The son of an obstinate mayor cannot get his father's consent to wed the beautiful Hanna. He receives unexpected assistance from evil, mysterious forces – Satan, witches, and rusalki – who work together to bring the couple happiness, bringing mayhem and celebration.
Sadko is based on an opera by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, which was based on a Russian epic tale of the same name. In the old Russian city of Novgorod, the merchants are feasting in a gorgeous palace and Sadko is bragging that he can bring to their land a sweet-voiced bird of happiness. They laugh at...
Based on the work of Mykola Hohol. Handsome blacksmith Vakula who fell in love with village beauty, Oksana, is ready to do anything for her liking. Even to fly on the devil's back to Saint-Petersburg and ask the Empress for the slippers that he can present his sweetheart.
Talented cabbie with aspirations as a singer spends afterhours practicing with an amateur opera company, ignoring his sweetheart, the femme cab dispatcher.
Venetian merchant Marco Polo travels to the East and the court of Kublai Khan who makes him an emissary and sends him on diplomatic missions throughout his empire. Over many years, Polo learns new cultures and languages, but he is haunted by the face of a mysterious woman whom he had met before...
Pushkin folk tale as comedic opera whose sultry elements expand an Oriental influence. Korsakov portrays the story of Tsar Nicholas II, punished for his cowardice and despotism, using satire to condemn Russia's autocratic ruler.
Snegurochka was born in times of old in Tsar Berendey’s mythical kingdom, the fruit of the union between Spring the Beauty and Grandfather Frost. Protected by her parents from the jealousy of the Sun god Yarilo who has vowed to warm her heart when she gets older and falls in love, Snegurochka the...
Film version of the Rimsky Korsakov opera from the Pushkin story. Motsart i Salyeri (Mozart and Salieri), based on a legend that Salieri poisoned Mozart, meditates on the nature of creativity while introducing, in brilliantly compressed speeches, what was to be one of the important Russian...
Performances of three well-know compositions. An orchestra plays Flight of the Bumblebee. Carlos Ramírez sings The Donkey Serenade with a boy on penny whistle. Finally, Ramírez and Lucille Norman sing lyrics to Tales from the Vienna Woods. (This film appears in its entirety within MGM's short...
This new production, inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s much-loved tale, brings life and colour to the story, transporting audiences to a place of wonder. From the bustle of a winter’s market to the shivers of a fairy-tale forest, the enthralling production breathes life into a colourful...
‘A beautiful song – a shame that it shows such disrespect to the Mayor!’ This remark from the score of The Golden Cockerel highlights the delicious ambiguity of this work. Principally inspired by Washington Irving and Pushkin, Rimsky-Korsakov called on the talents of Vladimir Belsky, an...
The bored Shahriyar is being entertained by odalisques and his favourite wife Zobeide. At the advice of his younger brother Shahzeman, who is convinced of Zobeide’s unfaithfulness, Shahriyar departs to go hunting. An orgy begins in the harem, and when it is at its height the Sultan returns...
