Opera Rara releases Bellini’s first opera Adelson e Salvini, written in 1825 while the composer was still a student at the Naples Conservatory. Inspired by Baculard d’Arnaud’s 1772 series of novellas, Les Épreuves du sentiment, Adelson e Salvini was so popular that the students of the Naples Conservatory performed it every Sunday for a year and its impact was such that the intendant of the Teatro di San Carlo immediately commissioned Bellini’s first professional opera. More Info

This new release features a double bill of Massenet’s Le Portrait de Manon and Berlioz’s song cycle Les Nuits d’été, recorded from live staged performances at the Royal Opera House with artists from the Jette Parker Young Artists Programme and the Southbank Sinfonia.

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Belisario is, quite simply, one of Donizetti’s finest achievements. Dating from the high watermark of Donizetti’s maturity, with its premiere in 1836 (the year after the debut of Maria Stuarda in Milan and Lucia di Lammermoor in Naples), Belisario proved a triumph on stages throughout the 19th century. More Info

Sir Mark Elder’s second Opera Rara release of 2015 features a rare recording - Gounod’s delightful opera La Colombe ("The Dove”). More Info

With the release of Zazà, we mark our first recording venture into the musical world of Leoncavallo and the operatic tradition of verismo. More Info

This new release features a double bill of Massenet’s Le Portrait de Manon and Berlioz’s song cycle Les Nuits d’été, recorded from live staged performances at the Royal Opera House with artists from the Jette Parker Young Artists Programme and the Southbank Sinfonia.

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The bicentenary of this occasion was celebrated with a new production of the same work and Opera Rara went to Trieste to record the initial performances of this important revival. The cast is led by French soprano Elizabeth Vidal who tackles the stratospheric role of Ginevra with ease (and Es - a bushel of them!!). As the hero Ariodante, Daniela Barcellona confirms her place on the roster of talented, young artists emerging from Italy. Antonino Siragusa, likewise, is representative of the new generation of bel canto tenors. More Info

Emma d’Anitochia is one of a number of important operas, which Mercadante wrote in the years 1831-1837 – a period that began on his return from several years spent in Spain and Portugal.

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The story of the hapless and demented young Dinorah roaming the hills with her goat, Bellah. More Info

A joyful and infectious pastiche that marries some of Offenbach’s best music with Don White’s witty and irreverent English version of the discovery of America. More Info

Alessandro nell’Indie tells the story of Alexander the Great’s campaign in India, of his defeat of the Indian king Porus (Poro), and of his infatuation with an Indian queen, Cleophes (Cleofide). It is a vehicle for gorgeously over-the-top bravura singing as the characters confront each other, deceive each other, reproach each other, plead with each other.

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Sofonisba, a classical heroine portrayed by various 17th and 18th century composers, becomes, in Paer’s hands, a more realistic figure – a real woman. More Info

This is the sixth opera in the Essential Opera Rara series and, once again, a vivid impression of the work is captured on a single disc. More Info

Maybe you’ve come across this plot before: a damsel-in-distress is saved by a knight in shining armour. This is the standard ‘fairy tale’ we all learned as children. Yet the surprising thing about Adelaide di Borgogna is that the story is true.

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In recent years, there has been increased interest in the works of Ambroise Thomas, particularly in his ambitious setting of Hamlet (1868). Opera Rara now takes a further important step in the rediscovery of this fascinating figure, with a new recording of his 1855 opéra-comique La Cour de Célimène.

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Verdi’s commission from the Paris Opera was for a five-act grand opera in the style of Meyerbeer or Halévy. Grand indeed, for the scale of Verdi’s conception was monumental.

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Continuing the series of music written for the salon, we travel to France for a fascinating glimpse of one of the great figures of 19th-century music. More Info

This recording focuses on a single work designed for intimate performance: J B Wekerlin’s ‘opérette de salon’, La Laitière de Trianon (The Milkmaid of Trianon).

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