Opera Rara

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Opera Rara is a British record label, founded by Patric Schmid and Don White. It was originally created to promote concerts of rare and/or forgotten operas by Giacomo Meyerbeer and Donizetti as well as such other "bel canto" composers as Giovanni Pacini and Saverio Mercadante. Their activities were expanded more recently to include the BBC's original versions of Giuseppe Verdi operas that are better known in later versions.

Their first "complete" opera, Meyerbeer's Il crociato in Egitto was given as a concert in 1972 and featured soprano Janet Price. It was the work's first revival in over 100 years, and was of such great interest to record collectors that it was almost immediately issued by several "pirates". Donizetti's Maria Padilla, again with Price, followed soon afterwards. Other early concerts included Maria de Rudenz, Torquato Tasso, and Rosmonda d'Inghilterra (Donizetti), L'Etoile du Nord (Meyerbeer)), as well as two Mercadante operas:Orazi e Curiazi and Virginia. All of these represented the first performances of these works in years.

In 1977, it issued its first recording of Donizetti's Ugo, conte di Parigi, with a cast including Janet Price, Yvonne Kenny, Della Jones, and Christian du Plessis. Other singers who have participated in Opera Rara's recordings include Renée Fleming, Jennifer Larmore, Nelly Miricioiu, Chris Merritt and Bruce Ford.

Their biggest contribution to classical recordings is the large number of "world premiere recordings" in their catalogue. These include, listed by composer:

DONIZETTI:
L'assedio di Calais ORC9
Emilia di Liverpool ORC8
Francesca di Foix ORC28
Gabriella di Vergy ORC3
Maria Padilla** ORC6
Ne m'oubliez pas ORC4
La romanzesca e l'uomo nero ORC19
Rosmonda d'Inghilterra** ORC13
Ugo, conte di Parigi ORC1
Zoraida di Granata ORC17

MAYR
Ginevra di Scozia ORC23

MERCADANTE
Emma d'Antiochia ORC26
Maria Stuarda* ORR241
Orazi e Curiazi** ORC12
Zaira* ORR224

MEYERBEER
Il crociato in Egitto ORC10
Dinorah ORC5
L'esule di Granata* ORR234
Margherita d'Anjou ORC25

OFFENBACH
Christopher Columbus ORC2
Robinson Crusoe ORC7

PACINI
Alessandro nell'Indie ORC35
Carlo di Borgogna ORC21
Maria regina d'Inghilterra ORC15

PAER
Sofonisba* ORR237

RICCI
La prigione di Edimburgo* ORR228

ROSSINI
Ricciardo e Zoraide ORC14

THOMAS La Cour de Celimene ORC37

The recordings indicated by one asterisk (*) are excerpts.
The recordings indicated by two asterisks (**) are technically not world premiere recordings, since they had been performed earlier by Opera Rara, and these earlier performances were issued by pirates. However, they are included in this list since the world premiere recording is still an Opera Rara performance.
Opera Rara is generously sponsored by the Peter Moores Foundation.