Welcome back for this week’s look at the latest CD and DVD releases in the opera world. This week audiences will get a chance to see and listen to a production from Bayreuth. There are also several world premiere recordings and an acclaimed recording from a recent festival.
From Al-Andalus to the Americas: An Odyssey of Spanish Song Christine Moore Vassallo joins Jorge Robaina Pons (piano), Pablo Giménez Hecht (guitar), Anthony Robb (flute), Rachel Beckles Willson (oud), and Philip Arditti (darbuka) team up for the new album released through Meridian Records. The release is inspired by the soprano’s interest in the connection of Arabic, Middle Eastern, and North African music regions to Spanish music as well as her own Middle Eastern Arabic background. Le Prophète Recorded live in concert at Festival d’Aix-en-Provence in 2023, this album sees the London Symphony Orchestra and conductor Sir Mark Elder join forces with Lyon Opera Chorus, Maîtrise des Bouches-du-Rhône, and the Mediterranean Youth Orchestra.
The cast is led by John Osborn, Elizabeth DeShong, and Mané Galoyan . When OperaWire saw the production in 2023, it was called “a night to remember .” America the Beautiful Navona Records releases an album featuring David Holdhusen and the University of South Dakota Chamber Singers.
In the album, they perform America the Beautiful. Initially arranged by KJ Phillips to accompany a 2021 Veterans Day celebration, the patriotic work flourishes with modern comp.
