Jonas Kaufmann is now the Otello of this generation. This recording project is the crowning glory of his journey to become today's key exponent of this legendary role.

Verdi's Otello is a remarkable four-act opera based on Shakespeare's play Othello. Otello is considered Verdi's greatest and most demanding role for the tenor voice. Kaufmann made his debut as Otello in June 2017 at the Royal Opera House to widespread critical acclaim. Kaufmann has won numerous prestigious awards including Gramophone Awards and Echo Klassik Award. Jonas Kaufmann sings an Otello for the ages...

“His sound inescapably evokes memories of live performances and classic recordings by Vinay, Vickers and other masters; in a single night, he joined their company.” - The New York Times

Awards
Presto Editor's Choice June 2020
Presto Recordings of the Year Finalist 2020

Jonas Kaufmann (tenor), Carlo Bosi (tenor), Liparit Avetisyan (tenor), Gian Paolo Fiocchi (baritone), Federica Lombardi (soprano), Carlos Álvarez (baritone), Riccardo Fassi (bass), Fabrizio Beggi (bass), Virginie Verrez (mezzo-soprano)
Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Coro dell'Accademia Nazionale Di Santa Cecilia
Antonio Pappano

Composers

Verdi, Giuseppe (1813-1901)

Works

Verdi: Otello

What a discovery! In 2014, several years after he moved to Australia, John Coetzee sold his house in Cape Town, unaware that he was leaving behind unique documents from his teenage years. In the attic of his former home, the new owners discovered a forgotten brown suitcase and a large cardboard box, containing a complete photographic archive of old prints and negatives from Coetzee's childhood never seen before.

The photographs in this photobook (taken with what John Coetzee refers to as his 'spy camera') date back to John's first two years of high school when the Coetzee family moved from Worcester to Cape Town. The images provide insight into his childhood through his own lens. He shows us his world and the things that interested him most: friends and teachers at school, cricket matches, the surroundings of Cape Town, the family Karoo farm and his home life. His mother Vera, especially, was a favourite subject. The photographs are fascinating due to their imperfections, and because they show young Coetzee's interest in documenting time and movement in order to capture life itself. At first glance, the photographs appear to depict scenes from everyday rural life in the 1950s, but their playfulness, straightforwardness, and self-awareness ensure that the photos are not merely nostalgic. Every now and then we catch a glimpse of the social reality of Cape Town during the apartheid years. And for the readers of Boyhood the photographs are an intriguing visual chronicle of Coetzee's life. Although many know him as a serious and philosophical writer, here we also see his playful, boyish side and the search for his own identity. Through Coetzee's lens we see the fleeting moments from a past which is now captured in the emulsions of his negatives.

The book also has an exclusive interview with John Coetzee about his boyhood and photo experiments.

“The most dramatic piece that Berlioz ever wrote,” is how conductor John Nelson describes La Damnation de Faust. The composer designated this thrilling hybrid of oratorio and opera a 'légende dramatique'. Following in the triumphant footsteps of Les Troyens, also recorded at the Auditorium Erasme in Strasbourg, this performance reunites Nelson and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg with singers Michael Spyres, Joyce DiDonato and Nicolas Courjal.

“The most dramatic piece that Berlioz ever wrote,” is how conductor John Nelson describes La Damnation de Faust. Based on Goethe's Faust and first performed in 1846, it is an epic hybrid of oratorio and opera - a 'légende dramatique' according to the composer, who recognised that its greatest potential lay in firing the audience's imagination: “Music has great wings,” he said, “but the walls of a theatre do not allow it to spread them to the full.”

This recording was made in the Auditorium Erasme in Strasbourg in April 2019, two years after Nelson, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg and a superb cast including Joyce DiDonato, Michael Spyres and Nicolas Courjal brought Berlioz's Les Troyens to life in the same venue. The associated Erato recording of the huge two-part opera has gone on to win unalloyed praise and multiple major prizes. As the New York Times wrote: “Berlioz's epic opera has rarely been given such luxury treatment as in this magnificent live recording from France.”

