Munich, 12 April 2007. The music production company Unitel is bringing a variety of new classical music productions to this year's television program market MIP TV in Cannes (16 to 20 April). Having celebrated its 40th anniversary last year, Unitel offers programs that enhance the profiles of all international broadcasters and stations with a cultural focus.
One of the highlights of the market line-up is Netrebko & Villazón – Airs & Duos, a concert recorded at Paris' Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in late March. Following the worldwide success of the CD album featuring the dream couple of the opera world, Unitel now presents this concert event exclusively as an audiovisual production. For the first time Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazón sing in their partner's native language.
Montserrat Caballé returns to the stage of the Vienna State Opera after an absence of many years in Gaetano Donizetti's La Fille du Régiment, recently recorded by ORF in March 2007. Appearing next to Natalie Dessay, Carlos Alvarez and Juan Diego Flórez, the Spanish soprano interprets the role of the Duchesse de Crakentrop in an enchanting production by Laurent Pelly.
Jules Massenet's opera Manon relates the tragic story of a young woman torn between her great love and a life of luxury. It was recorded at the Vienna State Opera by ORF also in March 2007 with Anna Netrebko in the title role. Her partner as Chevalier des Grieux is Roberto Alagna. Bertrand de Billy conducts.
The Munich Philharmonic can be admired in a concert led by its principal conductor Christian Thielemann, the leading interpreter of the classical-romantic tradition today. The concert features Anton Bruckner's Seventh Symphony, recorded in Baden-Baden on 14 November 2006.
The Unitel library, which comprises about 1,000 titles, stands under the motto "music to watch" and contains operas, concerts and ballets with the stars of classical music from the past forty years. Enriching the library every year are new productions recorded in the most distinguished concert halls and opera houses of the world. Unitel has worked with leading artists from the very beginning, including Herbert von Karajan, Carlos Kleiber, Leonard Bernstein and Anne-Sophie Mutter. The programs produced by Unitel can also be seen on Classica, the TV-Channel for classical music.