A sought-after guest conductor, James Judd is music director of the Florida Philharmonic Orchestra and of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. After graduating from London’s Trinity College of Music, he came to international attention as assistant conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra, a post he accepted at Lorin Maazel’s invitation. He has made guest appearances with several noted ensembles, including the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Prague Symphony and Orchestra National de Paris. He has worked with all the major British orchestras – the Hallé, London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and with the Philharmonia whom he conducts on the Opera Rara recordings of Donizetti’s Ne M’Oubliez Pas (ORC4) and Meyerbeer’s Dinorah (ORC5).
Alun Francis has conducted more than 150 orchestras and opera ensembles in 25 countries. Since joining the Ulster Orchestra and Northern Ireland Opera Trust as conductor and artistic director in 1966, Francis has conducted most of Britain’s major orchestras, including the City of Birmingham Symphony and the Hallé. He has recorded widely, winning the Premiere Prize at the Cannes Classical Awards in January 2000 for his recording of the complete symphonies of Darius Milhaud on CPO. His opera repertoire includes over 70 works and he has recorded six discs with Opera Rara, including the world premiere of Donizetti’s Gabriella di Vergy (ORC3).
Sir Mark Elder was Music Director of the Hallé from 2000 to 2024 andnow holds the position of Conductor Emeritus. He was previously Music Director of English National Opera (1979–1993) and Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. In 2023 he took up the post of Principal Guest Conductor of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra.
He has enjoyed long relationships with the London Philharmonic and London Symphony Orchestras as well as working with leading symphony orchestras throughout the world. He is a Principal Artist of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and has appeared annually at the Proms for many years, including – in 1987 and 2006 – the internationally televised Last Night.
He has enjoyed a long association with the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and has appeared in many other prominent theatres including the Metropolitan Opera, Opéra national de Paris, Bavarian State Opera, Zürich Opera, Dutch National Opera, Chicago Lyric Opera, San Francisco Opera and Glyndebourne Festival Opera. He was the first English conductor to conduct a new production at the Bayreuth Festival.
From 2011 to 2019 he was Artistic Director of Opera Rara, with whom he has made many award-winning recordings, including Rossini’s Ermione (2011 Gramophone Award), Offenbach’s Fantasio (2015 International Opera Award), Donizetti’s Les Martyrs (2016 International Opera Award), Rossini’s Semiramide (2019 Classical Music Award and International Opera Award) and Donizetti’s L’Ange de Nisida (2019 OPER! Award). With the Hallé, he has recorded a wide repertoire, including a complete Ring cycle, Parsifal and the three great Elgar oratorios.
Sir Mark Elder was appointed a Companion of Honour in 2017, knighted in 2008 and awarded the CBE in 1989. In May 2006 he was named Conductor of the Year by the Royal Philharmonic Society and he was awarded Honorary Membership of the Royal Philharmonic Society in 2011. He holds the Barbirolli Chair at the Royal Academy of Music.
Giuliano Carella studied in Milan and Padova, completing his conducting studies at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena under Franco Ferrara. Since making his debut in 1987 he has conducted in the most prestigious venues all over the world in a wide repertoire ranging from Paisiello, through the Italian belcanto, to Verdi, Puccini and the Verismo composers. He has conducted: Lucrezia Borgia, Cyrano de Bergerac with Alagna and Normain Monaco, Turandot and Norma at the Liceu in Barcelona, Andrea Chenier, Macbeth, Poliuto and Roméo et Juliette in Amsterdam, Norma, in Berlin Cenerentola in Geneve, Falstaff in Strasbourg and I Puritani at the Nederlandse Opera in Amsterdam, La Wally and Samson et Dalila in Amsterdam (Konzertgebouw), La Traviata and Maria Stuarda in Frankfurt, La Bohème and Toscain Detroit and Copenhagen, Rigoletto in Monaco and Lisbon, Attila and Cavalleria rusticana / Pagliacci in Marseille, Nozze di Figaro, Don Pasquale, Thais, La Bohémein Toulon. Giuliano Carella’s recording’s include: Pacini’s L’Ultimo Giorno di Pompeiand Verdi’s Ernani for Nuova Era, recital discs with Jennifer Larmore and Sumi Jo for Erato. For Opera Rara he has conducted Rossini’s Elisabetta Regina d’Inghilterra(ORC22) and Adelaide di Borgogna (ORC32), Donizetti’s Il diluvio universale(ORC31) and highlights from Meyerbeer’s L’Esule di Granata (ORR234).
Roland Böer studied piano, composition and conducting. After a first engagement as Solorepetitor at the Oper Frankfurt 1996-1999, he worked from 1999-2001 at the Deutschen Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf/Duisburg and was assistant to Antonio Pappano at the Bayreuth Festival, the Theâtre de la Monnaie in Bruxelles and at the Royal Opera House in London. From 2002 until 2008 he was Kapellmeister at the Oper Frankfurt, where he conducted a wide repertoire including, La Bohème, Chowanschtschina, the new production of Die verkaufte Braut, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, La Cenerentola and Un ballo in maschera. Since then he returned as a regular guest to this company, for the new production of Lucia di Lammermoor as well as the revivals of Don Carlo and Arabella. On the concert stage he worked with the Rundfunkorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, the Radiosinfonieorchester Frankfurt, the Oslo Philharmonic, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Luxembourg, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestra di Santa Cecilia in Rome, the Bournemouth Symphony, the London Symphony Orchestra and the Opera North Orchestra, among others. He made recordings for EMI, Opera Rara (both with the Philharmonia Orchestra London) and BBC Scotland.
