Joseph Calleja made an impact with just the first few lines of his opening aria, ‘Recondita armonia’ ......Read more
John T. Hughes (clas - sicalsource.com)

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“ She [Ailyn Pérez] has a voice of unworn purity…………. “      
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John Steane (Opera Now May/June 08)

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“The recital of Italian songs and arias by baritone Gabriele Viviani, accompanied by Simon Lepper at St John’s, Smith Square on 12 December, was fully up to the high standards of this incomparable Rosenblatt Recitals series of vocal programmes….“
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Robert Matthew-Walker (Musical Opinion Marche April 2008)

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“A succulent menu of operatic bonnes bouches was served at this recital by Stephen Costello and Ailyn Pérez…Pérez has nothing to fear. The voice, simultaneously honeyed and tensile, can float seamlessly or take on darker, more saturated hues. Leila’s ‘Comme autrefois’ was exquisitely delivered in excellent French, while Violetta’s Act 1 scena was both virtuosic and alive to every emotional nuance. Costello has a voice composed of softly glowing layers around an incandescent core.” Opera, March 2008.

Welcome to the 9th season of Rosenblatt Recitals, London’s unique operatic recital series, in which we present an array of superb international artists from Austria, Brazil, Russia, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Gregory Kunde is an outstandingly elegant singer, the favourite bel canto tenor of many leading conductors, and he opens our season in a programme that mixes show-stopping arias with songs by Duparc, Lalo, Britten, Rossini and the rarely heard but fascinating American, Amy Beach.

I am particularly delighted that Austrian Markus Werba makes his Rosenblatt Recitals debut in December with, among other gems, arias from the roles that have propelled him to the very forefront of Mozart baritones. Gary Matthewman, his accompanist, also joins us for the first time.

Russian singers bring not only special vocal colours but a unique insight into the riches of their native repertoire. We welcome mezzo-soprano Julia Gertseva for a return visit and sopranos Ekaterina Siurina and Marina Poplavskaya for their debuts, the latter fresh from her triumph as Elizabeth in Don Carlo at Covent Garden.

The tenor voice is a phenomenon of apparently inexhaustible fascination, and our second tenor of the season is the brilliant young Spaniard, Joel Prieto, who since 2006 has been a member of Deutsche Opera Berlin, where he has won many friends and admirers.