Michael Spyres (Faust), Joyce DiDonato (Marguerite), Nicolas Courjal (Méphistophélès), Alexandre Duhamel (Brander)
Coro Gulbenkian, Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra, John Nelson

Discs: 2 CDs + DVD

Awards
Diapason d'Or November 2019 Nouveauté
The New York Times Recordings of the Year 2019
Presto Recordings of the Year Finalist 2019
Opus Klassik Awards 2020 Nominee - Female Singer of the Year (DiDonato)
Presto Recording of the Week 22nd November 2019

Composers

Berlioz, Hector (1803-69)

Works

Berlioz: La Damnation de Faust, Op. 24

Angela Gheorghiu returns to Decca to celebrate the 25th anniversary of her legendary La Traviata with Sir Georg Solti
A 23-track album featuring rare and classic songs never before recorded by Gheorghiu
Winner of five Gramophone Awards, twice recipient of Female Artist of the Year from the Classic Brits, in 2018 she received the 'Victoire d'Honneur' award in France
Accompanied by her compatriot Alexandra Dariescu the recital opens with Romanian songs and includes such classics as Apres un reve, Tosti's ideale, Strauss' Morgen and the Chopin Tristesse

Opus Klassik Awards 2020 Nominee - Female Singer of the Year

Works

Balfe: I Dreamt I Dwelt in Marble Halls (from The Bohemian Girl)
Balfe: The Bohemian Girl
Bellini: Vaga luna che inargenti
Brediceanu: Cine m-aude cantand
Chopin: Études (12), Op. 10
Chopin: Étude Op. 10 No. 1 in C major
Chopin: Étude Op. 10 No. 2 in A minor 'chromatique'
Chopin: Étude Op. 10 No. 3 in E major 'Tristesse'
Chopin: Étude Op. 10 No. 4 in C sharp minor
Chopin: Étude Op. 10 No. 5 in G flat major 'Black Key'
Chopin: Étude Op. 10 No. 6 in E flat minor 'Lacrimosa'
Chopin: Étude Op. 10 No. 7 in C major
Chopin: Étude Op. 10 No. 8 in F major
Chopin: Étude Op. 10 No. 9 in F minor
Chopin: Étude Op. 10 No. 10 in A flat major
Chopin: Etude Op. 10 No. 11 in E flat major
Chopin: Étude Op. 10 No. 12 in C minor 'Revolutionary'
Chopin: Tristesse éternelle
Debussy: Beau Soir
Debussy: Nuit d'étoiles
Fauré: Après un rêve, Op. 7 No. 1
Fauré: Cinq Melodies 'de Venise', Op. 58
Fauré: Mandoline, Op. 58 No. 1 (Verlaine)
Fauré: Songs (3), Op. 7
Hahn, R: Chansons grises
Hahn, R: L'heure exquise
Martini, J P: Plaisir d'amour
Obradors: Canciones clásicas españolas
Obradors: El vito
Paisiello: La Molinara
Paisiello: Nel cor più non mi sento
Rachmaninov: A dream, Op. 8 No. 5
Rachmaninov: Songs (12), Op. 14
Rachmaninov: Songs (6), Op. 8
Rachmaninov: Vessinje Vodi
Rameau: Le Grillon
Stephănescu: Cantecul fuierasului din feeria
Stephănescu: Mandrulita de la munte
Strauss, R: Cäcilie, Op. 27 No. 2
Strauss, R: Morgen, Op. 27 No. 4
Strauss, R: Vier Lieder Op. 27
Tosti: Ideale
Tosti: La serenata
Tosti: Sogno
Villa-Lobos: Floresta do Amazonas, W 551
Villa-Lobos: Sentimental Melody (from Forest of the Amazon)

