Rosenblatt Recitals

About

Ian RosenblattPresenting the major singers of today and the stars of tomorrow, the Rosenblatt Recitals are London's only world-class season of opera recitals.

Having been a strong-hold of London’s opera life for the past twelve years, we move to the Wigmore Hall at the beginning of the 2012-13 season.

To open the season, we welcome back a friend of the series, American Lawrence Brownlee (24 September). The acclaimed Ohio-born tenor made his London recital debut at the Rosenblatt Recitals in 2010 and recently showed off his high-Cs as Tonio in La fille du régiment at the Metropolitan Opera House.

In October, Joel Prieto (22 October) returns following a joint Rosenblatt Recital in 2010 with Sara Hershkowitz. The young Spanish-born tenor will join the series following his Royal Opera House debut as Fenton in Verdi’s Falstaff this May. The year will end with Greek soprano Dimitra Theodossiou (12 November) known on the international opera scene for her interpretations of Verdi and the bel canto repertoire.

2013 will kick off with leading Italian tenor Fabio Armiliato (14 January), who has been garnering acclaim on the world’s leading opera stages and is soon to star in the new Woody Allen film, makes a much anticipated visit to the series after he had to withdraw last year due to illness.

Later in the season, we welcome bass Alex Esposito (5 February); baritone Damiano Salerno (18 March); tenor Ivan Magrì (23 May); and rising young soprano Pretty Yende will step in for Rosa Feola as our final recitalist for the 2012/13 series (6 June).

Ian Rosenblatt, founder of the recitals

"The Wigmore Hall is a world-renowned singers’ venue and therefore the ideal setting for the Rosenblatt Recitals, which showcases individual opera voices in all their nuanced glory. There’s nothing quite like experiencing world-class opera singers performing their favourite repertoire in an intimate environment with just a pianist for accompaniment, and I look forward to welcoming our audiences to the new season as we welcome a fantastic line-up of some of the most sought-after singers from the international opera scene to the Wigmore stage.

The idea for the Rosenblatt Recitals first took shape in 1999, when my law firm sponsored a concert by José Cura and the Philharmonia Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall. It seemed to me that British audiences deserved more frequent opportunities to experience truly great voices, generally only heard at the Royal Opera House or the occasional one-off concert.

My plan was to present recitals by singers of international stature at regular intervals throughout the year. The programmes, each performer's own selection, would showcase vocal talent to the full. The idea took off and over the past seasons, Helga Schmidt, former Artistic Director of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, has brought dozens of exceptional artists to the Rosenblatt Recital Series, some already world-renowned, others in the early days of a major career.

People often say that the golden age of singing is dead. The Rosenblatt Recital Series is devoted to proving that bel canto – literally ‘beautiful singing’ in its broadest sense - is very much alive!"

Ian I. Rosenblatt

Brochure

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