Renowned horn player Felix Klieser’s eighth solo album explores Italian opera arias, film music, and song. Kleiser is joined by the Italian orchestra I Solisti di Pavia, recorded in the famous Teatro Fraschini at Pavia. The program features some of the most beloved opera arias by Rossini, Verdi, Puccini, as well as Italian songs like “O Sole Mio” and Nino …

Decca Classics presents a recital by soprano Lise Davidsen and pianist James Baillieu recorded at the Metropolitan Opera in September 2023. Their program reflects the full spectrum of Davidsen’s range, moving effortlessly between opera, song and musical theatre. Davidsen demonstrates her mastery of the music of Richard Strauss with four songs: “Allerseelen,” “Befreit,” “Zueignung,” and “Morgen.” Opera highlights include  “Dich, …

Founded in 2016, ensemble minui comprises five string and our wind players) active in the Carinthian Symphony Orchestra, the Slovenian National- and the Vienna State Opera orchestras who perform reduced versions of works from the symphonic and operatic repertoire. While simple reductions of large orchestral works were initially on the program, opera music gradually became the great passion of ensemble …

A souvenir the all-Puccini program presented by Lyric Opera of Chicago in February 2025 featuring Sondra Radvanovsky with the Lyric Opera Orchestra conducted by Enrique Mazzola, recorded live. In a feat only imaginable for a soprano assoluta, the extraordinary Berwyn, Illinois-native performed one aria from every Puccini opera bringing vivid individuality to each heroine, from the tender lyricism of “Sì. …

Written in 1892, Puccini’s Manon Lescaut catapulted him to international fame, but his early works — pre-Manon Lescaut — offer a fascinating insight into his development as a composer. John Wilson and the Sinfonia of London lead a journey through this development that includes student compositions and orchestral extracts from Puccini’s earliest operas. The Preludio sinfonico (loosely based on Wagner’s …

Giacomo Puccini had composed most of Turandot before his death in 1924 but the final duet and conclusion to the opera remained unfinished. Commissioned by visionary director Francesca Zambello and Washington National Opera, and with a libretto by Emmy-winning playwright Susan Soon He Stanton, composer Christopher Tin’s new ending premiered at the Kennedy Center on May 11, 2024 and was …

Rising star British-Italian tenor Freddie De Tommaso and the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Edward Garner mark the Puccini anniversary year with a new EP of five arias. Mario Cavaradossi in Tosca is the Puccini role that marked the barnstorming tenor’s introduction to American audiences — the vehicle for his US debut at Santa Fe Opera in 2023, and his …

Pene Pati’s second solo album balances favorite numbers with operatic rarities including the world premiere recording of the aria-cabaletta for the title character of the 1858 version of Gounod’s Faust. In addition to Puccini, the Italian composers are Verdi, Donizetti, Mascagni and Mercadante, while the French school is represented by Berlioz, Meyerbeer, Massenet, Halévy and Guiraud. Joining the Samoan tenor …