After his debut at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna with Il Signor Bruschino and engagements in major Italian opera houses and festivals, Maurizio Benini made his debut at the Teatro alla Scala in 1992 with La donna del lago and Don Carlo, followed by Pagliacci, Don Pasquale and Rigoletto. In the same year he also conducted La scala di seta at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, where he returned subsequently for L’occasione fa il ladro, Le siege de Corinthe and again for La scala di seta. He appears regularly with the Opéra de Paris and has also conducted at the Wexford Festival, the Wiener Staatsoper, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Metropolitan Opera and Covent Garden where he conducted the concert performances of Donizetti’s Roberto Devereux recorded by Opera Rara (ORC24). For Opera Rara he has conducted concert performances at the Edinburgh International Festival of Rossini’s Zelmira(ORC27) and La Donna del lago (ORC34) plus studio recordings of Mercadante’s Virginia (ORC39) and Rossini’s Aureliano in Palmira (ORC46) and in the autumn of 2015 will conduct the BBC Symphony Orchestra in our studio recording of Leoncavallo’s Zazà which will also be given in concert at London’s Barbican on Friday 27 November 2015. Maurizio Benini is Associate Conductor for Opera Rara.
Born in Legnago (Verona), Gabriele Bellini completed his studies at the Venice and Milan Conservatories, with M° Dallavecchia, Coltro, Maderna and Donatoni. He then went on to study conducting, initially with M° Ferrara and then with M° Scherchen, Celbidache and Swarowsky. As a conductor of symphonic music and opera, M° Bellini has performed in important European houses, including Covent Garden, Komisch Oper and La Scala Opera House, where he was also a close collaborator of M° Abbado for many seasons. In 1990, M° Bellini was named musical director at The Netherlands’ Opera Forum (later called Oost Nederlands Orkest), where, during his 8 years there, he conducted both Italian and German repertoires (which included, L’Elisir d’Amore, Norma, Così fan tutte, Carmen, Macbeth, Stiffelio, Werther and Wozzeck). At the same time, M° Bellini recorded Linda di Chamounix, Il Matrimonio Segreto and La Sonnambula for the ARTS label. He has also recorded Il Barbiere di Siviglia with the English National Opera Orchestra for Chandos and Le Rondine for Kicco Classic. For Opera Rara he has conducted Ricci’s La prigione di Edimburgo(ORR228).
Born in 1801 in Catania, Sicily, to a family already steeped in music; his father and grandfather were both career musicians, Bellini began composing before receiving any formal music education.
He entered the Royal College of Music of San Sebastiano, now the Naples Conservatory, in 1819 and became a primo maestrino in 1824. The conservatory’s students performed Bellini’s first opera, Adelson e Salvini and after the initial performance in February 1825 it was performed repeatedly throughout the year. This particular work was never performed outside of the conservatory, but served as a source of material for at least five other operas Bellini composed. Domenico Barbaja of the San Carlo Opera offered Bellini his first commission for an opera, which resulted in Bianca e Fernando (1826). This was followed by a second from Barbaja, Il pirata (1827), and led to a long-term collaboration between Bellini and librettist Felice Romani. The premiere of Il pirata on 27 October 1827, at La Scala, Milan, established Bellini as an internationally acclaimed opera composer.
His opera Zaira (1829), written with Romani for the inauguration of the Teatro Ducale at Parma, was hurriedly completed; the opera was a notable failure and was never produced again. He rebounded, though, with I Capuleti e i Montecchi (based on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet) in 1830.
1831 proved most successful for Bellini as two of his most famous operas, La sonnambula and Norma, were produced. Although Norma was unenthusiastically received, many critics and Bellini himself believed it to be his finest work. Its aria “Casta diva” is one of the evergreens of the classical vocal repertory. These two operas were followed by a less successful composition, Beatrice di Tenda. This opera was premiered at La Fenice, Venice, on March 16, 1833, a month later than scheduled; the failure led to the falling out of Bellini and Romani.
Bellini spent the summer of 1833 in London directing performances of his operas. He then moved to Paris, where he composed and produced his last opera, I puritani, which premiered on January 24, 1835. Unlike Bellini’s previous two operas, I puritani was enthusiastically received. At the height of his career and only 33 years old, Bellini died of a chronic intestinal ailment on 23 September 1835.
Born in Milano, he studied piano, composition and conducting at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory followed by studies with the renowned Franco Ferrara. He was an invited participant at Salzburg and Tanglewood under Bernstein and Ozawa. His professional conducting debut was at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in 1978. He has led orchestras throughout Europe, including Nouvelle Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre de Montecarlo and Lille, Orchestre RSTI di Lugano, RAI Italian orchestras (Milano, Roma, Torino, Napoli), and the orchestra of the Accademia de Santa Cecilia. He was Music Director of the Orchestra Colon in Paris in Paris (1991-96). His acclaimed United States debut was for Portland Opera’s L’Elisir d’amore in the autumn of 1992. For Opera Rara he has conducted the London Philharmonic Orchestra for Donizetti’s Francesca di Foix (ORC28) and Elvida (ORC29).
