Mozart: Ruhe sanft, mein holdes Leben (from Zaïde)

One of the most peerless Mozartians of our time, Felicity Lott has been one of the foremost sopranos to essay the composer’s major roles in the opera house. Complementing these is her magnificent disc of concert arias as well as Mozart’s beloved motet Exsultate, jubilate, and arias from two of the composer’s lesser-known operas. The recording was made in 1989 shortly after her mesmerizing performance of some of this material at the London ‘Proms’. Jane Glover and the London Mozart Players provide stylish and sympathetic support. A multi-award winning album, it is now available readily on Eloquence.

The multi award winning Mozart album recorded for ASV, unavailable for several years with accompaniment from the London Mozart Players, directed by Jane Glover.

Dame Kiri te Kanawa was presented with a lifetime achievement award at the Classical Brits 2010.

Decca’s first-ever compilation devoted to the two composers most closely associated with Kiri te Kanawa: Mozart & Richard Strauss.

Selection includes arias from operas by both composers which te Kanawa has sung on stage as well as concert arias and songs she has featured in concert.

Kiri te Kanawa is accompanied by two of her greatest musical mentors – Sir Georg Solti - in his dual role as conductor and pianist – and Sir Colin Davis (with whom she first sang the role of the Countess in Le nozze di Figaro at The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in 1971.

Critics rightfully have called soprano Eli Kristin Hanssveen “the new opera diva”. Her spectacular voice has been the catalyst for a steadily rising career, and she is known for her unique charisma and acting talent. In 2002 she made her opera debut at the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet, where she has been soloist since 2010.

Mojca Erdmann’s Deutsche Grammophon recording debut combines a variety of Mozart’s best beloved arias and works by his contemporaries such as J.C. Bach, Holzbauer, and Paisiello. The album also features Andrea Marcon and the outstanding period instrumentalists of La Cetra Baroque Orchestra, Basle. Plans in 2011 include her debut at New York’s Metropolitan Opera as Zerlina in a new Don Giovanni.

Mozart’s operas are part of our cultural heritage. Everyone knows, more or less consciously, the most famous arias, which are even available as ringtones for mobile phones! Mozart can make us laugh, dream, ponder or weep, with the brilliance and variety of Homer or Shakespeare, and with emotions constantly on a knife-edge. From The Magic Flute to Don Giovanni, from arias to overtures, here is an ideal anthology of Mozart opera.