For the world premiere recording (2016) of Antonio Salieri's (1750-1825) comic opera La Scuola de' Gelosi, Werner Ehrhardt and his ensemble l'arte del mondo received fantastic reviews. In their new recording, the ensemble once again presents a world premiere recording of an early masterpiece by the 21-year-old Salieri, which was also acclaimed throughout Europe, but unfortunately passed into near-oblivion. The comic opera 'La Fiera di Venezia' was premiered on January 29, 1772 in Vienna. As a masquerade full of humor, the opera takes the listener into the joy of Venice's Ascension fairs. Until 1796, these were a big celebration with masks and parades. Among the approximately fifty operas that Salieri composed, 'La Fiera di Venezia' stands out not only by it's amusing setting, but also musically. Salieri's art of orchestration and instrumentation is extraordinary, which constantly emphasizes individual instruments, combining them with the voices of the singers. Even Mozart was so enthusiastic about 'La Fiera di Venezia' that in 1773 he composed piano variations on a duet from the second act. This duet Mio caro Adone forms one of the many highlights of this world premiere recording. 'La Fiera di Venezia' is Salieri's second opera, presented by Werner Ehrhardt and l'arte del mondo in an opera-excavation series realized since 2010 with the support of Bayer Kultur and in coproduction with WDR.

L'arte del mondo, Natalia Rubis (soprano), Emanuele D'Aguanno (tenor), Giorgio Caoduro (baritone), Krystian Adam (tenor), Dilyara Idrisova (soprano), Francesca Lombardi Mazzulli (soprano), Furio Zanasi (baritone)
Werner Ehrhardt

Composers

Salieri, Antonio (1750-1825)

Works

Salieri: La Fiera di Venezia

Composer: Thomas Adès
Conductor: Thomas Adès

Set and Costume Designer, Hildegard Bechtler
Lighting Designer, Jon Clark
Projection Designer, Tal Yarden
Choreographer, Amir Hosseinpour

“If you see one opera this year, make it The Exterminating Angel,” ran the headline in the New York Times after the US premiere of Thomas Adès' “stunningly inventive” opera based on Luis Buñuel's surreal and satirical 1962 film El ángel exterminador. Like the British composer's score, Tom Cairns' production is both spectacular and surprising. “Adès keeps the listener on edge,” wrote Opera magazine, “because one never knows where his dazzling palette of possibilities will take him next.”

Running time: 142 Minutes (main feature)

Awards:
Grammophone Awards Vidéo Finalist 2019
Diapason d'Or March 2019 Vidéo
Presto Recordings of the Year Finalist 2019
International Classical Music Awards Nominee - Video Performance 2019

Live at the Metropolitan Opera, 2017

Sondra Radvanovsky (Norma), Joyce DiDonato (Adalgisa), Joseph Calleja (Pollione), Matthew Rose (Oroveso), Michelle Bradley (Clotilde), Adam Diegel (Flavio)
The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus, Carlo Rizzi, Sir David McVicar

Discs: 2 DVDs

Awards
Gramophone Magazine January 2019 DVD/Blu-ray of the Month
Diapason d'Or January 2019 Vidéo

Production, Sir David McVicar

Set Designer, Robert Jones

Costume Designer, Moritz Junge

Lighting Designer, Paule Constable

Movement Director, Leah Hausman

To open the Met's 2017-18 season, powerhouse soprano Sondra Radvanovsky tackled one of opera's most fearsome roles, the title druid priestess of Bellini's Norma, who wrestles with love and betrayal before making the ultimate sacrifice on a funeral pyre.

Mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato sang Norma's friend and rival, Adalgisa, in Sir David McVicar's evocative production.

Composers

Bellini, Vincenzo (1801-35)

Works

Bellini: Norma

After Tristan und Isolde (2016) and Parsifal (2017) this is the third installment of the exclusive, multiyear partnership between Deutsche Grammophon and the Bayreuth Festival, in which the Yellow Label is the exclusive audiovisual partner of the mythical Wagner festival, releasing each edition's new production on DVD/Blu-ray.

