On Saturday 2 November at 1pm GMT/2pm CET, join us for our second live stream as part of our multi-year Donizetti Song Project from London’s Wigmore Hall.
Our Artistic Director Carlo Rizzi and Italian soprano Rosa Feola perform a selection of rare Donizetti songs side by side with those of later Italian composers Amilcare Ponchielli, Ottorino Respighi and Ciro Pinsuti. They are joined by harpist Sally Pryce.
Wherever you are in the world, join our presenter Flora Willson via our Facebook page and YouTube channel. If you can’t tune in live, the stream will stay up on our YouTube for 30 days.
Our October Recording of the Month is Donizetti’s Rita or Deux hommes et une femme starring Christopher Maltman, Barry Banks and Katerina Karnéus. Sir Mark Elder conducts The Hallé.
Released 10 years ago, Rita marked our 50th complete opera recording and was the only complete opera by Donizetti not to have been premiered in his lifetime. The one-act opéra-comique received its posthumous premiere at the Opéra-Comique in Paris on 17 May 1860 where it had originally been scheduled over two decades earlier.
The latest edition on which our recording is based was created from the composer’s complete autograph score and a newly discovered at the time manuscript libretto with autograph annotations restoring the French-language spoken dialogue orignially intended for the opera.
Head over to our YouTube channel to listen to excerpts from the opera and look out for more later this month:
We’re excited to announce today the launch of Lives in Song: our new Opera Insider series exploring musicians’ biographies through their music.
In this first series, our hosts Flora Willson and Roger Parker will put the music of prolific composer Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848) under the microscope and tell the story of his life through some of the songs he composed.
Told through six episodes, join the first YouTube live stream on Thursday 17 October at 6pm GMT/7pm BST on our YouTube channel.
EPISODE 1 description:
The year is 1837. Gaetano Donizetti is at the height of his international career as an composer of hugely popular operas. When his beloved wife, Virginia, dies aged just 28, Donizetti is devastated. In terms of operatic composition, the ‘show must go on’ – but does he show his grief through the songs he composes? Flora and Roger discuss the impact this tragic loss had on Donizetti’s life and music, with musical excerpts from his operas Rosmonda d’Inghilterra and Roberto Devereux, and extracts from a lesser-known side of the composer’s career: the songs he composed, in particular “Il sogno”.
Opera Rara was tonight announced as Gramophone’s Label of the Year 2024. Previous winners in this category include BIS, Deutsche Grammophon, Alpha Classics, Pentatone and Harmonia Mundi.
Henry Little with tenor Iván Ayón-Rivas and Opera Rara’s Chairman Charles Alexander CBE
Martin Cullingford, Gramophone’s Editor stated: “There’s something unique about this year’s Label of the Year. Most recipients of this annual accolade are variations on the form of a company offering a recording home to artists, nurturing and supporting them, and issuing their albums on a regular basis. Opera Rara does that of course, but its primary focus – and that of all the superb artists who show such dedication to this cherished company in this mission – is the championing of forgotten gems from the opera archives, specifically the 19th and earlier 20th centuries…
Project after project, singers as renowned as the soprano Ermonela Jaho and tenor Michael Spyres – both official Artistic Ambassadors for the company – happily learn rare repertoire for live performance and subsequent sessions (invariably studio, it’s worth noting!) that they know they will rarely, if ever, be asked to perform again. They, like all who work for and support Opera Rara, do so out of an abiding admiration for this marvellous institution – and it’s in the same spirit that we honour them as our 2024 Label of the Year.”
Opera Rara Chief Executive Henry Little accepts the Gramophone Label of the Year Award
Representing the company at the Gramophone Classical Music Awards 2024 ceremony in London was our Chief Executive Henry Little who said: “Our history goes back 54 years to Opera Rara’s foundation in 1970 by two visionary men: Patric Schmid and Don White. After a chance meeting with Joan Sutherland, their mission of restoring, recording, performing and promoting the great lost and forgotten operas of the 19th and early 20th centuries began. This artistic undertaking has been championed by many great conductors, musicologists, orchestras and singers; their courage and commitment to Opera Rara is exemplary as they learn and perform music that hasn’t been heard sometimes in more than 200 years.”
Our Artistic Director Carlo Rizzi sent a video message from Berlin where he is currently conducting at Deutsche Oper: “It has been one of my greatest honours and artistic achievements to lead Opera Rara as Artistic Director. This award is the culmination of decades of work, with every recording and restoration done with utmost care and incredible passion. Thank you, Gramophone, for this recognition.”
2024 has proven to be quite a year already for us as our list of awards has now grown to include OPER! Awards Best Opera Recording and OPUS KLASSIK Best Opera Recording for Offenbach’s La Princesse de Trébizonde (ORC63). Our latest complete opera recording, Donizetti’s L’esule di Roma (ORC64) conducted by Carlo Rizzi, was also nominated for a 2024 International Opera Award in the CD (Complete Opera) category.
Opera Rara’s work is only made possible by the support of its generous and loyal supporters. If you are interested in making a gift to commemorate this award or are interested in becoming a Friend or Patron of Opera Rara, please donate here.
Donizetti Songs Volumes 1 and 2 are now available to pre-order ahead of their official release date on 4 October.
The prolific and versatile Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti was not only one of the central figures of Italian bel canto opera but also wrote around 200 songs. Here we present songs for baritone and tenor which are rarely performed and some, until recently, completely unknown.
