3 days Ago By Francisco Salazar
Welcome back for this week’s look at the latest CD and DVD releases in the opera world. This week audiences will hear new recordings of two famed works, one in the French repertoire and the other in the Italian repertoire. There will also be holiday recordings and some world-premiere pieces.
Changing Navona releases Choral Chameleon, under the direction of Vince Peterson’s new album. The album explores the concept of change as a fundamental aspect of our existence. The texts and poems in this release delve into change as something that is inevitable and cyclical.
VIVALDI EDITION No. 72: Musica sacra per coro e orchestra I Musica sacra per coro e orchestra I marks the 72nd volume in naïve’s Vivaldi Edition and the first to be recorded by Giulio Prandi and his Coro e Orchestra Ghislieri. The album features the “Dixit Dominus,” RV 807 and the “Magnificat,” RV 611, which bookend three rare motets: “Confitebor tibi, Domine” in C Major, RV 596; “Sanctorum meritis” in C major RV 620; and “Vos invito, barbarae faces” in F major, RV 811.
The album features soloists Carlotta Colombo, Margherita Maria Sala, Valerio Contaldo, Alessandro Ravasio, Marta Redaelli, and Massimo Lombardi. Werther Houston Grand Opera releases a recording of “Werther” starring Matthew Polenzani and Isabel Leonard. The opera is conducted by Robert Spano and also stars Jasmine Habersham and Sean Michael Plumb.
“This is a stunningly gorgeous, extremely difficult opera that demands musicianship at the very highest levels,” said HGO General Director and CEO Khori Dastoor in an official press release. “When we secured one of the country’s foremost musical minds in conductor Robert Spano, with two virtuoso superstars, Isabel Leonard and Matthew Polenzani, as our Charlotte and Werther, we not only knew that this production would be extraordinary, but also that we needed to invest in recording it. The world-class artistry on display from the full cast and HGO Orchestra, combined with the superb quality of the recording itself, makes for a truly unparalleled listening experience.
We cannot wait to share this new album with audiences in Houston and across the world.” Dear Mrs. Kennedy Sono Luminus releases “Dear Mrs.
Kennedy,” the new solo album from tenor Ryan Townsend Strand. On this new album, Strand collaborates with pianist Karina Kontorovitch and features specially commissioned works by composers Augusta Read Thomas, Jen Shyu, Will Liverman, Tom Cipullo, Libby Larsen, Nicholas Cline, Adore Alexander, Skyler Butenshon, Matthew Recio, Timothy C. Takach, and Erik Pearson set to letters by Jacqueline Kennedy after President John F.
Kennedy was assassinated in 1963. The recording producer is GRAMMY-winning music producer Elaine Martone and the recording engineer, editor, mixing and mastering is Daniel Shores. Holiday Joy Essential Voices USA, Judith Clurman, Music Director and Conductor releases “HOLIDAY JOY.
” The new album features a collection of holiday music and the ensemble sings choral works celebrating the light and joy of Chanukah and Christmas. The two Chanukah pieces, “Eight Days of Lights” and “Chanukah Joy and Peace” were written by Judith Clurman and David Chase. Two Orchestras, One Symphony Canada’s National Arts Centre (NAC) Orchestra releases the new album produced in collaboration with the Orchestre symphonique de Québec and the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir.
The album is a grand-scale interpretation of the monumental Symphony No. 5 by the Quebec composer Jacques Hétu. Led by NAC Orchestra Music Director Alexander Shelley , the project captures a remarkable fusion of Canadian orchestral and choral excellence.
Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari: Il segreto di Susanna Oehms Classics releases Wolf-Ferrari’s opera starring Lidia Fridman and Omar Montanari. The Orchester der Berliner Operngruppe is conducted by Felix Krieger. This album is a Deutschlandfunk Kultur recording of the 2021 performance of Wolf-Ferrari’s comic opera “Il segreto di Susanna” staged at the Konzerthaus Berlin.
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