Naxos Audiovisual Division – September 2025

Our audiovisual releases this month include Dutch National Opera’s production of Handel’s operatic masterpiece Giulio Cesare in Egitto (Julius Caesar in Egypt) in which the story of Caesar and Cleopatra’s love affair is transported firmly into the present. Then we have a new production of Don Pasquale by Fondazione Teatro Donizetti, performed in a new critical edition under the musical direction of celebrated Mexican conductor Iván López-Reynoso. Completing the line-up is Christopher Wheeldon’s ballet Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland that revels in an explosion of colour, stage magic and inventive, sophisticated choreography, complemented by Bob Crowley’s wildly imaginative, eye-popping designs.


2.110779 [DVD]
[Naxos]

George Frideric HANDEL (1685–1759)
Giulio Cesare in Egitto
Dramma per musica in three acts (1724)
Libretto by Nicola Francesco Haym

Julie Fuchs, Soprano
Teresa Iervolino, Cecilia Molinari, Mezzo-sopranos
Christophe Dumaux, Cameron Shahbazi, Countertenors
Le Concert d’Astrée
Emmanuelle Haïm, Musical director
Calixto Bieito, Stage director

Set during the Roman Civil War (49–45 BCE), Handel’s Giulio Cesare is an intense drama filled with romance, tragedy and political intrigue. The plot centres on Cleopatra’s campaign to seduce Julius Caesar in order to enlist his support in her becoming Queen of Egypt. Handel’s music breathes the atmosphere of the Baroque with virtuosic vocal fireworks and subtle arias. This acclaimed production is given a modern setting populated by power-hungry oligarchs who are placed by director Calixto Bieito into ‘a digital dream world in a desert paradise’.

Also available on Blu-ray Video (NBD0187V)


DYN-38067 [DVD]
[Dynamic]

Gaetano DONIZETTI (1797–1848)
Don Pasquale
Dramma buffo in three acts
Libretto by Giovanni Ruffini

Roberto de Candia • Giulia Mazzola • Javier Camarena • Dario Sogos
Orchestra Donizetti Opera • Coro dell’Accademia Teatro alla Scala
Iván López-Reynoso, Conductor • Amélie Niermeyer, Director

Donizetti’s Don Pasquale is one of a triumvirate of 19th-century Italian opere buffe – L’elisir d'amore and Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia being the others – that continue to enchant the world’s stages. Don Pasquale represents the high point of the opera buffa tradition, employing figures taken from commedia dell’arte – the blustering old man, his lovesick nephew, the wily widow and the scheming doctor – and brings new life to the genre in this beautifully constructed comic opera full of cabalettas, cadenzas and coloratura, gently tinged with melancholy. This production employs a new critical edition of the work and stars the seasoned baritone Roberto de Candia in the central role, alongside Giulia Mazzola as Norina.

Also available on Blu-ray Video (DYN-58067)


OA1386D [DVD]
[Opus Arte]

Joby TALBOT (b. 1971)
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

The Royal Ballet
Francesca Hayward • William Bracewell
Christopher Wheeldon, Choreography
Orchestra of the Royal Opera House
Koen Kessels, Conductor

From a mysterious Cheshire Cat and a tap-dancing tea party, to frogs acting as footmen and unknown potions that turn you tiny, many treats and eccentricities await in this weird and wonderful world. You never know what you might find when you fall down the rabbit hole...

Christopher Wheeldon’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland burst onto the stage in 2011 in an explosion of colour, stage magic and inventive, sophisticated choreography. Joby Talbot’s score combines contemporary soundworlds with sweeping melodies that gesture to ballet scores of the 19th century. Bob Crowley’s wildly imaginative, eye-popping designs draw on everything from puppetry to projections to make Wonderland wonderfully real. The result shows The Royal Ballet at its best, bringing together world-class dance with enchanting family entertainment and ingenious music and design.

Also available on Blu-ray Video (OABD7324D)



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