Our Artistic Director Carlo Rizzi at the piano performs with American tenor Lawrence Brownlee and Italian baritone Nicola Alaimo.
Click here and here to pre-order both albums, and enjoy two free downloads by joining our mailing list via our homepage.
If you like what you hear, do join us on 3 October for our digital launch with all three artists by registering here.
We’re delighted to announce today that both our Artistic Director Carlo Rizzi and our recording of Donizetti’s L’esule di Roma which he conducted have been nominated at this year’s International Opera Awards. Nominated in the Best Conductor and Best Recording (Complete Opera) categories, the winners will be announced on 2 October in Munich.
We were also so happy to see nominations for both our Artist Ambassadors Ermonela Jaho and Michael Spyres, Katia Ledoux – the star of our recent Salon Series recital which was streamed on YouTube, and Rosa Feola – who joins us for our Donizetti Song Project this autumn.
To celebrate the nominations, we’re offering a 15% discount off all our recordings with Carlo for one month until 2 October. These include L’esule di Roma, Mercadante’s Il proscritto, Leoncavallo’s Zingari and the recital albums Écho and Espoir.
Use the code IOA2024 via our website for all CD and digital download purchases here.
Our Recording of the Month is Offenbach’s Fantasio for which we won the 2015 Best Complete Opera Recording at the International Opera Awards.
Perhaps one of the least known of Offenbach’s lyric works, Fantasio only received a further 10 performances after its premiere in Paris in 1872. Featuring Brenda Rae, Victoria Simmonds, Aled Hall and Neil Davies, our revival recorded with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment uses the critical edition by Jean-Christophe Keck with whom we also collaborated with on La Princesse de Trébizonde most recently.
The title role is sung by Sarah Connolly described by Das Opernglas as ‘abundantly-timbred and effortless’.
Head over to our YouTube channel here to listen to the rousing ‘Vive le roi!’ as well as to discover more about this opera:
We’re looking to fill the role of Development and Events Coordinator starting this autumn.
Working closely with the Development and Communications Director, the Development and Events Coordinator will be responsible for managing and delivering regular cultivation and stewardship events, stewardship communications and donor relations.
They will also provide project management and admin support to the wider Development and Communications team including Opera Rara’s Philanthropy Manager, Marketing Consultant and Press, PR and Social Media Consultant.
Based at Opera Rara’s offices in Battersea Park, the Development and Events Coordinator will also serve as the main contact for Opera Rara’s external communications and look after Opera Rara’s online store.
If this sounds of interest, click here to find out more.
Our July Recording of the Month is Donizetti’s Roberto Devereux featuring Nelly Miricioiu as Elisabetta captured live at the Royal Opera and Ballet in 2002.
The lives of British monarchs from Alfred the Great to the Tudors and Stuarts held a special fascination for 19th century composers – none more so than Gaetano Donizetti who wrote seven operas involving English kings and queens.
As The Guardian noted at the time of the release: ‘Central to the success of this new set is the singing of the fine, characterful soprano Nelly Miricioiu as Elizabeth… she gives a most moving account of the queen.’
Head over to our YouTube channel here to listen to Elisabetta’s aria ‘Quel sangue versato al cielo sinnalza’ as well as to discover more about this opera:
Sunday 28 July is Opera Rara’s 54th birthday, and we invite audiences worldwide to celebrate with us! Across our channels, we’re marking this milestone by releasing special content, and we have set a goal of adding 54 new supporters to our ranks in the following weeks and months. Donations can be made here.
Opera Rara fans are able to help us reach our goal of 54 donors for 54 years by becoming a Friend or Patron, joining us on our journey of operatic discovery. Opera Rara’s work is only made possible by the generosity of our passionate supporters, and this year we need to raise nearly £1M.
Even just £5 per month could ensure that Opera Rara can continue all the inspiring performances, enlightening discoveries and award-winning recordings we experienced in our 53rd season. From the launch of the Donizetti Song Project, Opera Rara’s most ambitious project to date, to the recording and 5-star performance of the 1857 version of Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra and our first Salon Series with exciting emerging artists, there were many opportunities to experience rare and forgotten music restored.
The last season was also filled with many accolades. Opera Rara’s recording of Mercadante’s Il proscritto won an International Opera Awardfor Best Complete Opera Recording, and our recording of Offenbach’s La Princesse de Trébizonde won Best Opera Recording of the Year at both the OPUS KLASSIK Awards and the OPER! Awards. Our Artist Ambassadors Ermonela Jaho and Michael Spyres were also recognised at the OPER! Awards as Singers of the Year. None of this could have been possible without the generosity of our family of supporters, and our new season is just as ambitious.
In Opera Rara’s 54th season, there are many more exciting discoveries to be made and ground-breaking recordings to come. We continue our work with the multi-year Donizetti Song Project, which will see many more recitals at both Wigmore and Cadogan Halls and the release of four recordings containing nearly 100 songs in total. The popular Salon Series returns with four more emerging artists in concert in London and streamed online, bringing new voices to audiences in London and to the world. And, we will release the first-ever studio recording of the 1857 version of Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra.
By donating today and becoming an Opera Rara Friend or Patron, you can unlock new ways to connect with our work as we unearth more operatic gems and champion incredible vocal talent.
