Category: News

On Friday 22 November, the Italian Ambassador to the United Kingdom Inigo Lambertini officially awarded our Artistic Director Carlo Rizzi, the Grand Officer of the Order of the Star of Italy, at a ceremony at the Italian Embassy in London.

Rizzi received this award for his outstanding work in promoting Italian culture worldwide through music:

Maestro Carlo Rizzi is a leading figure in the field of opera music. During a highly successful international career, which also led him to play for the Prince of Wales, now King Charles III, the Maestro has made an outstanding contribution to promoting Italy abroad through music. As the Artistic Director of Opera Rara, combining his undeniable talent with a deep passion for history and music, Maestro Rizzi has brilliantly promoted a very important piece of our country’s culture with a keen eye on the recovery of lost masterpieces: by carrying out in-depth and meticulous studies, he has in fact brought back to life works that had disappeared from music history books despite their great artistic value, from Leoncavallo to Donizetti. For all these reasons, Maestro Rizzi is considered worthy of the title of Grande Ufficiale of the Order of the Star of Italy.

In his own speech, Carlo Rizzi reflected on his role at Opera Rara and the connections with his cultural heritage:

Being on the move all the time and living away from my home country of Italy has at times been challenging, however, I can say for sure that working in the UK has always been a pleasure. Both the professionality and openness of British artistic institutions is unrivalled internationally and I have always felt welcome here. My role as Opera Rara’s Artistic Director has particularly brought me great satisfaction as it continues to allow me to express myself musically and draw on my cultural heritage.

Opera Rara’s Artist Ambassador Ermonela Jaho joined the special occasion and together with Rizzi, gave a performance of some of the Donizetti songs they have recently recorded together as part of our Donizetti Song Project.

 

 

 

 

 

Opera Rara has a reputation for nurturing singers, providing them with opportunities for acclaimed debuts and international recognition through our studio recordings. From supporting artists on the edge of significant careers to training and developing rising talents, we champion emerging artists. And to support this necessary work, we need to raise at least £25,000. By donating to Opera Rara’s Big Give campaign, Championing Emerging Artists, your donation will be matched by one of our generous match funders. Double the donation, double the impact!

It all begins on Giving Tuesday, 3 December and closes at midday 10 December – but you can make a pledge in advance to register your interest.  pledge form>>

30 years ago our Honorary Artist Patron Renée Fleming made her first complete opera recording with us: Donizetti’s Rosmonda d’Inghilterra.

Our November Recording of the Month features David Parry and Philharmonia Orchestra. Fleming is joined by a starry cast including Bruce Ford, Nelly Miricioiu, Alastair Miles and Diana Montague.

When asked to give a quote about her time working with us, Renée Fleming said: “Any lover of opera should be grateful for the existence of Opera Rara. This unique organisation provides an indispensable service, bringing neglected operatic gems to 21^st-century audiences. I know the value of this work from my own experience recording Donizetti’s Rosmonda d’Inghilterra with them. Without Opera Rara, recordings like that just wouldn’t be made, and countless musical treasures would remain essentially lost, unheard and unappreciated by contemporary and future audiences.”

Enjoy “Perche non ho del vento… Torna, torna or caro oggetto” here and head over to our YouTube for more clips over the next few weeks: https://ow.ly/qsja50U5a7k

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.

More details here: https://opera-rara.com/event/live-from-wigmore-hall-rosa-feola-carlo-rizzi

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”.

Produced by Jason Caffrey at Creative Kin

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.

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.”

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 19^th and early 20^th 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: