See moreThis is an intimate look at one year in the life of an international star the final year in Dame Janet Bakers operatic career. The film begins with preparations for the title role of Glucks Alceste, staged at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. By concentrating on the famous aria, Divinités du Styx, from the first intensive rehearsals to the dramatic final result on opening night, we follow the evolution of the role of a tragic heroine.
At the London Coliseum we see the problems and intricacies of a television rehearsal in Dame Janets celebrated portrayal of Mary in Donizettis Mary Stuart. The culmination of the years events takes place at picturesque Glyndebourne with Dame Janets triumphant performance in Glucks Orfeo. It is a highly charged emotional occasion with private backstage moments carefully woven round the public appearance on stage.
Interspersed between the three operas are sequences from New Yorks Carnegie Hall, where Dame Janet receives a standing ovation after a recital, and in contrast to this electric atmosphere a recital in the more relaxed surroundings of Scotlands Haddo Hall where she sings the Angel in Elgars The Dream of Gerontius.
Informal moments at home with her husband, friends and colleagues, together with interview sequences with Dame Janet complete a remarkable insight into the life of one of musics most sympathetic and articulate singers. that now firmly-established maxim which lays it down that no man may call himself fully civilised if he misses any opportunity to hear Janet Baker sing BERNARD LEVIN