Project Category: Singer

Christian du Plessis began performing in his native South Africa, making his debut in Johannesburg as Yamadori in Madam Butterfly (1967). He was a member of English National Opera from 1973 to 1981, as well as making a name for himself as a Rossini specialist. He has made several recordings with Opera Rara: Donizetti’s L’Assedio di Calais, Gabriella di Vergy, Maria Padilla, Ne m’oubliez pas, and Ugo Conte di Parigi; Meyerbeer’s Dinorah and Offenbach’s Christopher Columbus. He formally retired in 1988.

Born in Reims, Sébastien Droy studied at the Conservatoire National de Musique of Paris with Mireille Alcantara. His professional career began with Honegger’s Aventures du Roi Pausole with the Opéra de Fribourg in 2003. Since then he has sung a wide number of roles, among them Ottavio (Don Giovanni) in Tours, Il Re pastore at the Théatre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, Tamino (Die Zauberflöte) in Saint-Etienne, Hylas (Les Troyens) at the Opéra National du Rhin and Almaviva (Il Barbiere di Seviglia) in Rennes. He gives frequent oratorio performances, such as Bach’s St John Passion with Kurt Masur and Mozart’s Mass in C under John Nelson’s baton. He can be heard on Opera Rara’s recording of Ambroise Thomas’s La Cour de Célimène and Offenbach’s Vert-Vert.

Neal Davies studied at King’s College, London, and the Royal Academy of Music, and won the Lieder Prize at the 1991 Cardiff Singer of the World Competition. He has appeared with the Oslo Philharmonic under Mariss Jansons, the BBC Symphony with Pierre Boulez, the Cleveland and Philharmonia orchestras with Christoph von Dohnányi, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe with Nikolaus Harnoncourt, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment with Frans Brüggen, the Gabrieli Consort with Paul McCreesh, the Hallé with Mark Elder, Concerto Köln with Ivor Bolton, and the London Symphony and Vienna Philharmonic orchestras with Daniel Harding. He has been a regular guest at the Edinburgh Festival and the BBC Proms. He has also appeared at major opera houses including the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, English National Opera, Welsh National Opera and Scottish Opera, as well as in Paris, Marseille, Salzburg and at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. His wide discography includes Handel’s Messiah, Theodora and Saul and Haydn’s Die Schöpfung (Gramophone Award, 2008) under McCreesh, Janáček’s Jenůfa and The Makropulos Case under Sir Charles Mackerras, Barber’s Vanessa under Leonard Slatkin, Messiah under René Jacobs, Beethoven’s Symphony No 9 under Osmo Vänskä, the Hyperion Schubert Edition with Graham Johnson and Britten’s Billy Budd with Daniel Harding (Grammy Award, 2010). Fantasio is Neal’s first recording with Opera Rara.

Manuela Custer was born in Novara, and made her debut in 1985 in Turin. This immediately led to an international career, which saw her appearing in the most prestigious Opera houses and Concert halls all over the world (Monaco, Venice, Salzburg, Detroit, Wien, Florence, Madrid, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Edinburgh, Rome, Paris, Seville, Lyon, Leipzig, London), working with such distinguished conductors as Chailly, Lopez-Cobos, Luisi, Carella, Biondi, Marcon, Guidarini, Muller, Accardo, Ceccato, Noseda, etc… She made her debut at La Scala in Milan with Debussy’s La demoiselle élue under Gardiner. Her future engagements include: Rossini’s Guillaume Tell in Amsterdam, Rossini’s Italiana in Algeri in Florence, Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia and Mozart’s Requiem at La Fenice in Venice, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis in Milan, Rossini’s Barbiere di Siviglia in Sassari, Donizetti’s Il diluvio universale in St. Gallen, Falstaff in Bilbao. For Opera Rara she has recorded Rossini’s Elisabetta regina d’Inghilterra and Zelmira (Edinburgh International Festival), Donizetti’s Pia de’ Tolomei and Diluvio universale, highlights from Meyerbeer’s L’esule di Granata and Mercadante’s Maria Stuart, and features on Volumes 5 and 6 of the Il Salotto series.

Irish soprano Majella Cullagh has worked with such distinguished conductors as Jeffrey Tate, Sir Charles Mackerras, Giuliano Carella, Richard Bonynge and Robin Ticciati. Her recent engagements include Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda in Antwerp, Stockholm, London and Dallas; Donizetti’s Poliuto at the Amsterdam Conzertgebouw; Così fan tutte in Las Palmas; La Bohémeat the Royal Albert Hall, Il Barbiere di Siviglia in Toulon, Balfe’s Falstaffin Dublin, Donizetti’s Roberto Devereux with Richard Bonynge in London, Verdi’s Messa da Requiem in Milan. Among her future engagements: Verdi’s Alzira and Donizetti’s Il diluvio universale in St. Gallen, Verdi’s Messa da Requiem in Amsterdam, Rossini’s Guillaume Tell at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, Handel’s Messiah in Dublin, Rome, London, Cork. Majella has made complete recordings of Don Giovanni, The Magic Flute and The Thieving Magpie for Chandos. Her debut recording with Opera Rara was in the title role of Donizetti’s Zoraida di Granata, other recordings include: Rossini’s Bianca e Falliero, Elisabetta regina d’Inghilterra and Adelaide di Borgogna, Donizetti’s Pia de’ Tolomei, Il diluvio universale and highlights from Mercadante’s Zaira, as well as several volumes of Il Salotto.

