A collection showcasing the artists and productions staged over the years at The Royal Opera House. There are highlights from The Barber of Seville, La Traviata, Carmen, Rigoletto, Le nozze di Figaro, La Bohème, Dido and Aeneas, Don Giovanni , Hansel and Gretel, Die Zauberflöte, Gianni Schicchi and Falstaff. The artists featured include Jonas Kaufmann, Renée Fleming, Simon Keenlyside, Gerald Finley and Miah Persson.

Rene Fleming makes her debut in the role of Grafin in this production of Strauss's opera recorded live at the Opera National De Paris in 2004. Ulf Schirmer conducts, and there are performances from Anne Sophie Von Otter, Dietrich Henschel, Rainer Trost, Gerard Finley and Franz Hawlata.

George Heriot (1759-1839), a Scot, is best known as a skilled landscape watercolourist and as the contentious deputy postmaster general of British North America from 1800 to 1816. He was also a travel writer (his Travels through the Canadas was published in 1807) and a poet. In this volume, a combination of biography and art history, Gerald Finley presents, for the first time, a rounded picture of Heriot, revealing his motives and ideals while also illuminating the texture of life in Canada during the early years of settlement. In describing Heriot's several roles as artist, administrator, patriot, spy, Finley presents a portrait of an eighteenth-century gentleman whose superficial desires were for an active public life but whose deeper yearnings were for a life of contemplation. As a member of the gentry it was natural that Heriot found his way into public service, for which he was suited both by education and by upbringing. Nevertheless, his public career did not always run smoothly and it ended in frustration and sadness. However, through his writing and especially his art Heriot found welcome relief from the tensions of his public duties. Indeed, Heriot's chief importance lies in his art. Trained as a topographical artist, he was an important exponent of the picturesque landscape. As a mode of vision the Picturesque furnished him with a special way of looking at recording the Canadian scene - to him Canada possessed the qualities of Arcadia. This viewpoint served both as aesthetic consolation and as stimulus to inspiration. This volume serves to recognize Heriot's artistic achievement and to accord him the place he deserves in the history of Canadian art and of the country itself.

Mark-Anthony Turnage's operatic take on the lurid life of former Playboy model and octogenarian billionaire's wife, Anna Nicole Smith. Eva-Maria Westbroeck takes the lead role in this production filmed at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in February 2011, with Antonio Pappano conducting.

A recording of David McVicar's 2011 production of Richard Wagner's opera, performed for the first time at Glyndebourne, with Vladimir Jurowski leading the London Philharmonic Orchestra. An all-star cast features Gerald Finley, Marco Jentzsch, Anna Gabler, Michaela Selinger, and Topi Lehtipuu.

Collection of three of Mozart's operas performed at the Royal Opera House. Charles Mackerras conducts a 2008 production of 'Don Giovanni' starring Simon Keenlyside as the eponymous character. Keenlyside also features in 'Die Zauberflöte' (2003), alongside Dorothea Röschmann and Will Hartmann with Colin Davis conducting. Finally, the cast of 'Le Nozze di Figaro' (2006) includes Erwin Schrott, Miah Persson and Gerald Finley with Antonio Pappano as conducter. The Royal Opera House Orchestra and Chorus perform each of Mozart's scores.

A recording of David McVicar's 2011 production of Richard Wagner's opera, performed for the first time at Glyndebourne, with Vladimir Jurowski leading the London Philharmonic Orchestra. An all-star cast features Gerald Finley, Marco Jentzsch, Anna Gabler, Michaela Selinger, and Topi Lehtipuu.

Mark-Anthony Turnage's operatic take on the lurid life of former Playboy model and octogenarian billionaire's wife, Anna Nicole Smith. Eva-Maria Westbroeck takes the lead role in this production filmed at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in February 2011, with Antonio Pappano conducting.

Contemporary opera composed by John Adams and directed by Peter Sellars. The story follows the work of J. Robert Oppenheimer and his team of scientists at the test site of the first atomic bomb outside Los Alamos, New Mexico. As the first detonation approaches, tension builds and Oppenheimer and his team begin to struggle with the moral implications of their work.