Cecilia Bartoli & Angel Blue Lead New CD/DVD Releases

By Francisco Salazar

There will be two important CD releases this week, one from a legendary artists and a second from a historical opening night performance. Here is a look.

Farinelli

Cecilia Bartoli celebrates over three decades on the Decca Classics label with her latest album commemorating the life and career of the most famous opera singer of the 18th century: the castrato Farinelli.

The new album will include arias by Farinelli’s older brother Riccardo Broschi and his teacher and mentor Nicola Porpora and will also feature a new recording of “Alto Giove” from Porpora’s Polifemo, which celebrates Farinelli’s unique capacity to sing long musical phrases and extraordinary high notes.

Bartoli is joined by the period ensemble Il Giardino Armonico and its conductor Giovanni Antonini.

Porgy and Bess

The Metropolitan Opera is set to release an audio recording of the Met’s historic new production of the Gershwins’ “Porgy and Bess.” The cast is headlined by Eric Owens and Angel Blue as the title characters, alongside Latonia Moore, Golda Schultz, Alfred Walker, Frederick Ballentine, and Denyce Graves.

David Robertson conducts.

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