Frank Castorf’s staging of the Ring, premiered in 2013 and filmed in 2016, provoked controversy right from the beginning. For Castorf, the Rheingold of our days is oil; thus he places the first part of the tetralogy at a gas station on Route 66. Die Walküre is situated in Baku, Azerbaijan, which was seized by the Bolsheviks in 1920 for its oil, whereas Siegfried takes place in a socialist equivalent of Mount Rushmore and at Berlin’s Alexanderplatz. Götterdämmerung is set somewhere in the GDR, ending up at New York’s stock exchange. Whilst Castorf’s staging polarized, Marek Janowski’s musical reading was unanimously praised, as was the excellent cast including in this opera Iain Paterson (Wotan), Nadine Weissmann (Erda), Albert Dohmen (Alberich) and Roberto Saccà (Loge).

The Ring of the Nibelung: The Rhinegold

Aldo Baldin - A Life for Music is an operatic documentary that unfolds talented tenor Aldo Baldin as he journeyed from humble beginnings in Brazil to international recognition in Europe. Baldin was among the finest tenors in the world during the 1980's, particularly as an interpreter of Bach's pieces. He worked with conductors such as Sir Neville Marriner, Helmuth Rilling, Herbert von Karajan, Rolf Beck, Karl Richter and Peter Schreier. With longing stories from a wide range of musicians, friends and family members, Aldo Baldin - A Life for Music celebrates the unique career of this artist and professor, as one of the greatest classical musicians from Brazil.