SIR MARK ELDER & OPERA RARA RECEIVE PRESTIGIOUS FRENCH AWARDS
Opera Rara is proud to announce that the label and its Artistic Director, Sir Mark Elder, have been presented with awards by the prestigious French Académie du Disque Lyrique. An Orphée d’Or (Prix Bruno Walter) was awarded to Sir Mark for his conducting of both Linda di Chamounix and Maria di Rohan and Opera Rara received an Orphée d’Or for its recording of Maria di Rohan.
Crush Room, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden
Opera Rara hosted a lunch to celebrate its new release – Bellini’s Il pirata on Thursday 19th April 2012
During the event, we announced our forthcoming world première studio recording of Donizetti’s Belisario.
Belisario, a triumph on stages during the 19th century, marks the second in our ongoing series of recordings with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and we were delighted that the two sopranos starring in the recording, Joyce El-Khoury and Camilla Roberts, were on hand to entertain guests with excerpts from this rarely-performed opera. Discover how to support our restoration of Belisario. Not only will we produce the long-overdue first ever studio recording of this wonderful work, but we will also provide a rare opportunity for audiences to hear the opera live in concert on Sunday 28th October 2012 at the Barbican Hall, London.
Please contact the Development Department on
+44 (0)20 7613 2858
or info@opera-rara.com
We recently collaborated with the Royal Opera House’s Jette Parker Young Artists Programme and recorded live, in the Linbury Studio Theatre, their performances of Massenet’s rarely heard opera Le Portrait de Manon and Berlioz’s Les Nuits d’été. This is an exciting project for all concerned and we’re delighted to be able to give these young singers, and orchestral musicians from the Southbank Sinfonia, the chance to create a professional recording at the start of their careers.
Opera Rara is delighted to announce that the label has been presented with Gramophone Magazine’s coveted Opera of the Year Award for Rossini’s Ermione.
Ermione is without doubt one of the greatest operas by Rossini; but the work was greeted with incomprehension at its one performance in 1819 and was never revived in Rossini’s lifetime. The composer was resigned: ‘It is my little Guillaume Tell in Italian,’ he said, ‘and will not see the light of day until after my death.’
Since its first stage revival in Pesaro in 1987, Ermione has been recognised as a lost masterpiece. Set in the aftermath of the Trojan War, the opera’s novelties begin with an overture interrupted by a choral lament of Trojan prisoners. Tension and staggering originality are maintained right to the very end.
With its fabulous cast (including Carmen Giannattasio, Patricia Bardon, Paul Nilon, Colin Lee, Bülent Bezdüz, Graeme Broadbent and Rebecca Bottone) accompanied by the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Geoffrey Mitchell Choir, the work is conducted by David Parry. The 2 CD set (ORC42) features Opera Rara’s usual beautiful packaging, including a complete libretto with an English translation and article/synopsis by eminent 19th-century musical scholar, Jeremy Commons.
The award was collected by soprano, Carmen Giannattasio and Opera Rara’s managing director, Stephen Revell. In his acceptance speech, Revell said, “This is a very happy and proud day for Opera Rara…I would like to thank the Peter Moores Foundation for its very generous support of our work over many years. Opera Rara is a charity and cannot survive on CD sales alone. We love what we do and I believe that we are doing something very worthwhile. We rely on sponsorship to fund our recordings and, each time we look to record another forgotten masterpiece, we wonder where our funding will come from. We thank all those opera lovers who continue to support our work….I would also like to remember our beloved Patric Schmid, the co-founder of Opera Rara, who sadly did not live to see this day….finally, let me thank Gramophone for giving us this great award, the wonderful artists who made this beautiful recording and my hardworking and dedicated Opera Rara team who made it possible.”
Ms Giannattasio added, “For me, working on Ermione has been what you call a labour of love and, to bring this forgotten glorious music of Rossini to life again, makes me incredibly happy. Working with Opera Rara is like belonging to a warm and loving family and I hope that I can be a member of this family for many years to come. Grazie Mille and Viva Rossini”.
Our recording of Linda di Chamounix received great critical acclaim in the press with Editor’s choice in Gramophone magazine, CD of the Month in BBC Music Magazine and Opera magazine and sensational reviews in all the major publications, here’s what the critics have to say:
‘This opera has been recorded before, but not to this standard. It’s hard to imagine this set ever being replaced or even rivalled’. – Michael Tanner, BBC Music Magazine
‘All in all the strongest possible case for reviving this unjustly neglected piece’ – Hugh Canning, Sunday Times Culture
‘It’s an outstanding release, not least for the obviously painstaking musical preparation, resulting in exceptional fidelity to the composers wishes and careful yet heartfelt interpretations of the music by the whole cast’ – Rodney Milnes, Opera magazine
Opera Rara celebrates the launch of its new release, Donizetti’s Maria di Rohan with a fundraising lunch at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
A lavish lunch for 100 people was given in the Crush Room at the Royal Opera House to celebrate the launch of our November release of Donizetti’s Maria di Rohan. In addition to celebrating the recording the lunch provided an opportunity to fundraise for future Opera Rara projects, focusing on our recording with the Jette Parker Young Artists. Ana James Ji-Min Park, previous Jette Parker Young Artists, entertained the guests with songs from the bel canto repertoire prior to the lunch.
