Ermonela Jaho, Missy Mazzoli, William Hite, Anthony Roth Costanzo, Cyrille Dubois Lead new CD/DVD Releases
By Francisco SalazarWelcome back as we explore the latest CD and DVD releases from around the opera world.
This week, audiences get a chance to hear many world premieres as well as a new album from a world famous countertenor, a rare Puccini opera, and a new opera from an acclaimed composer.
Missa pro defunctis a sei voci- Mottetti
Zeer releases the album which features the Rossini Chamber Choir conducted by Simone Baiocchi in one of the most intense sacred pieces of the 1900s.
Nôtinikêw
Award-winning composer Andrew Balfour and acclaimed chamber choir Dead of Winter, under the direction of Mel Braun, present “nôtinikêw (I went to war),” with Leaf Music. nôtinikêw is a work honoring the Indigenous soldiers of the 107th Timber Wolf (Winnipeg) Battalion who served during the First World War.
Music for New Bodies
DACAMERA Editions releases the premiere recording of composer/conductor Matthew Aucoin’s “Music for New Bodies,” an epic musical work that is part opera and part vocal symphony.
In collaboration with fellow MacArthur “genius” Peter Sellars, who also directed the work’s first production, Aucoin adapted the libretto from poems by Pulitzer Prize-winner Jorie Graham that confront many of the most urgent questions facing humanity today: what does it mean to live a single, embodied human life in a moment when we are handing over the keys of human intelligence to artificially-generated systems that we barely understand? What does it mean to live on a planet whose ecosystems we have ravaged? What would our planet have to say to us, if we knew how to listen? What are we, as a species, on the verge of becoming?
The recording features of American Modern Opera Company (AMOC*), Sandbox Percussion, and singers Kathryn Lewek, Meryl Dominguez, Megan Moore, Paul Appleby and Evan Hughes.
Winterreise
Tenor William Hite, accompanied by pianist Kayo Iwama perform Schubert’s Winterreise on Navona records.
Besieged
The Crossing and conductor Donald Nally release their 42nd album. The mew album examines time spans — human life, aging, and the mysteries of the cosmos and includes music by Stacy Garrop, Robert Maggio, and Christopher Jessup.
Puccini’s La Rondine (1921 Version)
Opera Rara releases the world premiere recording of Puccini’s final 1921 version of “La rondine.” Conducted by Opera Rara’s Artistic Director Carlo Rizzi, the recording features the BBC Symphony Orchestra and BBC Singers, with Opera Rara’s Artist Ambassador Ermonela Jaho in one of her signature roles as Magda de Civry. The recording was made in the week before a concert performance at London’s Barbican in December 2025, which marked the first time Puccini’s complete third version had been heard in almost a century.
The Tallis Scholars: Live in Venice
The Tallis Scholars, founded by their conductor Peter Phillips in 1973, release an album recorded in 2017 in the Basilica di San Marco in Venice. Issued as a 1-CD/1-Blu-ray set, the release offers both an intimate listening experience and the rare opportunity to witness the performance from within the basilica itself.
The recording features music by Monteverdi, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Antonio Lotti and Gregorio Allegri.
The Four Elements
Ensemble Altera, directed by its founder Christopher Lowrey, is set to release “The Four Elements,” a journey through wind, earth, water, fire and, finally, quintessence—the ancient idea of a fifth essence.
Known for imaginative programming and a warm, focused transatlantic sound, Ensemble Altera brings together music by William Byrd, Charles Villiers Stanford, Ēriks Ešenvalds, Eric Whitacre, Morten Lauridsen, Owain Park, Rebecca Dale and others.
PENTATONE releases the album.
The Listeners
Lyric Opera of Chicago, under the leadership of General Director John Mangum and the baton of Music Director Enrique Mazzola, presents the world premiere recording of “The Listeners,” a striking new opera by Missy Mazzoli and librettist Royce Vavrek, based on an original story by Jordan Tannahill.
Eternity in an Hour
Decca Classics is set to release “Eternity in an Hour,” the new album by Grammy Award-winning composer and conductor Eric Whitacre. The album is a deeply meditative hour-long work for choir, cello, piano and live electronics. Recorded with the Eric Whitacre Singers, the album brings together his lifelong fascination with electronic sound and the choral writing for which he is renowned.
Gustav Mahler: The Symphonies
Andris Nelsons and the Wiener Philharmoniker launch their long-awaited complete Mahler Symphonic cycle for Deutsche Grammophon.
Countertenor
Singer Anthony Roth Costanzo make his Nonesuch Records debut with teh album “Countertenor.”
On the album’s ten tracks, which feature an ensemble conducted by Daniel Schlosberg, Costanzo delves into a wide-ranging survey of falsetto. The record comprises a world premiere recording of a new piece by Osvaldo Golijov; arias by Philip Glass, W.A. Mozart, Antonio Vivaldi, and Claudio Monteverdi; a traditional Hawaiian song; an early Baroque song by John Dowland; a Renaissance ditty by Thomas Morly; the classic @frankie valli four seasons tune “Walk Like a Man”; and a Klaus Nomi-inspired interpretation of John Madera and David White’s “You Don’t Own Me.”
Street Scene
Capriccio releases the two act broadway show by Kurt Weill, Elmer Rice, and Langston Hughes in a recording featuring Giselle Allen, Robert Hayward, Gillene Butterfield, Alex Banfield, Michelle Andrews, Quirijn de Lang, and Rodney Vubya. The Chorus of Opera North and Orchestra of Opera North are conducted by James Holmes.
Léo Delibes: Jean de Nivelle
Palazzetto Bru Zane releases the Opéra-comique by Delibes featuring a cast that includes Cyrille Dubois, Mélissa Petit, Marie-Andrée Bouchard-Lesieur, Tassis Christoyannis, Juliette Mey, Adrien Fournaison, François Rougier, and Jean-Philippe McClish. The Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra and Hungarian National Choir are led by György Vashegyi.
Baldassare Galuppi: L’Uomo Femina
Eva Zaïcik, Lucile Richardot, Victoire Bunel, Anas Séguin, Victor Sicard, and François Rougier star in Galuppi’s “L’Uomo Femina.” The recording also features Le Poème Harmonique under conductor Vincent Dumestre.
Michele Carafa: Masaniello, ou Le Pêcheur napolitain
Naxos releases this rarely performed work by Carafa, a student of Cherubini, featuring a cast that includes Catherine Trottmann, Luis Magallanes, Juan José Medina, Mert Süngü, and Nathanaël Tavernier. The Kraków Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus is conducted by Nicola Pascoli.
Kaija Saariaho: Saarikoski Songs, Vista, Three Preludes
Ondine releases three works by Kaija Saariaho featuring soprano Anu Komsi and organist Marzi Nyman alongside the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Sakari Oramo.
Orazio Benevolo: Missa Si Deus Pro Nobis, Magnificat
Alpha Classics releases Orazio Benevolo’s polychoral mass featuring Le Concert Spirituel and Hervé Niquet. Missa Si Deus Pro Nobis is complemented on the recording by vocal and instrumental pieces by Monteverdi, Frescobaldi, and Palestrina.
