CCMusic.com

The prolific and versatile Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti, one of the central figures of Italian bel canto opera, also wrote around 200 solo songs. Most of them are rarely performed and some, until recently, were completely unknown. Curated by musicologist Roger Parker and under the leadership of Opera Rara's artistic director Carlo Rizzi, Opera Rara presents the complete solo songs in a series of eight recital albums. The project makes a powerful case for Donizetti as a key figure in the 19th-century song repertoire, and for the importance of the Italian school in a field long dominated by German and French composers. These recordings by Opera Rara's Artists Ambassador Michael Spyres (Oper! 2024 Artist of the Year) and Marie-Nicole Lemieux (winner of the Lied Prize at the Queen Elisabeth Competition) are volumes 3 and 4 of a series to be issued between October 2024 and September 2026.