Concert Programme - Soraya Mafi, Robert Lewis & Anna Tilbrook - Salon Concert

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issuu.com/operarara/do...

If you're joining us this Thursday at Bechstein Hall for our final Salon Series recital this season, you can read our digital programme in advance ⬇️

@sorayamafi.bsky.social, Robert Lewis & Anna Tilbrook
in songs and duets by Fauré, Saint-Saëns, Bizet, Liszt, Quilter, Sullivan, Bishop & Donizetti 🎶

Tomorrow we'll be... revealing details of our 56th season ✨

Hosted by our Chief Executive Henry Little and Artistic Director Carlo Rizzi who will be joined by some special guests.

From 12pm EDT/5pm BST/6pm CET on YouTube: opera-rara.com/event/2026-2...

'Carlo Rizzi conducted the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra with vigour and power, unleashing the dynamic extremes to drive home an emotive intensity true to Puccini’s spirit'
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🥁 Revealing this afternoon the cover of the final Volume in our Donizetti Songs cycle with Nicola Alaimo and Carlo Rizzi. Released on 5 June, Vol. 8 features 14 songs for bass-baritone 🎶

Nicola of course also appears on Vol. 2 dedicated to songs for baritone 💡

👉 opera-rara.com/donizetti-so...

Thank you so much to all the critics who have reviewed Volume 7 of our Donizetti Songs cycle already - it's not even been a month since it was released, but we've been so happy to read so many positive reviews.

See for yourself here, featuring Rosa Feola and our Artistic Director Carlo Rizzi 🎶

Soraya Mafi and Robert Lewis - Bechstein Hall Bechstein Hall official website

There are only a few tickets left 🎟️ bechsteinhall.com/events/soray...

Soraya Mafi - Tornami a vagheggiar from Handel's Alcina | Glyndebourne Festival 2022 YouTube video by Soraya Mafi

Will you be joining us next Thursday 23 April at Bechstein Hall? We're looking forward to working with @sorayamafi.bsky.social for the first time.

Sample the beauty of her voice in this video of her in Handel's Alcina at Glyndebourne: www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6W-...

Imagine writing over 50 songs in the last 5 years of your life... well that's exactly what Donizetti did.

Musicologist Roger Parker talks to Flora Willson about the composer's French songs - an excerpt from Lives in Song: Donizetti, Episode 5, now available on all podcast platforms 🎧

The Opera Rara family past, present and future.

Bravo Rosa Feola, Iván Ayón-Rivas, William Thomas and Sir Mark Elder currently performing in Verdi's Rigoletto at London's Royal Ballet and Opera 👏👏👏

Wishing our Artist Ambassador Michael Spyres a very happy birthday for yesterday, Sunday 12 April! 🎶🙌

12 April is also the date our co-founder Patric Schmid was born in 1944.

#OperaFacts

An interview with Rosa Feola | WFMT The Italian soprano shares her approach to singing bel canto and newly discovered songs by Gaetano Donizetti.

For all you Rosa Feola fans out there! If you're in London, catch her as Gilda in Royal Ballet and Opera's Rigoletto from tomorrow until 20 April.

Also tomorrow will be broadcast Rosa's WFMT Listening to Singers interview 🎶 www.wfmt.com/2026/04/11/an-interview-...

Julieth Lozano Rolong & Anna Tilbrook Salon Concert | Donizetti, Schubert, Grever, Espinosa, Lecuona YouTube video by OperaRaraOfficial

Full concert: www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPzo...

at Bechstein Hall before it leaves our YouTube channel next week.

This is 'Dormite' by Zully Murillo (1944-) 🎸🎶

"I chose the pieces to showcase the fact that 'traditional' repertoire can pair beautifully with Latin-American repertoire... When it comes to relating to our basic emotions and having empathy for others, borders need not exist."

Catch Julieth Lozano Rolong and Anna Tilbrook's recital...

Pacini's Carlo di Borgogna | "Qual ti pinge il mio desio” | Elizabeth Futral, David Parry YouTube video by OperaRaraOfficial

Bruce Ford, Jennifer Larmore and Elizabeth Futral in a rare opera by Pacini - what more could you ask for in opera heaven? Our April Recording of the Month is Carlo di Borgogna, the only recording in existence of Pacini's romantic melodrama of 1835 👀

www.youtube.com/watch?v=vB5l...

3. What else are you working on at the moment?

Write 1, 2 or 3 in the comments 👇

2. Why do you love what you do?

We're running one more poll today for our #AskOperaRara section, ahead of recording Episodes 5 and 6 of Lives in Song: Puccini next week❗️

Which question would you like to ask our experts Ditlev Rindom and Flora Willson directly❓

1. What exactly is a cultural historian?

Donizetti Songs Vol 7 | Rosa Feola, soprano & Carlo Rizzi, piano YouTube video by OperaRaraOfficial

And listen to the full album here:

Rosa Feola on Donizetti The Italian soprano discusses collaborating with Carlo Rizzi on the seventh instalment of Opera Rara's mammoth Donizetti Song Project, masterminded by musicologist Roger Parker and launched in late 2024.

"You’re always acting with music rather than just making pretty sounds, and that’s as true in his songs as it is in the operas." - Rosa Feola speaking to @prestomusic.bsky.social on recording Donizetti Songs Vol. 7.

Read the full interview here: www.prestomusic.com/classical/ar...

3. What's a fact about the composer that only experts know?

Write 1, 2 or 3 in the comments 👇

2. What can the theatre of our time learn from Puccini?

Later this month, we'll be recording Episodes 5 and 6 of Lives in Song: Puccini with Flora Willson and Ditlev Rindom - for our #AskOperaRara section, we're asking our followers to choose which❓to ask them about in relation to Puccini:

1. What did Puccini learn from the theatre of his time… ?

📢A final reminder today that we're hiring 📢

Deadline for our new Digital Content Manager role is next Tuesday 7 April at 5pm UK time.

Full details
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Julieth Lozano Rolong & Anna Tilbrook Salon Concert | Donizetti, Schubert, Grever, Espinosa, Lecuona YouTube video by OperaRaraOfficial

This is an excerpt from the third song in the programme - Donizetti's 'Les Billets doux': www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPzo...

Thank you to the 100K viewers of our latest Salon Series recital available for another two weeks to stream on our YouTube channel 🎼

Julieth Lozano Rolong was such a captivating communicator, telling us a little bit about each song she sang with Anna Tilbrook at Bechstein Hall last month in London.

Where it all started... Donizetti's Ugo, conte di Parigi, our first ever recording release of 1978 is now available on YouTube.

A critic at the time said, 'Opera Rara now has launched a new kind of record club... its first choice proves nothing short of genius': www.youtube.com/watch?v=bk7M...