As a life-long opera fan and a long-time admirer of Opera Rara’s work, I am thrilled for the opportunity to support and help ensure the future of this influential company. Opera Rara’s recordings are how I first connected with its work, as I’m sure many of you share a similar story. As we continue to celebrate the past 50 years of stunning successes, I look forward to working with you, our supporters, to secure the next 50 years.
Of all art forms, opera has the unique power to connect with the human soul in its blending of many diverse artistic forces. As we experience the truly Olympic feats of the singers onstage and the overwhelming swells and the intimate beauty from the orchestra, it is easy to lose oneself to the moment and to the connection felt by fellow audience members. For me, it is an experience close to sacred.
Opera Rara’s mission is unique and exciting, preserving the past and securing a sustainable future for the artform. As someone who has worked with world-class companies, Opera Rara is revered and highly-regarded in the field. In my first week with the organisation, it has also become evident just how much Opera Rara truly is a family. I look forward to meeting each of you in the coming weeks and months, and I can only say how incredibly grateful I am for the warm welcome I have already received.
The Jury of the International Classical Music Awards (ICMA) has chosen Ermonela Jaho’s debut recording Anima Rara as one of the releases competing in the finals for the awards 2021. The initial list, with a total of 365 nominations, has been reduced to three recordings per category.
Anima Rara has been shortlisted along with Elsa Dreisig’s album Morgen and Marina Rebeka’s recording Elle in the category Vocal Music.
The names of the winners, who will receive their trophy in Vaduz, Liechtenstein on 18 April 2021, will be published on Wednesday 20 January 2021.
Soprano Ermonela Jaho, chooses our September Album of the Month
In the fifth instalment of our series highlighting particular jewels from our catalogue of over 60 full length opera recordings, our Soprano Ermonela Jaho, chooses our September Album of the Month. In this short video he explains why Puccini’s Le Willis is special to her.
Recorded at the Henry Wood Hall, London, November 2018
“First-class treatment for Puccini’s haunting debut” Opera Choice – 5 stars BBC Music Magazine
Presto Classical, Recordings of the Year 2019 – Our Top 100
Opera category nomination for 2020 BBC Music Magazine Awards
We’re offering 50% off this title in our online shop for the entire month of September. Click below to take advantage of this fantastic time limited offer’.
Chairman, Charles Alexander, chooses our August Album of the Month
In the fourth instalment of our series highlighting particular jewels from our catalogue of over 60 full length opera recordings, our Chairman, Charles Alexander, chooses our August Album of the Month. In this short video he explains why Donizetti’s Les Martyrs is special to him.
Click here to listen to Michael Spyres sing the famous Top ‘E’ Charles refers to in his video.
Recorded at St Clement’s Church, London, October/November 2014
“The cast that Opera Rara has assembled for this production is unbeatable…Stunning sound, stunning presentation” Limelight
Winner of 2015 Prix Francisco Cavalli from the Académie du Disque Lyrique
Winner of 2016 International Opera Award for CD (Complete Opera)
Shortlist 2016 Gramophone Awards (Opera)
Limelight Recording of the Month
BBC Music MagazineOpera Choice
OperaDisc of the Month
GramophoneEditor’s Choice; Critics’ Choice for 2015
We’re offering 50% off this title in our online shop for the entire month of August. Click below to take advantage of this fantastic time limited offer’
In the third instalment in our series highlighting particular jewels from our catalogue of over 60 full length opera recordings, our Chief Executive, Henry Little, chooses our July Album of the Month. In the below video, he shares why Bellini’s Adelson e Salvini is so special to him.
Recorded at BBC Maida Vale Studios, London, May 2016
“Bellini’s first opera is a belter!” Classical Music
Sunday Times Album of the Week
We’re offering 50% off this title in our online shop for the entire month of July. Click here take advantage of this fantastic time limited offer’.
