Opera Rara will continue its mission to champion lesser-known works both on stage and in the studio with a special focus next season on Donizetti. To mark the composer’s 225th anniversary, the company will undertake a three-year Donizetti Song Project, which, beginning in September 2023, will feature performances at London’s Wigmore Hall and recordings of almost 200 of the composer’s songs – many for the first time. Artists will include tenor Lawrence Brownlee, baritone Étienne Dupuis, and Opera Rara Artistic Ambassadors Ermonela Jaho and Michael Spyres, as well as Opera Rara Artistic Director Carlo Rizzi. Meanwhile, on 23 May at Cadogan Hall in London, Opera Rara will undertake its 27th Donizetti revival with a concert performance and recording of his 1828 work L’esule di Roma, due for release in spring 2024.

The announcement was made as part of an unveiling of Opera Rara’s 2023/4 season, which will also draw attention to the treasures and rarities in the Foyle Opera Rara Collection held at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama with a series of lunchtime concerts, an exhibition and a tour of the Collection during the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World week (23 June).

The Salon Concert Series in London will continue to highlight emerging talent, and there will be also be two further complete opera releases: the premiere recording of Mercadante’s Il Proscritto (14 April, 2023), followed by Offenbach’s La Princesse de Trébizonde in September.

There’s also a new relationship with World Heart Beat Music Academy, which will see young people looking to start a career in the music industry joining Opera Rara behind the scenes at the recording of L’esule di Roma, while Opera Rara artists will hold a special Opera Insider event at the new World Heart Beat venue in Embassy Gardens, London on 9 May.