Lots which are anticipated to get opera aficionados’ hearts racing include
LPs and posters signed by Dame Joan Sutherland, rare Maria Callas
recordings and a selection of 19th-century opera posters hand-picked from
Opera Rara’s extraordinary archive. Opera Rara’s Music Director Sir Mark
Elder, together with stars from recent recordings including Spyres,
El-Khoury and Ermonela Jaho have also offered their time to the highest
bidder. Other prizes which will attract opera collectors’ attentions
include prints of 19th-century opera sensations Pauline Viardot and the
Grisi sisters as well as signed photographs by singers including Bruce Ford
and Valerie Masterson.
The brain-child of Patric Schmid and Don White – who together collected the
items on auction – Opera Rara has been in the business of bringing back
forgotten operatic repertoire since its conception in the early 1970’s,
with the operas of the Italian bel canto repertory being a particular
focus. Future CD releases include Bellini’s first opera
Adelson e Salvini
in February conducted by Daniele Rustioni; two discs of bel canto arias
with Michael Spyres and Joyce El-Khoury in July; and Rossini’s
Semiramide
in September featuring Sir Mark Elder conducting the Orchestra of the Age
of Enlightenment with Russian soprano Albina Shagimuratova in the title
role.
Click here
for full information about the online auction and the gala dinner on 7
February.
For further information:
moe@macbethmediarelations.co.uk
image=http://www.operatoday.com/Don%20Quichotte.jpg
image_description=Opera Rara online auction, 17 January – 7 Feburary
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product_title=Opera Rara online auction, 17 January – 7 Feburary
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product_id=Above: Opera poster from 1910 advertising the first Paris production of Massenet’s Don Quichotte at the ThÈ‚tre Lyrique Municipal (GaÓtÈ)