Opera Rara releases Bellini’s first opera Adelson e Salvini, written in 1825 while the composer was still a student at the Naples Conservatory. Inspired by Baculard d’Arnaud’s 1772 series of novellas, Les Épreuves du sentiment, Adelson e Salvini was so popular that the students of the Naples Conservatory performed it every Sunday for a year and its impact was such that the intendant of the Teatro di San Carlo immediately commissioned Bellini’s first professional opera.
Misha Kiria Cardenio Albina Shagimuratova Eleonora Fabio Capitanucci Kaidamà André Henriques Bartolomeo Heather Lowe Marcella René Barbera Fernando Opera Rara Chorus Britten Sinfonia Carlo Rizzi conductor
We’re delighted to announce that our studio recording of our new edition of Donizetti’s il furioso all’isola si San Domingo will now take place in July 2021 and that the concert performance will be on Thursday 8th July at the Barbican Centre in London. I’m especially pleased that the majority of the cast who were to have sung with us in June this year will return, including Albina Shagimuratova whose performances with us in Semiramide and il Paria were so memorable. We welcome back René Barbera and Misha Kiria who made their debuts last year in il Paria. This will be Carlo Rizzi’s first full opera recording with us and we can’t wait to get started on our 27th compete Donizetti restoration.
If you booked previously for the original date, you will have priority booking from 1st June at 10am. Booking opens for Barbican Members from 3rd June, and then on General Sale from 5th June. To learn more about the project, book tickets, or add the date to your diary, please click one of the links below.
In the second instalment in our series highlighting particular jewels from our catalogue of over 60 full length opera recordings, our Artistic Dramaturge, Roger Parker, chooses our June Album of the Month. Below, he shares his insights into Donizetti’s Le Duc d’Albe.
Recorded at Hallé St Peter’s, Ancoats, Manchester June 2015
“…care, fine preparation and attention to detail in the musical execution, marvellously evident from first note to last” Opera Magazine
Opera category nomination for 2017 International Classical Music Awards
Opera category nomination for 2017 BBC Music Magazine Awards
Sunday Times Album of the Week
BBC Music Magazine Opera Choice
Limelight Editor’s Choice
Donizetti’s Le Duc d’Albe was an ill-starred work for the composer. In 1840, and at the height of his powers, he had written more than half of it in full score for Paris’s great theatre, the Opéra; but then obstacles began to be put in his way, obstacles that continued for the rest of the tragically short time that remained to him. There are stories that, even during his miserable last years sequestered in an asylum outside Paris, he was wont to rave and rant about his half-finished opera. In this context, it’s not without embarrassment that I remember the period of the Opera Rara recording as one of happy collaboration. I had done what I could to edit what Donizetti had left, but the conductor Sir Mark Elder, as always, was forensically engaged from the very start. Early on we decided that we would only record the first two acts (by far the most complete); and also that we would commission a completion of the missing prelude and recitatives from English National Opera’s Martin Fitzpatrick. Many an afternoon was then spent by the three of us in Mark’s Highgate house, arguing line by line, note by note, about how this or that passage should be realised. When it came to the recording, I think we all felt a sense of pride and ownership. Would Donizetti have approved? I sometimes like to think so; but I’m sure he would have been amazed at the time and effort it all took: in the months we spent on Le Duc d’Albe, he would have polished off four or five operas, doubtless with a couple of dozen songs and some cantatas on the side, all the time dashing in coaches from this to that city, writing streams of letters to all concerned, rehearsing with loving care his old and new creations.
There’s never been a better time to enjoy the treasures from our catalogue of over 60 recordings. To make it easy for you, we’ve put together a 50th anniversary playlist of our all time favourite Opera Rara pieces, chosen by our Artistic Director, Carlo Rizzi, our Artistic Dramaturg, Roger Parker, the wider Opera Rara team and you, our wonderful supporters. Thank you for telling us your favourite tracks.
It’s available to stream for free, or you can download the whole 50 for the bargain price of just £5. If you like what you hear, you could choose to help us bring more of these masterpieces to life by making a donation from as little as £50. This would be especially appreciated in these tough times. Click here to enjoy!
