MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Alagna Roberto - Serenades

Awards:
Victoires de la Musique classique

'...sung by a voice which is excitingly within the tradition and with temperament to match. There is not a moment when you don't listen to hear what he is going to do next - for, though within the tradition, there is much individuality(...) Guitars are not mandolins, but they'll do. Maria, mari comes first, approached with a difference, rhythmical, exact, neither lingering nor humorous (none of Gigli's chuckles), almost fierce, yet viable, almost attractive. Then Carrettiere, with a soft, surprisingly deep-voiced start, eventually aflame with passion. Then 'A Vucchella again surprising in its intimacy and lightness.'
Reviewed: Awards 1997 (Serenades)

Roberto Alagna was born in France of Sicilian parents. Following musical studies in Paris he won first prize in the 1988 Luciano Pavarotti International Competition in Philadelphia, USA, and made his stage debut as Alfredo in La Traviata with Glyndebourne Touring Opera, in the same year. As a result, he was immediately engaged for that role by several major opera houses, and it was in a new production of La Traviata that he made an outstanding debut at La Scala in April 1990.

Rodolfo from La Bohème has also been a major role for Alagna which he has played for The Monte Carlo Opera, La Scala and the Liceo in Barcelona, and he made his debut as Rodolfo at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in April 1992 and at the Metropolitan Opera House. Since then, Alagna has gone on to appear in the most prestigious international opera houses in Verdi's Rigoletto, Donizetti's L'Elisir d'amore, Lucia di Lammermoor and Roberto Devereux, Gounod's Faust and Roméo et Juliette, Bizet's Carmen and Puccini's La Rondine.

The remarkable critical acclaim received by Roberto Alagna following his performances as Roméo at Covent Garden in November 1994 (in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette) confirmed his status as the finest lyric tenor of his generation. Since then he has appeared in Verdi's Don Carlos, Massenet's Werther, Verdi's Macbeth, Bizet's Carmen and Mascagni's L'Amico Fritz. Future engagements include; Leoncavallo's Pagliacci, Donizetti's L'Elisir d'amore, Verdi's Simone Boccanegra ,Il Trovatore and Luisa Miller, Puccini's Tosca, Bizet's Carmen, Cilèa's Adriana Lecouvreur, Mascagni's L'Amico Fritz and Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann. In March 2000 Alagna appeared alongside his wife, soprano Angela Gheorghiu, as the title roles of Roméo et Juliette at the newly re-opened Covent Garden Opera House. The production received rave reviews: The Evening Standard described Alagna's Roméo as "uniquely special, in a class of its own" and his French "crisp, fresh and forceful, bright and understandable: one of the ways he lives inside the role" and The Times said that the "best thing about Alagna's Roméo was palpable evidence of the advances he has made as an artist since he first sang the role six years ago".

In April 1993 Roberto Alagna signed an exclusive recording contract for solo repertoire with EMI Classics; this was extended in February 1998 to include albums of duets and complete operas, joined in this repertoire by Angela Gheorghiu. A debut disc of both well-known and lesser-known tenor arias, released in September 1995, had outstanding international success, and was followed by an album of Duets and Arias with Angela Gheorghiu and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, conducted by Richard Armstrong.

Alagna's discography on EMI Classics includes La Bohème, with a cast which features Leontina Vaduva, Thomas Hampson, Simon Keenlyside, Samuel Ramey and Ruth Ann Swenson, conducted by Antonio Pappano; and, following triumphant live performances in Paris and London, a recording of Verdi's Don Carlos with Thomas Hampson, Karita Mattila and José van Dam, again under Antonio Pappano. November 1996 saw the release of Our Christmas Songs for You, a seasonal album with Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and Thomas Hampson, and a disc titled Sacred Arias with the Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse conducted by Michel Plasson.

In March 1997 EMI Classics released Puccini's rarely recorded opera La Rondine (conducted by Antonio Pappano), on which Alagna was joined by Angela Gheorghiu. Since its release, the recording has received widespread critical acclaim and a great number of awards including two Gramophone Awards for Best Opera Recording and Record of the Year, a French Choc du Monde de la Musique, two Diapason d'Or awards, the Belgian Cecilia Prize, the German Deutsche Schallplattenkritik, the Italian magazine Musica e dischi Foreign Lyric Production award and the USA Critics' Award. In October 1997 EMI Classics released Alagna1s album Serenades, on which he is accompanied on the guitar by his two brothers. The disc features a collection of romantic Neapolitan and Sicilian songs as well as serenades from operas, arranged for voice and guitar by David and Frédérico Alagna. Other releases include a disc of Verdi arias with Claudio Abbado and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, and a recording with Gheorghiu of Gounod's Roméo et Juliette, with the Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse under Michel Plasson (released in April 1998). At the end of 1998, EMI Classics released their album of Verdi duets, Verdi per due, with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Claudio Abbado and, in February 1999, Alagna and Gheorghiu returned to Puccini with a recording of Gianni Schicchi (from Il Trittico), conducted by Pappano. The couple have also recorded Massenet's Werther with Thomas Hampson and the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Antonio Pappano, which was released in October 1999. Both Roberto Alagna and Angela Gheorghiu also recorded Massenet's Manon with Pappano in Brussels in April 1999, which will be released in August 2000. In October 1999 he recorded an album of Bel Canto Arias with the conductor Evelino Pidò and the London Philharmonic Orchestra

In 1994 Roberto Alagna was named Personnalité Musicale de l'Année by the French national press, and in April 1995 he was awarded the prestigious Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera. In 1996 he was appointed a Chevalier de l1Ordre des Arts et Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture and in 1997 named Lyric Artist of the Year by the Victoires de la Musique Française.