This week’s audiences will get to hear new releases from four of the greatest artists in the world as well as rarely performed work and world premieres.

Insieme 

Sony Classical releases  Jonas Kaufmann and Ludovic Tézier’s new album “Insieme.” The two are joined by Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia under Antonio Pappano and present duets they’ve sung together on stage, plus works specially chosen for the album.

In a statement, Kaufmann noted, “With Ludovic I can go full throttle, especially in our joint scenes in ‘La Forza del Destino,’ which are like a wrestling match. I can’t imagine doing those scenes with someone where I constantly have to hold myself back. With Ludo it’s a terrific challenge every time, and I have to give everything I’ve got. Whenever I’m on stage with him, I feel I give a better performance.”

The album includes excerpts from “La Forza del Destino,” “Don Carlos,” “Otello” “Les Vêpres Siciliennes,” “La Gioconda,” and “La Bohème.”

Acis et Galatée

Jean-Baptiste Lully’s opera gets a release with Cyril Auvity, Ambroisine Bré, Edwin Crossley-Mercer, Déborah Cachet, Bénédicte Tauran, Robert Getchell, Enguerrand de Hys, and Philippe Estèphe. The Chœur de Namur and Les Talens Lyriques is conducted by Christophe Rousset. Aparté releases.

ODE 

ODE, the third album by Los Angeles-based vocalist/composer Odeya Nini is released by Populist Records. ODE displays her range, commanding technique, and keen ear for layered vocal textures. The six-track album will be issued digitally and on vinyl LP.

Citadel of Song 

Dublin-based Heresy Records to release “Citadel of Song,” a new double album by Anakronos. The album is comprised of a group of internationally celebrated musicians, Anakronos’ recording and performance projects centre on finding ancient texts (lyrics) whose melodies have been lost or forgotten.

“Citadel of Song” was funded by a Music Project Award from the Arts Council of Ireland.

French Bel Canto Arias

Lisette Oropesa releases her second album with the Dresdner Philharmonie under the baton of Corrado Rovaris dedicated to Bel Canto.  The album is released by a San Francisco Classical Recording Company Production.

In a statement, Oropesa noted, “I was in Paris a few years ago singing a marvelous opera by Meyerbeer, and was so inspired by Le grand opéra français and its role in the Italian bel canto composers’ works. Growing up in Louisiana, French was the first foreign language that I studied, so I have a deep appreciation for the way it sounds and the way it feels to sing in French. When I began my vocal studies in college, I worked on a lot of French art songs, and also a few French operatic arias, but the majority of my training was in Italian bel canto and Mozart. After having made a wonderful journey into Mozart’s concert arias for my first recording, I was very excited to find a way to combine two of my greatest loves, the French language and Italian bel canto, into another album. Thus, the idea for recording arias from the French language works of Rossini and Donizetti was born. It has been a joy to explore lesser-known pieces, as well as the more popular ones, for the repertoire that we chose to feature in this album. There is so much out there, and a lot of it gets performed so rarely outside of festivals dedicated to Rossini and Donizetti.”

Antwerp Requiem

CantoLX, B’Rock Orchesta and conductor Frank Agsteribbe present Antwerp Requiem c. 1650, an album showcasing the exceptional wealth of musical life in Antwerp in the age of Rubens.

Philippus van Steelant’s recently-rediscovered Requiem settings are unique in their exuberant splendor, tied to a funerary culture that embraced the glory of life.

Richard Flury: Der Schlimm-Heilige Vitalis, Opera in Five Acts

Richard Flury’s “Der schlimm-heilige Vitalis” is set to be released.

This double album, recorded in Nuremberg showcases principal soloists Matthias Stier, Rebecca Nelsen, Kay Stiefermann, Stephanie Bühlmann, Marlene Gassner, Markus Eiche, baritone, Christian Tschelebiew and Tijl Faveyts. The Madrigal Choir of the Nuremberg University of Music (Alfons Brandl, chorus-master) and Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra are conducted by that Toccata stalwart Paul Mann.

Bernhard Sekles: Lieder

Toccata Classics will release an album with music by Bernhard Sekles, who was one of the leading figures in German music in the first decades of the twentieth century. This first-ever album of his Lieder includes a major song cycle. The recording features Malte Muller and Werner Heinrich Schmitt.

Voyage 

Marina Rebeka releases her first piano recital album alongside pianist Mathieu Pordoy. The song program was curated by Palazzetto Bru Zane, and includes pieces written by French composers, female and male, sung in French, Italian, German, and Russian.

Among the composers are Henri Duparc, Cécile Chaminade, Maurice Ravel, Camille Saint-Saëns, Charles- Marie Widor, Gabriel Fauré, Charles Gounod, and the extraordinarily talented female composers Marie Jaëll and Pauline Viardot.

Prima Classics Releases the album.

Kassandra

Navona Records releases composer Anthony Brandt and librettist Neena Beber’s chamber opera which explores two leading issues of our times — climate change and sexual harassment. Based on the Greek myth of Apollo trying to seduce Trojan princess Cassandra, Brandt and Beber tell the tragic yet familiar story of Kassandra, a scientist whose forecasts of climate change are discredited as a result of rejecting sexual advances from a venture capitalist. The album stars Penelope Shumate, Christopher Besch, Megan Berti, Albert Stanley, and Aidan Smerud. Eiki Isomura conducts.

Where the Shadow Glides: Celebrating the Music of William McClelland

Naxos releases William McClelland’s “Where the Shadow Glides: Songs, Solo Piano and Choral Works. The album includes Krista River, Alex Guerrero,  Thomas Meglioranza, Alex Guerrero, Robert May, Margaret Dudley, Thomas McCarger, Suzanne Schwing, Donald Berman and Blair McMillen. It also includes David Enlow and the New York Virtuoso Singers.

The Outer Edge of Youth 

Acis releases the world premiere recording of “The Outer Edge of Youth,” a new choral opera from acclaimed composer, writer, and multimedia artist Scott Ordway. The two vocal soloists take center stage, Amy Broadbent and Emily Marvosh with Ordway accompanying them with a choir of soloists.