Mozart: Vedrai, carino (from Don Giovanni)

Mirella Freni was one of Herbert von Karajan’s favourite singers; indeed, he is known to have commented that if he could have any voice in the world, it would be hers. Combining a stunning voice with heartfelt acting, Freni is equally at home in the lighter roles, such as Mozart’s Susanna and Zerlina, as in the weightier roles of Puccini’s Manon Lescaut and Tosca. This collection brings together arias from throughout Freni’s illustrious career.

The forthcoming season marks the 10th anniversary of Anna Netrebko’s debut with the Metropolitan Opera, New York. The new album celebrates this milestone by bringing together her greatest MET moments throughout the past 10 seasons - performances never before issued on record and most never commercially released on any format.

Anna Netrebko's first operatic album sold more than 300,000 units, the second, Sempre libera, more than 400,000, while her live recording of Verdi's La Traviata has sold in excess of 350,000 on CD alone. This new album, capturing the thrill of her greatest performances on one of the world's most iconic stages, will be a major event for hundreds of thousands of fans who have followed her career in the opera house, on radio, on CD, on DVD and in cinemas worldwide.

Over the past decade, The Met has played host to many of the Russian soprano’s greatest triumphs, from Prokofiev’s War and Peace in 2002 to her most recent appearance, in 2010, as Adina in Donizetti's Don Pasquale. The album also includes virtuoso arias from Mozart's Don Giovanni, Bellini's I Puritani, Verdi's Rigoletto, Gounod's Roméo et Juliette, Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann, Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor and Puccini's La Bohème.

The selections - including performances with tenors Roberto Alagna, Joseph Calleja and Juan Diego Flórez - demonstrate Anna Netrebko's remarkable vocal range and dramatic imagination. All recorded live, they are infused with her unique vocal magnetism and irresistible on-stage charisma.

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.

Although she was born near Paris in 1876, her career had closer ties to Germany than to France. Her debut was in Wiesbaden as Mignon in 1902 and she moved to Berlin in 1905. She sang many roles at the Staatsoper including Carmen, Violetta and Mignon and retired from the stage in 1927. She later made guest appearances in Holland, Scandinavia and several German opera houses.