L’Ange de Nisida won the awards for “Best Recording” at the 2019 OPER! Awards. The prize was presented on Saturday 21 September, during a ceremony at the Konzerthaus Berlin.
Here is a short report of the jury’s verdict: BEST COMPLETE OPERA RECORDING for Gaetano Donizetti: L’ange de Nisida
“Musical excavations are not that uncommon anymore, but even the baroque period now rarely yields truly worthwhile pieces or ground-breaking discoveries. Which makes the achievement of the label Opera Rara all the more noteworthy: L’ange de Nisida is nothing less than a chief work by Gaetano Donizetti, brought to light again and brought to resounding life too in this enthusiastic live recording.”
Congratulations to all the fantastic people involved in the recording ! In particular, to Sir Mark Elder, Joyce El-Khoury, David Junghoon Kim, Vito Priante, Laurent Naouri, Evgeni Stavinsky, the orchestra of the Royal Opera House and the Royal Opera Chorus.
Opera Rara had given the world premiere of this lost Donizetti masterpiece in July 2018 at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Written in 1839 for the Théâtre de la Renaissance in Paris, the theatre went bankrupt and the opera was left unperformed until 2018! Restored and brought thrillingly back to life, this is a fascinating and passionate drama, full of exciting vocal writing, composed by Donizetti near the end of his life.
Click here to listen to some extracts and read the synopsis of Donizetti’s L’Ange de Nisida
We are very honored to announce that Opera Rara’s recording of Rossini’s Semiramide with Albina Shagimuratova, Daniela Barcellona, Mirco Palazzi, Barry Banks, Gianluca Buratto and Sir Mark Elder conducting the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the Opera Rara chorus has been awarded by the OPUS KLASSIK competition in the category “19th Century Operatic Work”.
Other recipients include Bryn Terfel for his album ‘Dreams and Songs’ and Joyce di Donato as “Singer of the Year”.
The awards, 45 in total across 24 categories, will be presented on October 13th at the Konzerthaus Berlin. The gala ceremony will be broadcasted from 22:15 (German time) on ZDF.
Watch Henry Little, Opera Rara Chief Executive, about the Opus Klassik Many thanks to the Opus Klassik Jury to have awarded our Semiramide!
Opera Rara is delighted to announce the appointment of Carlo Rizzi as Opera Rara’s Artistic Director to succeed Sir Mark Elder who will be stepping down in September 2019.
Speaking about his work with Opera Rara since 2012, Sir Mark Elder said: “My years as Artistic Director of Opera Rara have been enormously rewarding and I have now decided that it is time to hand on the baton. Bringing so many unknown operas to life has been challenging, but there is certainly an appetite for discovery among artists as much as the public. Opera Rara has an important role to play in that discovery, and I am so happy that my distinguished colleague, Carlo Rizzi, will continue the work of this remarkable organisation.”
Commenting on his new role at Opera Rara, Carlo Rizzi said: “Opera is my passion and I strongly believe in its future. Just as it is important to present known masterpieces afresh and to commission new works, I believe that finding and bringing back to life the hidden jewels of this endlessly enriching art form is equally vital to excite modern audiences. Throughout my career, I have conducted many opera(s) rara(s) and the journey that I am starting here with this unique organisation will allow me to go even further in exploring many strands of less well-known repertoire. I am looking forward to it!”
Charles Alexander, Chairman and Henry Little, Chief Executive said: “For us, Carlo is an obvious choice as our new Artistic Director. His extensive and acclaimed work in 19th- and 20th- century operatic repertoire is a perfect match for our promotion of unknown operatic masterpieces to a global public. We welcome Carlo and in Opera Rara’s 50th anniversary year, we look forward to our collaboration with him with considerable enthusiasm and excitement. We extend our profound thanks to Sir Mark under whose outstanding artistic leadership, Opera Rara has enjoyed an era of unprecedented success and recognition.”
Opera Rara first collaborated with Carlo Rizzi in 2017 when he conducted two discs of bel canto arias with Joyce El-Khoury and Michael Spyres titled Échoand Espoir. Recorded with the Hallé and featuring a selection of mainly French arias first made famous by Gilbert Duprez and Julie Dorus-Gras, two of the operatic stars of the day, the discs were described by Gramophone as “a must for lovers of the repertoire.”
Carlo Rizzi enjoys regular and long-standing relationships at the most distinguished operatic addresses including the Metropolitan Opera New York, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Opéra National de Paris and Deutsche Oper Berlin, as well as maintaining a significant career as a symphonic conductor, working with orchestras including the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Netherlands Philharmonic, Antwerp Symphony, Atlanta Symphony and Hong Kong Philharmonic. He made his UK debut at Buxton Festival in 1988 conducting Donizetti’s Torquato Tasso and future engagements are notable for displaying his commitment to rare and under-appreciated titles, including a new production this summer of Rossini’s L’equivoco stravagante at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, and a return to his native Milan for Montemezzi’s L’Amore di Tre Re at Teatro alla Scala. He holds the title of Conductor Laureate at Welsh National Opera, where he was Music Director from 1992-2001 and again from 2004-2008, and additionally retains ties with Cardiff as Honorary Fellow and International Chair in Conducting at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama – the new home of The Foyle Opera Rara Collection.
Since 2011, Opera Rara – under Sir Mark Elder’s leadership – has renewed its commitment to 19th-century French repertoire with operas by Gounod and Offenbach including Fantasiowhich won the 2015 International Opera Award and explored its first verismo operas including Leoncavallo’s Zazàand most recently, Puccini’s first stage work Le Willis, which is to be released in September. Le Willis will be the third Opera Rara title to be distributed internationally by Warner Classics.
The brain-child of Patric Schmid and Don White, Opera Rara has been in the business of bringing back forgotten operatic repertoire since its conception in the early 1970s, with a special focus on the bel canto repertory. Opera Rara’s recording of Rossini’s Semiramideconducted by Sir Mark Elder won the 2019 International Opera Award for best “Recording (Complete Opera)”. Its latest release is the world première studio recording of L’Ange de Nisida – its 25th Donizetti title – also conducted by Elder, whose most recent collaboration with Opera Rara was the UK première of Donizetti’s Il Paria, following a studio recording to be released in 2020, at the Barbican which was described by Classical Source as “a winning evening… another Donizetti restored to the repertoire”.
The booking is open for our concert performance of Donizetti’s Il Paria!
Conducted by Sir Mark Elder, it features a stellar cast gathering Albina Shagimuratova as Neala, René Barbera as Idamore, Misha Kiria as Zarete and Marko Mimica as Akerabare with the Britten Sinfonia and the Opera Rara Chorus. Supporting cast includes Kathryn Rudge and Thomas Atkins.
Set in ancient India, the opera tells the story of Neala, daughter of the high priest of the Brahmins Akebare and herself a priestess in the cult of the sun, who has fallen in love with Idamore, the leader of the army. They are about to get married but the pariah Zarete reveals that Idamore is his lost son. The marriage can no longer happen because the Pariahs and the Brahmins hate each other. As Zarete breaks into the Brahma temple, he is condemned to death by Akerabe, who also condemns Idamore (who tries to defend his father) and then his own daughter who tries to defend Idamore. The ending sees them all awaiting their fate.
This opera is, as all the commentators say, an important breakthrough for Donizetti. It was his first tragic finale, and all the way through the opera there’s evidence of him trying to avoid the usual solutions. Also novel is the use of the chorus, the constant diving into arioso and a highly inventive orchestral palette all the way through. Il Paria marks an important moment in Donizetti’s career and it went on record as saying that he was especially proud of the piece.