Lucy Crowe was born in Staffordshire and has established herself as one of the leading lyric sopranos of her generation. She studied at the Royal Academy of Music. In 2002 she received the Royal Overseas Gold Medal and in 2005 second prize in the Kathleen Ferrier Awards. In great demand in opera, concert and recital, conductors she has worked with include Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Lawrence Cummings, Trevor Pinnock, Richard Egarr, Harry Christophers, Richard Hickox, Sakari Oramo, Paul Daniel, Sir Charles Mackerras, Mark Minkowski and William Christie. She made her operatic debuts with Scottish Opera as Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier and English National Opera as Poppea in Agrippina, both to great critical acclaim. She has since performed Sophie in London at the Royal Opera House and in Berlin at the Deutsche Oper. Other roles include Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro, Elisa in Il Re Pastore, Drusilla in The Coronation of Poppea, Nanetta in Verdi’s Falstaff and Belinda in Dido and Aeneas.

With his debut on Opening Night of the Metropolitan Opera’s 2007-8 season, Stephen Costello announced the arrival of a major new tenor. His performance as Arturo in the new production of Lucia di Lammermoor directed by James Levine led to an invitation to sing the role of Edgardo that season. Mr. Costello was 2009 winner of the prestigious Richard Tucker Award. He was awarded a 2007 Career Grant from the Richard Tucker Music Foundation, as well as a 2006 Sara Tucker Study Grant. He won First Prize in the 2006 George London Foundation Singers Competition, First Prize and Audience Prize in the Giargiari Competition and First Prize in the Licia Albanese Puccini Foundation Competition. In the 2009-10 season he made his debut at Royal Opera House, Covent Garden as Carlo in Linda di Chamounix, recorded by Opera Rara (ORC43), followed by Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi, Rodolfo in La Boheme at Deutsche Oper Berlin and Romeo at the Salzburg Festival.

Alice Coote’s career has taken her from her beginnings in the north of England (born in Cheshire) in local singing festivals and playing Oboe in the Cheshire Youth Orchestra to being regarded as one of the great artists of today. She trained at GSMD, RNCM and The National Opera Studio, receiving during this time the Decca Kathleen Ferrier Prize and the Brigitte Fassbaender Prize for Lieder Interpretation. Acclaimed in particular for Mahler, Berlioz, Mozart, Handel and Bach with orchestras such as LSO, Boston Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Concert D’Astree, Halle and Concertgebouw she has collaborated with conductors including Gergiev, Dohnanyi, Belohavek, Elder and Boulez.

Sarah Connolly studied piano and singing at the Royal College of Music, of which she is now a Fellow. She was made CBE in the 2010 New Year’s Honours List. In 2011 she was honoured by the Incorporated Society of Musicians and presented with the Distinguished Musician Award and she is the recipient of the the Royal Philharmonic Society’s 2012 Singer Award. Notable highlights on the operatic stage have included Fricka Das Rheingold & Die Walküre (Covent Garden); Dido Dido & Aeneas (La Scala); Komponist Ariadne auf Naxos (Metropolitan Opera); Phèdre Hippolyte et Aricie (Paris Opera); the title role in Giulio Cesare and Brangäne Tristan und Isolde (Glyndebourne Festival); Sesto La clemenza di Tito and the title role in Ariodante (Festival d’Aix-en-Provence); Octavian Der Rosenkavalier, Charpentier’s Médée and Didon Les Troyens for the English National Opera; Gluck’s Orfeo (Bayerische Staatsoper); the title role in Maria Stuarda (Opera North) and Nerone L’Incoronazione di Poppea and the title role in Agrippina (Gran Teatro del Liceu). Much in demand on the concert platform for the great lyric mezzo repertory she has appeared at the Aldeburgh, Edinburgh, Lucerne, Salzburg, Tanglewood and Three Choirs Festivals and at the BBC Proms where, in 2009, she was a memorable guest soloist at the Last Night. She is a prolific recording artist, twice nominated for a Grammy Award. Fantasio is Sarah’s first recording with Opera Rara.

One of the foremost lyric coloraturas of her generation, Laura Claycomb excels in adventurous repertoire, ranging from baroque music through belcanto masterpieces to 20th century and contemporary compositions. Her signature roles have taken her around the world to the major opera houses and orchestras. Ms. Claycomb appears in leading roles internationally in such renowned opera houses as La Scala, Geneva Opera, Paris Bastille, Paris Garnier, Munich Opera, Salzburg Festival, Paris Chatelet, Berlin Staatsoper, San Francisco Opera, Los Angeles and Houston Opera as well as being sought after by top orchestras like the London Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, London Sinfonietta, Le Concert d’Astrée, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Ensemble Modern, and Bavarian Radio Orchestra. For Opera Rara she has recorded Pacini’s Alessandro nell’Indie and Thomas’ La Cour de Célimèneand appears on Entre Nous: Celebrating Offenbach.