This year, Deutsche Grammophon are proud to release on DVD/Blu-ray the celebrated production of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg which was premiered on 25 July 2017, staged by Barrie Kosky and conducted by Philippe Jordan.

Subtitles: German, English, French, Spanish, Chinese

Awards
Presto Recording of the Week 27th July 2018
Presto Recordings of the Year Finalist 2018
International Opera Awards 2019 Nominated - Complete Opera Recording
Opus Klassik Awards 2019 Winner - Audio-Visual Production

Catalogue No: 0735450
Label: DG
Discs: 2 DVDs

Michael Volle (Hans Sachs), Klaus Florian Vogt (Walther von Stolzing), Johannes Martin Kränzle (Beckmesser), Anne Schwanewilms (Eva), Daniel Behle (David), Wiebke Lehmkuhl (Magdalene), Günther Groissböck (Pogner), Daniel Schmutzhard (Kothner), Karl-Heinz Lehner (Night-Watchman)
Bayreuth Festival Orchestra and Chorus
Philippe Jordan (conductor), Barrie Kosky (director)

Composers

Wagner, Richard (1813-83)

Works

Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg

This is the fifth instalment of DG's series of seven Mozart operas conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and initiated by Rolando Villazón, in collaboration with Festspielhaus Baden Baden and with the generous support of ROLEX For La Clemenza di Tito, Mozart's last opera about the benevolent Emperor Titus who pardons an attempt on his own life, Rolando and Yannick - new music director of the MET - are joined by outstanding partners: A stellar cast in every role and specialist handpicked orchestra playing at their best in the stunning venue of Festspielhaus Baden-Baden Rolando adds yet another intriguing Mozart role to his already large discography. This time it is his role debut as Tito, reinforcing again his love for Mozart: “No composer has spoken to as directly as Mozart. I feel like I have a soul mate in him.”

In addition Rolando has been named Artistic Director of the Salzburg Mozart Week Previous productions in this series are: Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte, Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Grammy Award Nomination) and Le Nozze di Figaro (Grammy Award Nomination & Echo Klassik Award).

Awards
Presto Recording of the Week 13th July 2018
BBC Music Magazine November 2018 Opera Choice

Catalogue No: 4835210
Label: DG
Length: 2 hours 20 minutes
Discs: 2 CDs

Rolando Villazón (Tito), Marina Rebeka (Vitellia), Joyce DiDonato (Sesto), Tara Erraught (Annio), Regula Mühlemann (Servilia), Adam Plachetka (Publio)
Chamber Orchestra of Europe, RIAS Kammerchor, Yannick Nézet-Séguin

Composers

Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus (1756-91)

Works

Mozart: La clemenza di Tito, K621

Moshe Leiser & Patrice Caurier (production)

Definitive: Anna Netrebko as Verdi's Joan of Arc in this audaciously imaginative production by Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier.

Historic: The inaugural production of Riccardo Chailly's era as Music Director and the first performance of the opera at La Scala for over 150 years.

Awards
International Opera Awards 2019 Nominated - Complete Opera Recording

Anna Netrebko (Giovanna), Francesco Meli (Carlo VII), Carlos Álvarez (Giacomo), Michele Mauro (Delil) & Dmitry Beloselskiy (Talbot)
Teatro alla Scala
Riccardo Chailly

Composers

Verdi, Giuseppe (1813-1901)

Works

Verdi: Giovanna d'Arco

'Jonas Kaufmann Sings an 'Otello' for the Ages'- New York Times. On a sweltering night at London's Royal Opera House in June 2017, Jonas Kaufmann made his debut performance as Otello - one of the most coveted and challenging roles in the tenor operatic repertoire. The Guardian commented on his performance: “Kaufmann thrills in a dark, expres-sionistic staging”. This new production by director Keith Warner presents a simultaneously modern and abstract approach to one of Verdi's greatest operas. The DVD and Blu-Ray will also include two short bonus features: - An introduction to the opera & a short feature about the music of the opera with the conductor and tenor.

