Otello (Salzburger Festival) (Blu-ray)

This stage production from the 2008 Salzburg Festival marked that outfit's first interpretation of Verdi's Otello since 1970. Stephen Langridge helmed, and received critical kudos for his ability to bring visual qualities of cinematic realism to the stage. Verdi adapted the opera itself, of course, from the Bard's classic tragedy Othello; both works dramatize the inflamed suspicions of infidelity that the titular Moor feels toward his wife, which propel him to undertake a shocking act of violence. This particular version of the opera stars Aleksandrs Antonenko as Otello, Marina Poplavskaya as Desdemona, Carlos Álvarez as Jago/Iago, and Barbara Di Castri as Emilia. The Wiener Philharmoniker lends orchestral accompaniment, under the baton of Riccardo Muti; the Salzburger Festspiele Kinderchor, directed by Thomas Lang, also performs. George Souglides designed the sets and Emma Ryott created the costumes.