Launching a new series highlighting particular jewels from our catalogue of over 60 full length opera recordings, our Artistic Director, Carlo Rizzi chooses our May Album of the month. Below, he shares his insights into Rossini’s Elisabetta regina d’Inghilterra.
“I think that you will discover that this Opera demonstrates the genius of Rossini”.
Recorded at St Clement’s Church, London March 2002
Elisabetta regina d’Inghilterra (1815) was the first of the nine Rossini Neapolitan operas written for the Teatro San Carlo. The works Rossini composed were hailed (and have been ever since) as some of the most remarkable ever to be composed for the lyric stage.
The Plot: While campaigning in Scotland, the Queen’s inamorato, the Earl of Leicester, has fallen in love with and married Matilde, unaware that she is a child of the hated Mary, Queen of Scots. Unwisely, he confides his dilemma to Norfolk who stirs up a hornets’ nest of emotional intrigue by revealing all to the queen.
“Even by Opera Rara’s standards and characteristic zest for dusting off neglected pieces, this new recording must rare highly in the company’s catalogue” BBC Music Magazine
If you would like to know more, you can read Jeremy Commons’ programme note here. You can also listen to the overture here.
We’re offering 50% off this title in our online shop for the entire month of May. Click below to take advantage of this fantastic time limited offer’.
I hope this message finds you and those close to you, wherever you are in the world safe, well, healthy and that you are surviving, even thriving, as best you can in these challenging circumstances.
Like all opera companies, the effect of Covid 19 on Opera Rara has been enormous. We’ve had to take some tough decisions. We’ve done this because we want our brilliant and unique organisation to emerge from this strong, resilient and able to face the future with confidence.
This September, we will be releasing Ermonela Jaho’s debut recital recording of arias by among others Verdi, Puccini, Leoncavallo and Mascagni championed by the great 19th century singer, Rosina Storchio. Watch this space for more information.
We were set to promote our latest Donizetti rediscovery Il Paria next month. It’s a recording that we’re all proud of. We’ve decided to postpone the release to January 2021. We will be in touch with you with more details as we get closer to that date.
This summer we were poised to start our studio opera recording of Donizetti’s Il furioso all’ isola di San Domingo with our new Artistic Director: Carlo Rizzi. We’ve assembled a stellar cast including Albina Shagimuratova following her acclaimed performance of Il Paria at the Barbican last summer. The recording and concert at the Barbican on 22nd June has been postponed. We are determined to bring this piece brilliantly and thrillingly to life at the earliest opportunity. As soon as we have confirmed new dates for the project, we will let you know.
During these weeks of confinement, may I suggest that there’s never been a better time to explore the amazing range of wonderful operatic masterpieces that we have rediscovered in the last fifty years? From Donizetti’s Rosmonda d’Inghilterra when a young Renée Fleming made her first recording in 1994 with us, to the charming comedy of Offenbach’s Fantasio in 2015, or the searing drama of Zazà with Ermonela Jaho in 2016 or the beauty of our acclaimed interpretation of Rossini’s Semiramide in 2018, there’s never been a better time to enjoy the incredible range of recordings from the comfort and safety of your own home. All our titles can be downloaded at opera-rara.com or streamed on all the usual platforms. For now, we continue to take CD orders from our shop and we will get these to you as soon as we can.
This year is Opera Rara’s 50th Birthday. Whether you are a major donor, or a Friend, an industry partner or a buying customer, thank you so much for your support which is crucial to our work. Your help is going to be more important than ever to secure our future. We’re a charity and we don’t receive public funding. Every pound we spend on our artistic programme needs to be raised privately. You can become a Friend for as little as £100 a year. Please use the ‘Donate’ button to make a contribution. Thank you.
Since 1970, Opera Rara has built a reputation for artistic excellence based on a single-minded ambition to bring rare operatic jewels for current and future audiences to enjoy. All of us are resolved to continue our pioneering work. With your help and partnership, we will succeed.
