"Called "the greatest rock film ever made", this landmark documentary follows the Rolling Stones on their notorious 1969 U.S. tour. When three hundred thousand members of the Love Generation collided with a few dozen Hells Angels at San Francisco's Altamont Speedway, Direct Cinema pioneers David and Albert Maysles and Charlotte Zwerin were there to immortalize on film the bloody slash that transformed a decade's dreams into disillusionment."

"Rebellious servants, capricious lovers, cross-dressing farce and a happy ending: the fast paced action of this comic Baroque opera had all the ingredients to please the self-confessed ‘low-brow taste' of an Austro-German prince, who commissioned Giuseppe Scarlatti for a piece to celebrate his son's wedding. This is the opera's first revival in modern times, and it takes place in the very same Baroque theatre, impeccably restored to its original glory, which hosted the first performance. With a cast of young singers drawn from Prague's National Theatre and a stylish period-instrument ensemble, this vivid reconstruction will delight audiences as much today as it did the aristocratic guests at Ceský Krumlov in 1768."

"Redesigned since it was first seen at the London Coliseum in 2011, Deborah Warner's elegant and untricksy production of Tchaikovsky's lyrical romance transferred last autumn to the Metropolitan Opera. Offering as it does a beautifully detailed and sensitively characterised reading of the piece, Chekhovian in atmosphere and period, it merits a warmer critical reception than it has received on either side of the Atlantic. Anna Netrebko gives an irresistibly wholehearted performance as Tatyana, unsteady in intonation above the stave but full of ardour and sincerity - a match for Mariusz Kwiecien's handsome dog of an Onegin, sung with crisp precision and musicality. "

"It is no surprise that Sir Simon would one day tackle this most comprehensive of Bach's compositions in view of his much applauded interpretation of the St. John Passion in 2006. The Berliner Morgenpost wrote at the time: "A performance of this musical calibre renders superfluous all questions about authenticity and historical performance practice. At the Philharmonie Sir Simon Rattle and his orchestra performed the St. John Passion [...] with highly concentrated and flawless beauty devoid of any distorting indulgence.""

"For the festivities marking the Pergolesi's tercentenary in his native Jesi, Ignacio García created a new staging of the imperial drama Adriano in Siria. His staging in Jesi's exquisite 18th-century Teatro Comunale Pergolesi includes the delightful comic intermezzo Livietta e Tracollo, thus following the precedent set at the premiere in 1734. A fine Italian cast and the distinguished Accademia Bizantina are led by the Accademia's director, Ottavio Dantone."