50 minutes Grades Grades 9-12, College, Adult Directed by Barbara Willis Sweete Produced by Rhombus Media DVD Purchase $79, Rent $45 US Release Date: 1994 Copyright Date: 1993 DVD ISBN: 1-59458-762-0 VHS ISBN: 1-56029-580-5 Subjects Dance Humanities Music Opera Performing Arts Theater Awards and Festivals Silver Medal, International Film & TV Festival of New York Bronze Plaque Award, Columbus International Film and Video Festival Nominated, Television Broadcast of the Year, The Classical Music Awards, England Nominated, Golden Sheaf Awards, Yorkton Film Festival Festival International de Programmes Audiovisuels (FIPA), France |
The Sorceress Kiri Te Kanawa Part baroque opera, part rock video--A performance fantasy with an edge.
Contemporary and baroque styles interweave in this performance fantasy featuring the music of George Frideric Handel. The warring forces of good and evil and the power of romantic love are expressed through music, song, dance and gesture in this stylish and imaginative blend of stage drama and rock video. Opera in Italian with English subtitles. Web Page: http://www.bullfrogfilms.com/catalog/sor.html Reviews For once...someone has succeeded in making a TV opera. It helps that Kiri Te Kanawa is the star and that the conductor is early-music specialist Christopher Hogwood...that George Frederick Handel wrote such glorious scores... that Toronto's baroque Opera Atelier choreographed the show...But most it helps that THE SORCERESS was produced by Rhombus Media and directed by one of the company's partners Barbara Sweete. "The melding of old and new, real and fake, propels the action and gives it edge. From this mix of elements a new artform emerges, more rock video than documentary, it is sound, spectacle and substance." The Toronto Star "A good example of baroque opera's blend of music, singing, dance, and pantomime. Kiri Te Kanawa sings beautifully and looks gorgeous. Christopher Hogwood's orchestra plays crisply...The video is full of visual interest...could be used in a music appreciation course." ***** Video Rating Guide for Libraries "It is the expert hand of director Barbara Willis Sweete...together with the vocal and personal magic of Te Kanawa...that makes this...especially memorable." Opera |