Opera Rara

Opera Rara’s mission is to restore, record, perform and promote the lost operatic heritage of the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Opera Rara is a unique combination of opera company, recording label and live operatic archaeologist. We search for neglected operatic masterpieces and restore them to life for contemporary audiences to enjoy. Working with the best singers, conductors, orchestras and musicologists, we are at the cutting edge of the opera world, leading the expansion of the repertoire and encouraging other opera companies to explore new and unknown operatic jewels.

2020 marked Opera Rara’s 50th anniversary, half-acentury of ground-breaking work. Our artistic success has been publicly recognised through major awards, notably at the International Opera Awards (Best Opera Recording) for Rossini’s Semiramide (2019), Donizetti’s Les Martyrs (2016) and Offenbach’s Fantasio (2015); International Classical Music Award for Semiramide (Best Opera, 2019) and for Ermonela Jaho’s debut recital album Anima Rara (Best Vocal Music Recording, 2021); Opus Klassik (Best Recording) for Semiramide (2019) and at the OPER! Awards (Best Recording) for Donizetti’s L’Ange de Nisida (2019).

The Opera Rara catalogue comprises over 100 titles, including 60 complete opera recordings. Our work has led to a fundamental revaluation of the reputation of Donizetti, Pacini, Offenbach and Mercadante, changing the way in which these composers are perceived internationally. Following our world premiere concerts in July 2018, Donizetti’s L’Ange de Nisida received its first professional staging in Bergamo in November 2019 and Offenbach’s Fantasio has received several stagings throughout Europe since our recording in 2015, including at the Garsington Festival. Opera Rara’s latest studio recording, Donizetti’s Il Paria, with Albina Shagimuratova, René Barbera and the Britten Sinfonia conducted by Sir Mark Elder, was released in January 2021 to wide critical acclaim.

Following Sir Mark Elder’s departure as Artistic Director, after a remarkable seven-year period in which the company’s artistic reputation worldwide rose to new heights, internationally acknowledged 19thcentury opera specialist Carlo Rizzi was appointed his successor in 2019. Future plans include a studio recording and performance of Donizetti’s L’esule di Roma with the Britten Sinfonia led by Carlo Rizzi in May 2023, the release of Rizzi's recording of Leoncavallo's

Zingari on 23 September 2022, his first recording as Opera Rara’s Artistic Director, and his world premiere recording of Mercadante’s Il proscritto in spring 2023.

A studio recording of Offenbach’s La Princesse de Trébizonde with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Paul Daniel will be released in the autumn of 2023.

Artistic Director

Carlo Rizzi

Chief Executive

Henry Little

Board of Directors

Charles Alexander CBE Chair

Glenn Hurstfield

Adolfo Laurenti

Simon Mortimore QC

Alison Nicol

Islée Oliva Salinas

Terence Sinclair

Nicholas Thomas

Louis Watt

Honorary Artistic Patron

Renée Fleming

Label and Production Director

Aurelie Baujean

Finance Director

Irene Cook

Development and Communications Director

Zachary Vanderburg

Consultants

Kirstin Peltonen Development Consultant

Jesús Iglesias Noriega Casting Consultant

Macbeth Media Relations Press and PR

Roger Parker Repertoire Consultant

Opera Rara, Studio 11 Cloisters House, 8 Battersea Park Road, London SW8 4BG 020 7613 2858 | info@opera-rara.com opera-rara.com

Opera Rara is a registered charity, no. 261403 Company Limited by Guarantee, no. 982535