Awards
Presto Recording of the Week 11th May 2018
Presto Recordings of the Year Finalist 2018
Opera July 2018 Recording of the Month

Jonas Kaufmann (Otello), Marco Vratogna (Iago), Maria Agresta (Desdemona)
Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Sir Antonio Pappano (conductor), Keith Warner (director)

Composers

Verdi, Giuseppe (1813-1901)

Works

Verdi: Otello

The soprano Daniela Dessì died suddenly on 20th August 2016, aged 59. She was hailed by critics and colleagues as one of the finest voices the world of opera has ever known. Dynamic pays tribute to the great soprano with this recording, filmed just one year before her untimely death. Her performance of Giordano's Fedora was one of the pinnacles of her stunning artistic career. In the famous aria O grandi occhi lucenti from Act One, she delivers a technically perfect and emotionally passionate performance worthy of a great star. The story takes place at the end of the 19th century, in St. Petersburg (Act One), Paris (Act Two) and Switzerland (Act Three). It's an operatic crime story, a drama of passion, revenge and guilt that unravels against a historical backdrop of Czarist Russia's political and ideological conflicts in the late 19th century. Daniela Dessì is a complete prima donna of outstanding finesse, her rich voice both powerfully intense and deeply expressive. Tenor Fabio Armiliato shines particularly in the famous aria Amor ti vieta from Act Two, with a commanding and highly expressive stage presence in support of a powerful and wonderfully nuanced voice. The finale of the opera is reserved for the two protagonists, companions both on stage and in life. The singers surpass themselves, and it is impossible not to be moved when Fedora dies, believing that fate would shortly turn theatrical makebelieve into reality.

Daniela Dessì (Fedora), Fabio Armiliato (Loris), Alfonso Antoniozzi (De Siriex), Daria Kovalenko (Olga)
Carlo Felice Theatre, Valerio Galli

Composers

Giordano, Umberto (1867-1948)

Works

Giordano, U: Fedora

Staged by Stefan Herheim

Former Music Director Mariss Jansons returns to Amsterdam to conduct Pique Dame at the Dutch National Opera with 'his' Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. He encounters a noteworthy cast and under his baton the orchestra sounds 'brilliant and splendid' (Der Tagesspiegel). Renowned director Stefan Herheim staged Tchaikovsky's much-loved opera about a young man who, for the prospect of earthly wealth, gambles away his chance for love and happiness. Herheim, whose stagings are famous for their multi-layered levels of interpretation, attempts to reflect on the composer's contested sexuality. 'The Latvian maestro, the intriguingly performing orchestra, the smartly-chosen soloists, and director Stefan Herheim have succeeded in staging an extraordinary production' (Die Presse). 'Stefan Herheim makes a great picture show out of Tchaikovsky's 'Pique Dame'' (NMZ). 'A masterpiece' (Der Standard).

SOUND FORMAT: DVD: PCM Stereo, DTS 5.0
PICTURE: NTSC 16:9
SUBTITLES: Russian (original language), English, German, French, Korean
BOOKLET: English, German, French
TOTAL RUNNING TIME: 181 mins

Awards
Gramophone Magazine March 2018 DVD/Blu-ray of the Month
BBC Music Magazine May 2018 Opera Choice
Schallplattenkritik Awards 2018 Winner - Jahrespreis

Dutch National Opera, June 2016
Misha Didyk, Alexey Markov, Vladimir Stoyanov, Svetlana Aksenova, Larissa Diadkova
Chorus of Dutch National Opera, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
Mariss Jansons

Composers

Tchaikovsky, Piotr Ilyich (1840-93)

