Opera Rara has announced that it will transfer its music library to The Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama. The new library will be called The Foyle Opera Rara Collection in honor of The Foyle Foundation which made the donation that enabled the transfer.

The Foyle Opera Rara Collection will be comprised of over 5,000 volumes of first and early editions of 19^th century Italian opera scores. It includes works by Rossini, Bellini, Verdi, Puccini, Mayr, Mercadante, Pacini, Ponchielli, Leoncavallo, and Mascagni.

“I am delighted that our unique and iconic collection will be going to the Royal Welsh College, where scholars, students, and the wider public can consult and enjoy this inspiring body of extraordinary 19^th-century operatic material,” Henry Little, Chief Executive of Opera Rara, said in a press release. “Opera Rara is especially grateful to the Foyle Foundation, whose generosity has made this special partnership between us and the College possible.”

Among the upcoming projects for Opera Rara are the first hearing in over 120 years of the original one-act version of Puccini’s “Le Willis (later called “Le Villi).” The company is also set to release a world premiere recording of “L’Ange de Nisida” by Donizetti. It recently released a recording of the full version of “Semiramide.”