

Richard Bonynge conducted and Lotfi Mansouri directed this version of Lehar's operetta. Dame Joan Sutherland plays the lead. ~ Rovi

Mats Ek made history with his groundbreaking 1982 revisionist version of Adolphe Adam's ballet Giselle. Whereas the original work (a staple of the operatic canon) promulgated an unabashed romantic spirit, Ek did away with that element and reversed the ballet's central notion that love must always conquer death; unsurprisingly, this revisionism generated a massive amount of controversy among opera buffs and critics. Ek's production debuted on stage in 1982, but producers adapted it for television in 1987. The 1987 small-screen version appears in this release; it stars Luc Bouy as Albrecht, Ana Laguna as Giselle and Yvan Auzely as Hilarion. The Orchestre National de l'Opéra de Monte-Carlo provides musical accompaniment, with Richard Bonynge conducting; Marie-Louise de Geer Bergenstråhle did the stage design; Måns Reuterswärd directed for television. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

Joan Sutherland first broke through to international success with her role in Lucia Di Lammermoor, Gaetano Donizetti's operatic interpretation of Sir Walter Scott's story of love, treachery and murder. In 1986, in the autumn of her career, the great Sutherland returned to the work which made her name in this Opera Australia production, directed by John Copley, and featuring Richard Bonynge at the orchestra. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Celebrated divas Marilyn Horne and Joan Sutherland headline this opera tribute concert, staged and mounted by the Opera Australia at the famous Sydney Opera House. In it, Sutherland and Horne interpret arias by such composers as Bellini, Donizetti, Handel, Rossini and Offenbach. Richard Bonynge conducts, with musical accompaniment by the Elizabethan Sydney Orchestra. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

Marilyn Horne, Joan Sutherland, Richard Bonynge and the Elizabethan Symphony Orchestra present "Norma," "Semiramide," "Lakme" and "Les Contes D'Hoffman." ~ Rovi

This performance of the beloved Francisco Cilla opera Adriana Lecouvreur by the Opera Australia was recorded at the Sydney Opera House on February 18, 1984, and features such vocalists in the starring roles as Joan Sutherland, Jennifer Bermingham, and more. ~ Cammila Collar, Rovi

Australia's greatest gift to the world of opera, Joan Sutherland, returned to the role that first made her an international sensation in the Metropolitan Opera's 1982 production of Lucia Di Lammermoor by Donizetti. This video records Sutherland's striking comeback performance as Lucia, which marked her first performance in four years on the stage of the Met. The supporting cast includes Alfredo Kraus and Pablo Elvira. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

A group of young men hear from a Spanish nobleman named Gubetta about the wonders of the house of Don Alfonso and his wife Lucrezia Borgia, but one of the youths, Orsini, disagrees with the assessment of the notorious Borgia. Another, the orphan Gennaro, wanders away to sleep, and as he sleeps the selfsame Lucrezia Borgia appears and gazes admiringly at him, eventually waking him with a kiss. Gennaro becomes interested in the stranger, but Orsini arrives, recognizes Borgia and tells the appalled Gennaro of her wicked deeds. Borgia escapes, not realizing that the she has all this time been observed by her husband, Alfonso, who suspects her of being unfaithful to him. Later, Gennaro insults the name of Borgia in a public name. He is captured and brought to Alfonso. Lucrezia demands the death of the one who has so insulted her, not knowing it is Gennaro. Alfonso reveals the truth, then insists that his wife choose the manner of death -- by swords or by poison. She chooses the poisoned wine, but slips an antidote to Gennaro after he imbibes the deadly drink and tells him to flee the city. Gennaro does not listen, choosing instead to attend a sumptuous banquet with Orsini and his friends. Lucrezia desires revenge on Orsini and his friends for telling Gennaro all about her; she has told her henchmen to get the group alone in a room and slip them the poisoned wine, not knowing that Gennaro is among them. Discovering her mistake, she begs Gennaro to take the antidote, but when he sees that there is not enough for his friends as well, he refuses -- even after discovering that Lucrezia is his long lost mother. ~ Craig Butler, Rovi

In Joan Sutherland in Concert, the famous soprano performs in the only recorded recital with her husband, Richard Bonynge, as accompanist. Taped at the MacMillan Theatre at the University of Toronto in 1968, Dame Sutherland sings selections in her classical repertoire that ranges from the light to the highly dramatic, demonstrating the extraordinary range of her vocal talents. Selections include Gounod's Serenade, Massenet's O, si les fleurs avaient des yeux, Bononcini's Per la gloria d'adorarvi from Griselda, and Alabiev's The Nightingale. ~ Alice Day, Rovi