il Pene

For his debut on Warner Classics, Samoan tenor Pene Pati matches favourite showpiece arias with rarer operatic gems in a programme of Verdi, Rossini, Donizetti, Meyerbeer, Gounod and Benjamin Godard. Pati has been called “a revelation … stunning for his generosity of voice, top notes of apparently invincible power, and alluring timbre,“ (Forum Opéra) and praised for his “gleaming, sensuous stream of sound” (San Francisco Chronicle). A singer of glowing lyricism who establishes an immediate rapport with his audience, Pati hopes that the album will leave listeners with a sense of “warmth, tenderness, and the sincerity of storytelling. To me, this is the essence of opera and the reason why I sing.” He is joined by conductor Emmanuel Villaume and the Orchestre national Bordeaux Aquitaine.

Taking its title, Nessun Dorma, from the greatest tenor hit of them all, Pene Pati’s second album balances favourite numbers with operatic rarities – two of them in world premiere recordings. In addition to Puccini, the Italian composers are Verdi, Donizetti, Mascagni and Mercadante, while the French school is represented by Berlioz, Meyerbeer, Gounod, Massenet, Halévy and Guiraud. Joining the Samoan tenor on the album are his soprano wife, Amina Edris, his tenor brother Amitai Pati, conductor Emmanuel Villaume, the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine and the Choeur de l’Opéra National de Bordeaux.

Taking its title, Nessun Dorma, from the greatest tenor hit of them all, Pene Pati’s second album balances favourite numbers with operatic rarities – two of them in world premiere recordings. In addition to Puccini, the Italian composers are Verdi, Donizetti, Mascagni and Mercadante, while the French school is represented by Berlioz, Meyerbeer, Gounod, Massenet, Halévy and Guiraud. Joining the Samoan tenor on the album are his soprano wife, Amina Edris, his tenor brother Amitai Pati, conductor Emmanuel Villaume, the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine and the Choeur de l’Opéra National de Bordeaux.

Taking its title, Nessun Dorma, from the greatest tenor hit of them all, Pene Pati’s second album balances favourite numbers with operatic rarities – two of them in world premiere recordings. In addition to Puccini, the Italian composers are Verdi, Donizetti, Mascagni and Mercadante, while the French school is represented by Berlioz, Meyerbeer, Gounod, Massenet, Halévy and Guiraud. Joining the Samoan tenor on the album are his soprano wife, Amina Edris, his tenor brother Amitai Pati, conductor Emmanuel Villaume, the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine and the Choeur de l’Opéra National de Bordeaux.

Demofoonte dates from the early Milan years of Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714-1787), long before the radical reform operas for which he is most famous and his break with opera seria and the librettos of Pietro Metastasio. Gluck arrived in the northern Italian city in 1737 and was mentored there by composer Giovanni Battista Sammartini. Though Sammartini primarily composed symphonies and music for the church, Milan boasted a vibrant opera scene, and Gluck soon formed an association with one of the city's up-and-coming opera houses, the Teatro Regio Ducal.

With Contra-Tenor, Michael Spyres challenges perceptions of the tenor in the Baroque era, often seen as the age of the castrato. In the company of Il Pomo d’Oro and conductor Francesco Corti, he explores the period from the late 17th century to the 1770s, tracing the course of opera in both the French and Italian styles. The 15 arias range from Lully to early Mozart by way of Handel, Vivaldi, Rameau, Gluck and composers such as Hasse, Galuppi and Latilla (represented by world premiere recordings), and Mazzoni and Sarro (represented by first studio recordings). Spyres’ exceptional credentials for this virtuoso repertoire have been summed up by Gramophone magazine: a “superb artist whose voice [is] perfectly equalised over more than two-and-a-half octaves,” notable for “exceptional artistry, formidable technique and seemingly limitless understanding of style.”

Star countertenor Max Emanuel Cencic steps into new musical territory with the world premiere recording of Catone in Utica by Leonardo Vinci, a forgotten genius of Italian opera. The opera tells a powerful tale of Julius Caesar’s defeat of the Republican forces led by Marcus Porcius Cato in 46 BC, exploring the eternal themes of love, duty and honor. Featuring five countertenors along with conductor Riccardo Minasi who leads il pomo d’oro.