This week will center on one major release in honor of one of the great tenors of the 20th century.

Johan Botha: Italian Opera Arias

Orfeo and Naxos pay tribute to Johan Botha in a CD set featuring arias and duets from Verdi’s “Don Carlo,” “I Vespri Siciliani,” “Aida” and “Otello” as well as Puccini’s “Turandot” and “Tosca,” Giordano’s “Andrea Chénier,” and Mascagni’s “Cavalleria Rusticana.”

The CD set also includes such famed artists as Violetta Urmana, Dmitri Hvorostovsky,  Agnes Balsta, Renato Bruson, Leo Nucci, and Krassimira Stoyanova. The recordings also feature Fabio Luisi, Placido Domingo, Simone Young, Daniele Gatti, and Adam Fischer among others.

All recordings come from live performances from the Wiener Staatsoper and contain never before released recordings.