Works

Tchaikovsky: Pique Dame

Lulu, Alban Berg's hauntingly mysterious opera in a new production by Dmitri Tcherniakov, has been one of the major events of the 2015 Bayerische Staatsoper season : an ideal setting for conductor Kirill Petrenko first-ever DVD recording ! A sensuous and impenetrable opera, Berg's masterpiece depicts the burning and sometimes bestial intensity of human relationships through the figure of Lulu, the true femme fatale, bearer of an enigma that haunts us way beyond the end of the opera. Venenous, sibylline, deathly for who approaches her, the dangerous Lulu destroys the established and bourgeois order she evolves in, carrying away with her all certainty, just like the audacious and demanding musical language Berg invented to give form to this unreachable character. Frank Wedekind's work proved indeed to be an extremely fertile ground for the dodecaphonic composer's imagination, and gave birth to one of the most singular and ambitious work of art of the twentieth century. With the privilege of a dream cast, gathering Berg's best interprets, this new production of Lulu is conducted by Kirill Petrenko, and staged by Dmitri Tcherniakov. A visionary genius considered as the contemporary stage 'enfant terrible', it is with a shattering realism that he directs those characters, hostages to their own passions and darkest fantasies, and reveals the complexity of this great human and social tragedy. Marlis Petersen is Lulu, a role she was then singing for the ninth time, and which awarded her, for this production, the title of 'singer of the year' by German magazine Opernwelt

Marlis Petersen (Lulu), Daniela Sindram (Gräfin Geschwitz), Rachael Wilson (Eine Theater-Garderobiere/Ein Gymnasiast/Ein Groom), Rainer Trost (Der Maler/Ein Neger), Bo Skovhus (Dr. Schön/Jack the Ripper), Matthias Klink (Alwa), Martin Winkler (Ein Tierbändiger/Ein Athlet), Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke (Der Prinz/Der Kammerdiener/Der Marquis), Elsa Benoit (Eine Fünfzehnjährige), Christian Rieger (Der Medizinalrat/Der Bankier/Der Professor), Pavlo Hunka (Schigolch), Christoph Stephinger (Der Theaterdirektor)
Bayerisches Staatsorchester
Kirill Petrenko (conductor), Dmitri Tcherniakov (director)

Discs: 2 DVDs

Composers

Berg, Alban (1885-1935)

Works

Berg: Lulu

120 years after its very first performance, which took place at Teatro Regio di Torino, La Bohème returns to the tradition-steeped Italian opera house. With director Àlex Ollé from La Fura dels Baus and music director Gianandrea Noseda the Teatro Regio presents a spectacular, up-to-date anniversary production. For Àlex Ollé, directing the opera for the first time, “La Bohème allows the young generation to get rid of everything that prevents them from flying, feeding only on their own vitality; the real hunger of the protagonists is the hunger for life. My production is set in a modern city outskirt. It is there where, in my opinion, the intellectual matrix of the future happens; in ugly, disreputable and poor places which are authentic. In this kind of environment, where life and art - as they did in Romanticism - belong to the survivors.” “A triumphant youthful Bohème”, in which the singers excel due to their naturalness. Giorgio Berrugi sings his Rodolfo “with a luminous timbre, in refined nuances” (La Stampa), perfectly matching “Irina Lungu's full-bodied Mimì” (The London Times). All in all, “this is theatre, this is life, this is passion” (Corriere della sera).

South African soprano Kelebogile Besong makes her presence felt as the singer Musetta vivaciously singing her act two aria Quando men vo 'Musetta's waltz'.

Awards
BBC Music Magazine March 2018 Opera Choice

SOUND FORMAT: DVD: PCM 2.0, DTS 5.1
PICTURE: 16:9, HD
SUBTITLES: Italian (original language), German, English, French, Spanish, Korean, Japanese
BOOKLET: English, German, French
TOTAL RUNNING TIME: 112 mins

Teatro Regio di Torino, October, 2016
Irina Lungu (Mimì), Giorgio Berrugi (Rodolfo), Kelebogile Besong (Musetta), Massimo Cavalletti (Marcello), Benjamin Cho (Schaunard), Gabriele Sagona (Colline), Matteo Peirone (Benoît/Alcindoro), Cullen Gandy (Parpignol)
Orchestra del Teatro Regio di Torino
Gianandrea Noseda (conductor) & Àlex Ollé (director)