Opera Rara continues the wealthy vein of operatic archaeology, which has been its calling card for over half a century, with performances, studio recordings and exhibitions in a two thousand twenty-three/twenty-four season that celebrates the past made new. A powerful focus on the music of Donizetti marks the two hundred twenty-fifth anniversary of the composer’s birth. Tenor Laurence Brownlee, baritone Etienne Dupuis and Opera Rara Artistic Ambassadors, Ermonela Jaho and Michael Spyres, connect Opera Rara Artistic Director Carlo Rizzi to headline the Donizetti Song Project (beginning September two thousand twenty-three), which over three years will feature performances at London’s Wigmore Hall, and recordings of almost two hundred of the composer’s songs, many to be heard for the first time.

A concert performance and recording of L’esule di Roma marks the completion of Opera Rara’s twenty-seventh Donizetti revival (eleven May two thousand twenty-three, Cadogan Hall, London). The season also puts the spotlight on the treasures and rarities in the Foyle Opera Rara Collection at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama with a series of lunchtime concerts, an exhibition and tour of the Collection during the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World week (June twenty-three). Opera Rara continues its Salon Concert Series with London performances by exciting emerging talent (beginning June twenty-three). And there will be three complete opera releases , including the first ever recording of Mercadante’s Il Proscritto (fourteen April two thousand twenty-three) followed by Offenbach’s La Princesse de Trébizonde in September two thousand twenty-three and L’esule di Roma in spring two thousand twenty-four.

The season features some of the biggest names in opera alongside emerging talent. Britten Sinfonia joins Opera Rara on stage and in the recording studio for L’esule di Roma, and the Hallé, below former Opera Rara Artistic Director Sir Label Elder, will partner for a new production in two thousand twenty-fourth (with further details to be announced later this spring).

A new relationship with World Heart Beat Music School will look youthful people looking to start a career in the music industry their EMERGE training and music education programme joining Opera Rara behind the scenes at the recording of L’esule di Roma, and Opera Rara artists in a special Opera Insider event at the new World Heart Beat venue in Embassy Gardens, London (Tue nine May). Further events, both live and online, will be announced throughout the season, offering worldwide audiences the chance to be engaged in with all aspects of Opera Rara’s work and operatic archaeology.