The performance of La Traviata at the 2005 Salzburg Festival drew attention from all over the world: it is not the first time on stage together for Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazón in the leading roles – but it is here in Salzburg that they finally rise to superstardom. Each are brilliant on their own, but under the direction of Willy Decker, they shine above all as a couple, playing to the fantasies of the audience. Opera stars had never before been so up-close and personal, and had never been so present in the media. Previously unseen rehearsal scenes and interviews with Anna Netrebko, Rolando Villazon, Thomas Hampson and Willy Decker bring this magic moment of music to life. 

With her first prize at the legendary 1965 Chopin Competition in Warsaw, she took the world by storm. In the early rounds already, Martha Argerich is the undisputed star of the event. People queue up for hours to buy tickets for her concerts, there are reports of fisticuffs outside the booking offices. Her only serious competitor is the Brazilian pianist Arthur Moreira Lima, he too can thrill both his audiences and the jury. The rivalry between the two of them makes for heated disputes and divides the jury. The “Magic Moments of Music” series brings back memories of the birth of a legend named Martha Argerich.

On the day of the open-air performance of Vincenzo Bellini’s opera ‘Norma’ in 1974, a severe storm is blowing through the city of Orange in southern France. The much-anticipated event may have to be called off at the last moment. All the while, in the spectacular Roman amphitheatre, nine thousand spectators await Montserrat Caballé in the title role of Norma. In the face of these adverse conditions, the singer and musicians nevertheless decide to perform. It will be a legendary evening of music.

For this film, Montserrat Caballé’s brother, Carlos Caballé, has given the first interview since the death of his sister in October 2018. Carlos had accompanied her throughout her life and was also in attendance for the rehearsals and performances in Orange in 1974. Soprano Sonia Yoncheva and Olga Peretyatko tell of their admiration for “La Superba”, as Caballé was known to her fans. And just a few short years after this performance, Maria Callas would describe Caballé her as her true successor – high praise indeed.

The Salzburg Festival is celebrating its 100th anniversary in the summer of 2020. Among the co-founders of the festival were the composer Richard Strauss and his librettist Hugo von Hofmannsthal. Their most popular work was without doubt the comic opera Der Rosenkavalier (The Knight of the Rose).

In 1960, the newly constructed Great Festival Hall in Salzburg opened its doors to the public with a performance of this very same opera. On the conductor’s podium was Herbert von Karajan. The production was such a success that it was decided that it should be captured for posterity on 35mm film. The performers included Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, who is still considered by many as unmatched in the role of the Marschallin, and Anneliese Rothenberger.

Among the artists returning to this 1960 opera for Great Moments in Music are Ioan Holender, conductor Franz Welser-Möst, singers Anna Prohaska and Günther Groissböck. Lastly, the episode accompanies André Heller as he fulfils a long-cherished dream: he is directing the new production of Der Rosenkavalier at the Berlin State Opera.