This week audiences get to discover two Bel Canto gems, a world premiere recording, a debut album, and a new album by the “people’s diva.” Here is a look at this week’s new releases.

Voice of Nature: The Anthropocene

Renée Fleming releases a new album for Decca Classics featuring Yannick Nézet-Séguin on the piano. The record feature music by Edvard Grieg, Franz Liszt, Gabriel Fauré, and Reynaldo Hahn.

The album also includes premieres of two new commissions from living composers. Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Kevin Puts sets “Evening” by the American poet Dorianne Laux, and Nico Muhly collages poetry from the 17th-century English theologian Thomas Traherne with excerpts from writings by Robinson Meyer, a journalist who covers climate change, in “Endless Space.”

L’Equivoco Stravagante

Naxos releases this rarely performed Rossini opera from a production at Germany’s Rossini in Wildbad.  The new production from 2018 was by Jochen Schönleberand starred mezzo-soprano Antonella Colaianni as the lady in question, baritone Giulio Mastrototaro as her wealthy papa, and Patrick Kabongo and Emmanuel Franco as her tenor and baritone suitors. José Miguel Pérez-Sierra led the Górecki Chamber Choir and the Virtuosi Brunensis.

Le Nozze in Villa 

Dynamic releases Donizetti’s early work on DVD, Blu-Ray, and CD. The production marked the first modern production and was performed during the 2020 edition of the Festival Donizetti Opera. Davide Marranchetti directed the production which was performed for no audience and was conducted by Stefano Montanari. The production starred Gaia Petrone, Giorgio Misseri, Fabio Capitanucci, and Omar Montanari.

Taking Up Serpents 

The Chicago Opera Theater releases a digital-only album of Kamala Sankaram and Jerre Dye’s “Taking Up Serpents,” a present-day opera set in the Deep South. The new recording stars Alexandra Loutsion as Kayla, Leah Dexter as her mother Nelda, and Michael Mayes as her fire-and-brimstone father.

In a statement Sankaramsaid, “My goal for the sound world of the opera has always been to try to capture the mystery of faith in musical form. To best capture that spirit – and the raw power that a live audience might experience – the opera was recorded in a single take.”

Enargeia

Emily D’Angelo releases her debut album for Deutsche Grammophon. The new album features the mezzo-soprano in music by Hildur Gudnadóttir, Hildegard von Bingen, Missy Mazzoli, and Sarah Kirkland Snider. She is accompanied by the das freie orchester Berlin under Jarkko Riihimäki.