Fabio Scoto

This production of Bellini's famous masterpiece Norma was extraordinary in many aspects. Staged by Italian director and filmmaker Roberto Ando at the Teatro Regio in Parma, it gathered international stars like American soprano June Anderson and shooting star Daniela Barcellona as well as Russian bass lldar Abdrazakov. Audience and critics alike enthusiastically received the remarkable orchestral accompaniment. Fabio Biondi's transparent conducting and the authentic performance practice of Europa Galante illuminated the musical structure of Bellini's opera and provided a new perspective on early 19th century opera.

Fabio Biondi returns with the first recording of 'Carlo, Re d'Alemagna' by Alessandro Scarlatti, first performed in Naples in January 1716. The opera was resurrected in 2003 by Biondi (the leader of the innovative ensemble Europa Galante) who led a concert performance with the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra. This studio recording was made in late 2009. It is in many ways a typical example of Neapolitan Baroque opera with action assigned to the recitatives whilst the characters are developed during the arias. The opera deals with the accession to power and its exercise: an ever present problem in many ways and about the legitimacy of Carlo, successor to the late king. A mixture of opera seria and opera buffo, a requirement for the contemporary Neapolitan public c1690, is also found here.

Giuseppe Verdi's first big Paris hit, Jérusalem is an 1847 rewrite of I Lombardi. Along with a new French text, the action is clarified, characters and scenes are dropped, the tenor role is beefed up, and the obligatory ballet is added, among other changes. It's a more coherent opera in this version, although Italian audiences have clung to I Lombardi, which is still mounted on the world's stages. The Philips team, however, makes a powerful case for this French grand opera story of betrayal, love, war and rescue, penitence, and vindication painted in primary colors on a canvas of Crusaders and villains, rousingly set to effective, if blunt, music.

The many successes of La Risonanza, the ensemble led from the keyboard by Fabio Bonizzoni (notably with its survey of Handel secular cantatas), can often lead to Bonizzoni’s great talent as a harpsichordist and organist being overlooked. Here, in the delightful Op 9 concertos by Giuseppe Sammartini, we are able to enjoy Bonizzoni’s skill in the latter role, assisted by a small – but decidedly elegant – ensemble of all-stars in which feature the violin playing of David Plantier and Olivia Centurioni.

Gustavo primo, re di Svezia (Gustavus the First, King of Sweden) is a three act opera seria by Baldassare Galuppi, with a libretto by Carlo Goldoni, fictionalising events in the life of Gustav I of Sweden. Composed in honour of the Genoese nobleman marchese Giovanni Giacomo Grimaldi, it premiered on 25 May 1740 at Venice's Teatro San Samuele. It was first recorded in 2003 by Karoly, Gonzalez, Cecchetti and the Capella Savaria Baroque Orchestra, conducted by Fabio Pirona.

The series, produced by Papik and dedicated to the Cocktail Music, started with the tribute to Bruno Martino and continued with Mina and Lucio Battisti tributes, starts this new year 2018 with a Fausto Papetti tribute. The well-known Sax's Italian Musician, was the forerunner of the cocktail genre and in the 70s, 80s and 90s his unforgettable 'Collections' with ultra sexy covers did not go unnoticed by most Italians. The sound of his sax was finally his real characteristic and therefore Cocktail Sax is mainly dedicated to him. The instrumental music is however one of the favorite at present, because of its use as a background for evenings and events, creating a refined, elegant but also friendly atmosphere.

Francesco Maria Veracini (1690-1768) is today best known as an eccentric violin virtuoso and composer of instrumental music, but he has also successfully operated as an opera composer during his time in London. His first opera Adriano in Siria was created in 1735 for the London Opera of Nobility, the rival company to Handel's opera troupe. The company had only a few years earlier (including the soprano castrato Senesino and Francesca Cuzzoni) poached all singing stars from Handel. Even worse: since 1734, it could also score with the castrato legend Farinelli. Veracini's Adriano in Siria is, in every respect, a spectacular and fascinating opera. The recording of Fabio Biondi and an appropriate illustrious singers ensemble is based on a highly successful concert performance series of the work at the Vienna Konzerthaus in 2013, which made alive again the spectacular opera event of 1735.