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We’re absolutely thrilled that Les Martyrs has been awarded an Orphée d’Or from the Académie du Disque Lyrique in France. Congratulations to the entire cast, Sir Mark Elder and the OAE! Find out more about the Académie du Disque Lyrique here.
We’ve been receiving some fantastic reviews for our studio recording of Donizetti’sLes Martyrs. Here’s a round up of what the critics are saying about this release.
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Donizetti’s CATERINA CORNARO – JUNE 2013 new release
In a bid to encourage consumers to buy direct from Opera Rara, this stunning new recording of Donizetti’s Caterina Cornaro will be made available FOR A LIMITED PERIOD OF THREE MONTHS exclusively through its website, after which the box set will be on general release. The recording will also be available as a digital download direct from Opera Rara’s website as from 3 June 2013.
Caterina Cornaro was written in the extremely productive last period of Donizetti’s life (between Don Pasquale and Linda di Chamounix) and was the last of his operas to be premiered in the composer’s lifetime. Like every other work of this period, it is intensely original, in this case being unusually dark in both subject matter and general musical tone.
This is the only opera of Donizetti’s later period not to have had a quality modern recording. Conductor David Parry says: “The opera requires a prima donna with a wonderful voice, extraordinary technique and exceptional histrionic ability, which we have in Carmen Giannattasio: the role could actually have been written for her.
“The story is resonant and believable, a woman forced into a political marriage with a king she does not love, but who turns out to be noble and good, so that she feels that she cannot abandon him, and who is assassinated at the instigation of a bitter enemy, leaving her to rule on her own. This calls up from Donizetti one of his most deeply felt, atmospheric and dramatically truthful scores. It is concise and hard-hitting, and I simply cannot understand why the opera is not in the repertoire; it is badly in need of a proper studio-recording.”
The 2CD set is accompanied by a complete libretto with an English translation alongside an article and synopsis by the eminent 19th-century musical scholar, Jeremy Commons.
Buy the recording: Caterina Cornaro
Below: David Parry (conductor), Colin Lee (Gerardo), Colin Lee, Troy Cook (Lusignano) and David Parry, Carmen Giannattasio (Caterina Cornaro) with Troy Cook
OFFENBACH: FANTASIO
WINS 2015 INTERNATIONAL OPERA AWARD
FOR CD (COMPLETE OPERA)
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
Sir Mark Elder, conductor
Opera Rara’s recording of Offenbach’sFantasio (ORC51) was last night announced as the winner of the CD (Complete Opera) category at this year’s International Opera Awards, often described as “the Oscars of the opera world”. Released in October 2014,Fantasio is considered one of the composer’s most beautiful and refined works. A heady cocktail of charm, gracefulness and gentle melancholy, of bad-tempered jokes and poetry, the opera marks the crucial step in Offenbach’s path towards Les contes d’Hoffmann.
Conducted by Sir Mark Elder, Opera Rara’s Artistic Director, the cast for the recording includes Sarah Connolly (Fantasio), Brenda Rae (Elsbeth), Russell Braun (Le Prince), Brindley Sheratt (Le Roi) and Neal Davies (Sparck). As The Daily Telegraph commented, “British label Opera Rara has been recording neglected Offenbach pieces intermittently since the Seventies, but recent years have seen a closer engagement with the composer… Thanks to the Offenbach scholar Jean-Christophe Keck, that lack of an edition has now been rectified.”
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We are delighted to announce the release of Donizetti’s Les Martyrs with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment conducted by Sir Mark Elder and a star cast led by Joyce El-Khoury, Michael Spyres and David Kempster. Find out more on the attached release information sheet.
Join us for a talk and discussion on the fascinating subject of ‘The Prima Donna and Opera’ with Susan Rutherford, Senior Lecturer in Music at the University of Manchester and Opera Rara’s repertoire consultant, Professor Roger Parker on Thursday 21 May 2015, 6.30pm in the Opera Rara Music Library. To secure a place email us at: info@opera-rara.com or call Kim Panter on +44 (0)20 7613 2858 (tickets £15.00, which includes a glass of wine or soft drink). See the attached invitation for further details.
Find out how you can support our recording of Donizetti’s Le Duc d’Albe on the attached leaflet. Help us continue our mission to recover, restore, recording and perform the forgotten operatic heritage of the 19th century.
Opera Rara and the BBC Symphomy Orchestra present
LEONCAVALLO: ZAZA
This November Opera Rara will record its first Leoncavallo opera, Zazà. Written in 1900 some eight years after I Pagliacci, Zazà was once hugely popular but has now fallen out of the repertoire.
On Friday 27 November, Opera Rara and the BBC Symphony Orchestra present a concert staging of Zazà, marking the company’s first venture into the musical world of Leoncavallo and the operatic tradition of verismo. Written in 1900 for the Teatro Lirico di Milano and conducted at its première by Toscanini, Zazà was Leoncavallo’s most popular opera after Pagliacci, the only work for which the composer is currently known. In the 20 years following its première, Zazà received over 50 new productions in opera houses around the world and became the chosen showcase for famous sopranos such as Rosina Storchio, who created the role, and Geraldine Farrar.
Based on the smash hit play by Pierre Breton and Charles Simon – which enjoyed three film adaptations including a 1923 version starring Gloria Swanson – the operais set in contemporary Paris and traces the collapse of the music hall singer Zazà’s relationship when she discovers her lover is married. With its infectious dance tunes and colourful orchestration making use of French popular music styles which Leoncavallo would have encountered in the capital, the verismo of Zazà is a far cry from the harsh, low-life realism of Pagliacci. Yet, where the composer’s first opera remains one of the most performed operatic works today, Zazà has all but fallen out of the repertory.
Opera Rara’s revival of Zazà is based on Leoncavallo’s own 1919 revision of his score which has been carefully researched by their Associate Conductor and Italian opera specialist, Maurizio Benini. Benini leads the BBC Symphony Orchestra in both the recording and concert staging of the opera, in what will be the Orchestra’s third collaboration with Opera Rara. Taking on the challenging soprano role for the first time is Ermonela Jaho who is joined by Riccardo Massi as her lover Milio; Stephen Gaertner as her onstage partner and former lover Cascart; and Patricia Bardon as her mother Anaide.
Tickets available now online from Barbican or Tel: +44 (0)20 7638 8891.
LEONCAVALLO: ZAZÀ
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Maurizio Benini, conductor
Friday 27 November 2015, 7.00pm
BARBICAN
Ermonela Jaho Zazà
Riccardo Massi Milio
Stephen Gaertner Cascart
Patricia Bardon Anaide
David Stout Bussy
Nicky Spence Courtois
Kathyrn Rudge Natalia
Simon Thorpe Duclou
Fflur Wyn Floriana
Julia Ferri Totò
BBC Singers
Renato Balsadonna, Chorus Director
Susannah Waters, Director
Tickets: £40; £34; £26; £18; £12
Box Office: 020 7638 8891
Online: www.barbican.org.uk
Read what the critics have to say about the ‘triumphant’ concert performance of Donizetti’s Les Martyrs given at the Royal Festival Hall on Tuesday 4 November 2014
