At a time when opera recordings are thinner on the ground than of yore, and certainly of central repertoire, a new service devoted entirely to opera sets will be cheering news to lovers of the genre. The curtain has lifted on a new venture from EPC Distribution (EPCD), a white label service which specialises in working with opera companies to issue a range of new and archive recordings - so the EPCD name will very much take a back seat to the individual opera houses' brand names.

Their first release slate will hit the shops on June 20, and focuses on Opera Australia. A trio of Joan Sutherland releases includes Meyebeer's Les Huguenots (alongside Clifford Grant and Amanda Thane, from 1990), and Donizetti's Lucia Di Lammermoor (with Grant, Malcolm Donnelly and Richard Greager, in 1986) and Lucrezia Borgia from 1977. All three are conducted by Sutherland's husband, Richard Bonynge.

A more recent production, of Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro, also appears on CD, DVD and Blu-ray. The cast, from 2010, includes Teddy Tahu Rhodes, Taryn Fiebig, Peter Coleman-Wright and Rachelle Durkin. Patrick Summers conducts. The label promises some 3D opera Blu-rays to follow.