Genis Carreras

Set in Paris immediately before and during the French Revolution, Andrea Chenier is Giordano's passionate and most successful opera. Jose Carreras stars in the title role as the idealistic poet of the French Revolution, and Maddalena, the object of Chenier's adoration, is portrayed by Hungarian soprano Eva Marton.

Herbert von Karajan was head of the Berliner Philharmoniker from 1956 until his death in 1989. In addition to countless orchestral recordings, he created some immortal opera recordings: '' Don Carlos '' is one of these opera recordings that have since become historically significant: In 1986, the Salzburg Easter Festival was staged by an internationally top-class soloist duo (José Carreras, Agnes Baltsa, Ferrucio Furlanetto and Piero Cappuccilli ) on legend Karajan with the Berliner Philharmoniker and the Salzburg Concert Choir.

Opera composer Puccini was a young man when he crafted this splendid work. Its text is the old-fashioned Roman Catholic Latin Mass. The title of the work derives from its longest component, the "Gloria." Youthful exuberance and optimism underlie the work.

Andrea Chénier is a verismo opera in four acts by the composer Umberto Giordano, set to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica. It is based loosely on the life of the French poet, André Chénier (1762-1794), who was executed during the French Revolution.
Andrea Chénier remains popular with audiences, though it is now less frequently performed than it was during the first half of the 20th Century. One reason that the opera has stayed in the repertoire is due to the magnificent lyric-dramatic music provided by Giordano for the tenor lead, which gives a talented singer many opportunities to demonstrate his histrionic skill and flaunt his voice. Indeed, Giuseppe Borgatti's triumph in the title part at the first performance immediately propelled him to the front rank of Italian opera singers. Borgatti went on to become Italy's greatest Wagnerian tenor rather than a verismo-opera specialist.