Rossini: Bel raggio lusinghier (from Semiramide)

For her second album, Bel raggio, Aleksandra Kurzak focuses on the bel canto classics of Rossini; offering a beguiling mix of the virtuosic, the lyrical, and the comic. Joining her are Sinfonia Varsovia and Pier Giorgio Morandi.

These first releases of Margaret Price with the Münchner Rundfunkorchester cover a time period from 1977 to 1991. Her work was largely concentrated on Mozart and Verdi, to which this CD pays ample credit, and also features arias by Bellini, Cilea, Rossini and Weber. Mozartian clarity, a consistently effortless vocal production, histrionic fire and a healthy grounding – these attributes made Margaret Price an internationally revered opera star, especially by Munich audiences. Her relationship with the Bavarian State Opera was so close that Margaret Price settled in Munich for 18 years, not returning to her native Wales until the end of her career.

Previously unreleased live recordings from the “Sunday Concerts”.

Singer portrait featuring Margaret Price’s core repertoire, including famous arias from Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte, Le nozze di Figaro, Aida, Otello and Norma.

Continuing the “Great Singers Live” series with the Münchner Rundfunkorchester under the direction of Heinz Wallberg, Leopold Hager and Thomas Fulton.

A star is born! The Russian soprano Julia Lezhneva is the vocal revelation that everyone is talking about. Still only 21, a protégée of Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and the winner of several major awards, Lezhneva makes her solo recital debut with a programme of arias by Rossini, a composer of whom is particularly fond. She is accompanied by the Sinfonia Varsovia conducted by its new artistic director Marc Minkowski.

In 2007 Julia Lezhneva won the prestigious Elena Obraztsova International Competition for Young Opera Singers in St Petersburg, for which the judges included Teresa Berganza, Christa Ludwig and Eva Marton. She has sung opposite Juan Diego Flórez at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, and made her UK debut, aged 19, with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Vasily Petrenko, also performing Rossini. Her London debut, introduced by Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, came at the 2010 Classical Brit Awards singing Elena’s Final Rondo from Rossini’s La Donna del Lago in the Royal Albert Hall.

In October 2010 she confirmed her status as one of the world’s most exciting talents by winning the First International Opera Competition held at the Theatre des Champs-Elysees in Paris. Her performance in the recent Naïve recording of Vivaldi’s opera Ottone in Villa, conducted by Giovanni Antonini, has been praised to the skies by the international press. Her debut solo concerts at the 2010 Salzburg Festival with the Mozarteum Orchestra and Marc Minkowski likewise achieved extraordinary success. Minkowski has followed the young singer’s career closely; it was he who invited her in 2009 to take part in Bach’s B minor Mass, her first recording, and in summer 2011 she will sing the part of Fiordiligi under his baton in a new production of Mozart’s Così fan tutte at Salzburg. Despite her youth, Julia Lezhneva has a huge and extremely varied repertoire, ranging from the Baroque and bel canto styles to Romantic and contemporary music.

In tribute to one of Decca’s very greatest artists, a 2-for-1 double jewel-case version of Dame Joan Sutherland’s classic ‘The Voice of the Century’ 2-disc compendium is now available for release. The track contents are identical those of the original hardback version of ‘The Voice of the Century’ (4757981), and include arias from Lucia di Lammermoor, La sonnambula, Norma, Lakmé, Semiramide, La Fille du Régiment, Turandot, and many more.