Opera

Roberto Alagna is THE most well known French tenor worldwide, with 30 years of career on stage, and 60 opera roles in his repertoire.

Jake Heggie, who has been described as US opera’s most successful composer, chose the celebrated playwright Terence McNally as his librettist for Great Scott. The two previously collaborated on the gripping Dead Man Walking, which has become something of a modern classic since its premiere in 2000. Joyce DiDonato first performed its central role, Sister Helen Prejean, at New York City Opera in 2002 and will do so again in concert stagings in London and Madrid in January/February 2018, coinciding with the album release of Great Scott.

L’album se dit certes « présenté par Nathalie Manfrino », mais on y trouve d’autres stars de la scène lyrique française, à commencer par le ténor Jean-François Borras, qui voit désormais sa carrière se développer au Met de New York, à l’Opéra de Vienne, à celui de Munich, bref, les plus prestigieuses scènes planétaires.

Written for the Opéra in Paris, Gaetano Donizetti’s La Favorite contains some of his most famously enthralling arias. While its much-reduced Italian version has continued in popularity, this superb production from the Donizetti Opera Festival in his birthplace of Bergamo returns the work to its rarely heard 1840 French grand opera origins. Set in 14th-century Spain, the tragic story is of a pious novice (Fernand) who falls in love with a noble lady and abandons the cloister, meeting her in secret. He becomes a war hero and asks the King for her hand, later finding out to his horror that she is Léonor de Guzman, the King’s beloved mistress.

This collection of arias from the operas Il Tigrane, Poro, La Sofonisba, L’Ippolito is a testimony of Christoph Willibald Gluck’s opera activity from the year 1743 to 1745. At the age of 30, yet already successful composer, Gluck wrote his operas for the most important events in the cities of Crema, Turin and Milan, almost without a break. He seems to be at the peak of his career, yet he has not created those great compositions such as Orpheus and Euridice, Paride ed Elena, Alceste, that would have linked his name to the reform of opera theorised together with Ranieri de’ Calzabigi and which made him one of the immortal names in the music history.

But that isn’t all of the good news. Along with two regular guests, the Rijeka Symphony Orchestra, and thus the Rijeka Opera, also received a new house conductor (Kapellmeister), the young, yet already established Valentin Egel. Maestro Egel, winner of the Lovro pl. Matačić Award, recently conducted the concert “From the New World”. On that occasion, the concert audience could see why the world’s music critics have rated him as a conductor of “special strength and rich interpretation,” who delivers music “emotionally, powerfully, vividly,” and can “awaken emotions in the audience.” Maestro Egel will perform on October 3 in celebration of the 135th anniversary of the opening of the Rijeka theatre building, and will conduct a concert performance of Verdi’s Aida.

Based on August Strindberg’s celebrated 1888 play Miss Julie, chamber opera Juliana (2018) unites composer Joseph Phibbs and librettist Laurie Slade in a modern tale about the power of money, immigration politics, drugs and the blurring of sexual boundaries. In confronting these issues head-on, the power of aristocracy is replaced by that of plutocracy.

Lyric Opera of Chicago presents "The Three Queens", a program that brings together the finales of Gaetano Donizetti’s Tudor trilogy, showcasing three of the most fascinating heroines of opera history. These extraordinary women are interpreted by soprano Sondra Radvanovsky, who performs them together with an excellent ensemble of soloists under the baton of Donizetti specialist Riccardo Frizza. Singing these three breathtaking roles on one night is an enormous challenge for any soprano, and this live recording captures all the excitement of this exceptional achievement.

The works of Brahms are explored on this 1975 collection featuring the Frankfurt Opera Orchestra and Virtuoso Symphony Of London. Audio Fidelity presents this legacy recording in stunning modern clarity with its remastering and digital transfer process.

“(Armstrong) has devised a score that is intoxicating in the images it amplifies – a dense minimalist soundscape…”