Michael Fabiano / London Philharmonic Orchestra / Enrique Mazzola VERDI - DONIZETTI

American star tenor Michael Fabiano presents a spectacular set of scenes taken from late Donizetti and middle Verdi operas, revealing the strong ties between these two composers. The album documents a paradigmatic shift in Italian opera, from the beautiful lines and crispness of belcanto to a richer, more dramatic musical universe. The historical line stretches from Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, Poliuto and Maria di Rohan to mature Verdi operas such as Rigoletto, Un ballo in maschera and Don Carlos. In many cases, Fabiano has selected original, rarely-heard versions, including the thunderous ‘Qual sangue sparsi’ from the original St. Petersburg edition of La forza del destino.

Together, these arias and scenes constitute a world full of heartfelt tenderness and fire-laden drama. After numerous successes on the opera stage, this is Michael Fabiano’s debut album on PENTATONE.

Julie Fuchs / Orchestre National d’ile de France / Enrique Mazzola MADEMOISELLE

In the 2018/19 season, Julie will appear in two new productions; as Fiorilla Il turco in Italia at Opernhaus Zürich and as Eurydice Orphée aux enfers at the Opéra Grand Avignon. She will also make her role debut as Eva in the rarely performed opera La morte d’Abel by Caldara at Salzburg Whitsun Festival. 

Other concert highlights include solo recitals at the Philharmonie de Paris, Théâtre de l’Athénée in Paris, the Aix-en-Provence Festival, Opéra de Versailles, Opéra du Rhin, and Opéra national de Bordeaux, as well as Carmina Burana with the Orchestre national de Bordeaux Aquitaine and a gala concert at Salzburg Whitsun Festival. 

Julie’s discography includes a recording of early songs by Mahler and Debussy with Alphonse Cemin, and a disc of Songs for Piano and Voice by Poulenc (Atma Classique). 

In 2014 Julie signed an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon, with her first solo album Yes! released in 2015. 

Deutsche Grammophon has announced the release of Julie Fuchs’ second album. The new album, set for release on Feb. 15, 2019, will be titled “Mademoiselle” and will feature of a collection of Bel canto arias personally chosen by the soprano. Enrique Mazzola conducts the Orchestre National d’ile de France. The soprano’s first album for the company was entitled “Yes!” and featured a collection of French works. She also released a Debussy album and an album with Poulenc’s complete songs for soprano. Fuchs is one of today’s rising stars in France, performing in high profile engagements. She is scheduled to appear this season at the Opéra de Bordeaux, Opernahus Zurich, and Salzburg Whitsun Festival. She will also perform a concert at the Aix-en-Provence with music by Rossini and Donizetti.

Cédric Tiberghien / Orchestre national d'Île-de-France / Enrique Mazzola LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN Concerto pour piano No. 1 - Symphonie No. 5

A veritable celebration cocktail, this album has been conceived as a showcase of Beethoven’s orchestral and pianistic genius.
Cédric Tiberghien and the Orchestre national d’Île-de-France, conducted by Enrique Mazzola, have come together for their first recording after enjoying five years of collaboration on the stage.

Orchestre national d'île-de-France / Enrique Mazzola / Rex Lawson DARIUS MILHAUD La Bien-Aimée IGOR STRAVINSKY L'Oiseau de feu

The origins of this CD are unique. e story begins a few years ago, when I met Rex Lawson, an imaginative musician who is probably the world's foremost pianola virtuoso.

The day I visited his studio, which contained thousands of pianola rolls, I felt as though I was entering a cave of Ali Baba. All these old rolls, all this forgotten music, were enough to leave any musician dumbfounded! Rex immediately piqued my curiosity by telling me that a piece for pianola and orchestra composed by Milhaud and first performedin Paris in 1928, on the same evening as Ravel's Bolero, had fallen into oblivion. That's when a kind of treasure hunt began. Rex found the orchestra score (the original!) at Northwestern University, in the United States.

Meanwhile, the publisher Universal came up with the orchestral material, which of course matched up perfectly with the score. Last, but by no means least, Rex Lawson heroically produced a new roll for the pianola part. Next, a conductor had to be found who would want to perform the piece again. That's where I came in! So that's how, like a phoenix rising from the ashes, La Bien-Aimée was brought back to life after going unheard for many years. What a pleasure to discover the pages of this score, which had never been recorded; to sit at the piano and imagine Milhaud developing the bits of piano music of Schubert and Liszt, the orchestration, sometimes comical, sometimes very refined; and then to listen to the roll that Rex had reconstructed. The experience was so exhilarating that we decided to make this recording with the Orchestre national d'Île-de-France. (Enrique Mazzola)

Olga Peretyatko / NDR Sinfonieorchester / Enrique Mazzola ARABESQUE

Russian soprano Olga Peretyatko is the latest in a group of young performers championed by the revived Sony Classical label. She's got personality to spare, and, from the looks of the pictures, charisma, too. Arabesque seems to be an album designed to showcase her suitability for a wide variety of roles; the program runs from Mozart forward through the 19th century and includes the Italian, French, and German languages. She's certainly versatile and seems to have fun with most of the music, and she bears watching as a rising star. This said, there's just one type of aria in which Peretyatko really stands out, and that's the vigorous diva number that lets her voice bloom effortlessly into its upper range in rapid, churning material. The Mozart concert aria Ah se in ciel, K. 538, that opens the program is a fine example, as is Verdi's Mercè, dilette amiche from I Vespri siciliani. In this kind of material the voice simply doesn't reveal any weak points, and it's tremendously exciting. It seems almost to become unmoored from the key in climactic passages without ever getting out of control, and the effect of that is uncanny. Slow things down in something like the Villanelle of Belgian soprano-composer Eva Dell'Acqua, and Peretyatko is competent, but not as riveting and not as powerful. There is nevertheless a sufficient number of really brilliant flashes here to make the voice-seekers sit up and take notice. (James Manheim)

Marie-Nicole Lemieux ROSSINI Si, Si, Si, Si!

“Rossini has been a revelation for me,” says Canadian contralto Marie-Nicole Lemieux. The first fruit of her exclusive Erato contract is this live recording from Montpellier of arias and duets from Tancredi, Semiramide, L’italiana in Algeri and other serious and comic operas by the composer. She is joined by soprano Patrizia Ciofi and conductor Enrique Mazzola, also her partners for a 2014 staging of Tancredi in Paris, which prompted La Croix to praise her as “a generous artist with a voice that is both ample and easily produced across its entire tessitura … from the depths to top notes that flash like a cavalier’s sabre.”

Marie-Nicole Lemieux triumphantly defies the frequent assertion that the contralto is a dying breed. Moreover, with this live recital of Rossini arias and duets, the Canadian singer proves that a deep, rich, voluminous female voice can move with the same dazzling agility as a light, bright soprano.

Since she first came to the world’s attention in 2000, when she won the Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition for Opera in Brussels, Lemieux, who has been praised by Gramophone for her “velvet-like voice and generosity in phrasing and thought”, has established herself in a wide variety of operatic roles. (Warner Classics)