Massenet: Instant charmant … En fermant les yeux (from Manon)

Alain Vanzo was born in Monaco in April 1928 and was apparently a gifted musician from an early age. From an inauspicious start, he was eventually heard by a singing teacher who recognised his talents, and from that point on, he was lucky enough to be integrated into the French music scene where he triumphed in various performances.

He made his debut at the Pera and the Opera-Comique in 1957, going on to sing the Duke of Mantua that same year.

He became known and respected as a lyric tenor and matured towards a more robust tenor, culminating in him taking on Werther at aged 40 and Don Jose at aged 45. By the time he reached the age of 48, and after his performance of Faust in 1976 in the US, he had become a star and this disc shows exactly why he was so well respected.

Nicolai Gedda, the most recorded tenor in history, is an exceptionally versatile artist who has excelled in a wide variety of operatic roles as well as in the art song. With a magnificent lyric tenor voice and extraordinary range, Gedda makes the notorious top D at the end of ‘Mes amis, écoutez l’histoire’ sound positively effortless. This collection offers a wealth of repertoire that has helped to cement Gedda’s reputation as one of the greatest tenors of his generation.

Jules Massenet, who died 100 years ago in 1912, was a French composer best known for his operas, and was widely considered in his day to be one of the greatest melodists of his time, alongside Puccini.

The Best of Massenet includes his most popular music, performed by a starry cast of artists, including Luciano Pavarotti, Joan Sutherland, Jonas Kaufmann, Renée Fleming, Joseph Calleja, Angela Gheorghiu and Marilyn Horne.

Soon after his death, Massenet's style went out of fashion, and today he is best known for the popular violin showpiece Méditation from his opera Thaïs (performed here by Nigel Kennedy), and is unfairly regarded by many as something of a one-hit wonder.

Opera and ballet aficionados have known otherwise for some time and that he is in truth one of classical music’s best-kept secrets. 2012, the centenary year of his death, is the perfect opportunity time to introduce a wider audience to the exquisite charms and beauty of his music.

Following the enormous success of the album OPERA 2009, EMI Classics is releasing OPERA 2010. Great voices of today and legendary singers of the past, from the EMI and Virgin Classics catalogue: the home of opera.

With 40 tracks, and over 2½ hours of operatic arias and duets, this double album features the best and most popular names in opera from the catalogues of both Virgin Classics and EMI Classics, ranging from the newest arrivals on the operatic scene, as well as many present day superstars, to iconic legends. This is an unmissable collection of the best in opera that will have a wide appeal.

Present day superstars include Angela Gheorghiu, Natalie Dessay, Sarah Brightman, Barbara Hendricks, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Jessye Norman, Placido Domingo, José Carreras, Rolando Villazón, Roberto Alagna and Bryn Terfel.

Rising new artists are strongly represented by Joyce DiDonato, Diana Damrau, Elina Garanca, Vivica Genaux, Véronique Gens, Patrizia Ciofi, Philippe Jaroussky, Jonas Kaufmann, David Daniels, Max Emanuel Cencic and Laurent Naouri.

The programme also contains tracks by some of the world’s greatest singers of the past such as Victoria de los Angeles, Teresa Berganza, Mirella Freni, Lucia Popp and Franco Corelli as well as the legendary Luciano Pavarotti and the unique Maria Callas.

All the most popular operatic composers are represented, from Baroque masters like Vivaldi, Rameau and Handel, through Gluck and Mozart to Bellini, Donizetti, Verdi, Puccini, Mascagni, Cilea and Gershwin, as well as French favourites Gounod, Massenet and Offenbach.