The best Ileana Cotrubas’s movies

Opera royalty Luciano Pavarotti brings dignity and power to the title role in this 1982 production. During a squall at sea, Idomeneo -- the king of Crete -- swears to Neptune that if the monarch survives, he'll sacrifice the first person he encounters onshore. Tragically, that person ends up being his son, Idamante (Frederica Von Stade). Maestro James Levine masterfully conducts the orchestra and chorus of the Metropolitan Opera. A musical production that was designed for the "Live From the Met" series, this program was produced by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle.

Mozart’s “The Magic Flute”

1982 revival of 1974 John Copley production.

In celebration of its 100th anniversary in 1983, the Metropolitan Opera hosts a four-hour performance uniting some of the world's most spellbinding opera singers and conductors. The event includes a ballet from Samson et Dalila and boasts incredible classical performances from Kathleen Battle, Plácido Domingo, Jose Carerras, Leonard Bernstein, Marilyn Horne, Leona Mitchell, Luciano Pavarotti and many more.

Austrian classical conductor Carlos Kleiber (1930-2004) was as eccentric and reclusive as he was brilliant, persistently and obstreperously declining to participate in the international music community or business. This set him apart from his more public contemporaries, such as Herbert von Karajan. This biographical documentary attempts to resolve the ambiguities surrounding Kleiber. The product of exhaustive research, it features rare performance footage of Kleiber leading orchestras, and draws on interviews with individuals who knew and worked with the maestro, including Otto Schenk, Riccardo Muti, Michael Gielen and Ioan Holdender. Carlos Kleiber also turns up to conduct a series of illustrative musical excerpts.

Seeking to exorcise the failure of his current love affair, the poet Hoffmann tells the tales of his three past loves - the doll-like Olympia, the high-class courtesan Giulietta, and the ambitious but delicate Antonia - and recalls how each was thwarted by the evil influence of his rival. In this production by the distinguished film director, John Schlesinger, with spectacular designs by Maria Bjornson and William Dudley, Offenbach's nightmare world is brought to life. The all-star cast is headed by Placido Domingo as Hoffmann: his three loves are Ileana Cotrubas, Anges Baltsa and Luciana Serra and the manifestations of his rival are sung by Geraint Evans, Robert Lloyd, Siegmund Nimsgern and Nicola Ghiuselev. The score, which includes such favourites as the "Barcarolle" and the "Doll's Song", is conducted by Georges Pretre.

The Glyndebourne Opera's 1981 production of the Benjamin Britten opera, based on Shakespeare's play.