Opera Rara's latest recording and performance project is Leoncavallo's Zazà. Featuring Ermonela Jaho, Nicky Spence, Patricia Bardon and Riccardo Massi with the BBC Singers, BBC Symphony Orchestra, conductor Maurizio Benini and directed by Sarah Waters, there will be a live performance of the opera at the Barbican in London on November 27 (for further information, visit: barbican.org.uk).

In the gallery above (click on any of the images to open the gallery) you can see photographs from Opera Rara's rehearsals in their own library and at the recording sessions at Maida Vale.

Meanwhile, in the exclusive video below you can eavesdrop on the rehearsals, as Ermonela Jaho sings 'Mama usciva di casa'. The aria is from Act III of the opera, in which Zazà reflects on her own sad childhood having been confronted by the daughter of her lover Milio who has spurned her...

All of the photographs are the copyright of Russell Duncan.