"L'infedeltà costante" - "Die beständige Untreue", mit diesem Titel haben Anna Bonitatibus und Alan Curtis ihre Haydn-CD umschrieben. Denn um "Untreue" in der einen oder anderen Art geht es bei all den diversen Arien aus Haydns zahlreichen Opern. Die italienische Mezzosopranistin Anna Bonitatibus hat sich Arien aus den Opern La fedeltà premiata, Orlando Palladino, La vera costanza, L'infedeltà delusa, La frascatana, L` isola disabitata und Arianna a Naxos ausgesucht, die Haydn zu Recht als Opernkomponisten "rehabilitieren": Musikalisch abwechslungsreiche, ausdrucksstarke Stücke, die mannigfaltige Facetten von der schlichten Melodie bis hin zu atemberaubenden Koloraturen aufweisen. Eine echte Entdeckung, welche die Sängerin Alan Curtis und sein Complesso Barocco beschwingt präsentieren.

For the 1727 season – the waning days of opera's popularity in London – transplanted German composer George Frederick Handel wrote no less than three operas for the English capital's stage. Tolomeo, rè d'Egitto was the last and least enthusiastically received of them. Unsuccessfully revived in 1730 and then again in 1733, Tolomeo was unperformed for the next 200 years, and even now, it remains one of Handel's least performed and recorded operas. Prior to this Archiv set, only a 1995 Vox recording of the work with Richard Auldon Clark leading the Manhattan Chamber Orchestra had been released in the digital era.

Written in 1740, Deidamia was the last of Handel’s Italian operas; thereafter he relinquished the form and turned his creative energies to English oratorio. The libretto is based on the myth of Achilles’ boyhood: disguised as a girl on the island of Scyros to escape his fate at Troy, Achilles is unmasked by Ulysses and joins the war, abandoning his lover Deidamia. Despite its heroic subject Deidamia is written with a light, almost comic touch, Deidamia herself providing a central seriousness as she moves from the ecstasies of young love to a tragic maturity, forced to release the boy she loves to his inevitable death. Simone Kermes is Deidamia and Anna Bonitatibus her cynical adversary Ulysses; Alan Curtis’ new recording reveals the many beauties of a very human and appealing work that marks a wistful end to the golden age of Baroque opera.

OehmsClassics proudly presents this recording of the Jubilee Concert „250th Anniversary of the Birth of Simon Mayr“ made in June 2013 in Ingolstadt. The performance was of Mayr’s opera Ginevra di Scozia, a saga from Scotland that is an important step in the transition to romantic Italian opera.

Marc Minkowski and Les Musiciens du Louvre return to Handel with a complete recording of his opera Alcina. The title role is interpreted by Magdalena Kožená, who reunites with Les Musiciens and maestro Minkowski after a series of acclaimed baroque recordings.She is joined by an excellent cast of soloists, consisting of Erin Morley (Morgana), Anna Bonitatibus (Ruggiero), Elizabeth De Shong (Bradamante), Alois Mühlbacher (Oberto), Valerio Contaldo (Oronte) and Alex Rosen (Melisso).This studio recording transports the listener to Alcina’s enchanted island, and shows Handel at the peak of his power: the score is dramatic, lush and colourful as well as introspective and profound where the story requires it.

This hilarious contemporary version of Francesco Cavalli's baroque opera Hercules in Love was commissioned on occasion of the marriage of Louis XIV, the Sun King, to Maria Theresa of Spain. The original production took two years to complete and was at the time the greatest show ever performed in Europe. Directed by David Alden, this surreal production is a triumph of commedia buffa resplendent with decorative and symbolic elements, and complemented by Constance Hoffman's exceptional costumes. Led by Ivor Bolton, a master of baroque music, the chorus of De Nederlandse Opera and Concerto Köln give a sublime performance. With Luca Pisaroni's (Ercole) singing being heroic and melodious in turn, and Veronica Cangemi as a splendid Iole, this is an outstanding production by the DNO.

Anna Bonitatibus (born in Potenza) is an Italian mezzo-soprano. She is one of the most wanted mezzo-sopranos of our time, admired in particular for her interpretations of roles by Rossini and Mozart. The music on this new album spans from 18th century (Jommelli, Caldara, Porpora) until early 19th century (Meyerbeer, Rossini, Garcia). Most of the arias and scenes are WORLD PREMIERE RECORDINGS. Some pieces are even performed for the first time after more than 150 years. ANNA BONITATIBUS is one of the best mezzo-sopranos of our time, well trained in performing in a "historically informed" manner. A very special highlight: A Semiramide aria (“Preghiera”) by Manuel Garcia. He has been the first Almaviva in Rossini's “Il Barbiere di Siviglia”. He was an amazing composer as well: he composed a Semiramide after Rossini that everybody considered lost. The score was discovered and newly edited by Anna Bonitatibus.

Marc Minkowski and Les Musiciens du Louvre return to Handel with a complete recording of his opera Alcina.The title role is interpreted by Magdalena Kožená, who reunites with Les Musiciens and maestro Minkowski after a series of acclaimed baroque recordings.She is joined by an excellent cast of soloists, consisting of Erin Morley (Morgana), Anna Bonitatibus (Ruggiero), Elizabeth De Shong (Bradamante), Alois Mühlbacher (Oberto), Valerio Contaldo (Oronte) and Alex Rosen (Melisso).This studio recording transports the listener to Alcina’s enchanted island, and shows Handel at the peak of his power: the score is dramatic, lush and colourful as well as introspective and profound where the story requires it.

Nach der ersten CD "Il primo amore" mit Frühwerken von Marianna Martines (1744-1812), die von der Presse als "interpretatorische Delikatesse" (Rondo) gelobt wurde, hat die Cembalistin Nicholeta Paraschivescu mit dem Ensemble La Floridiana und der Mezzosopranistin Anna Bonitatibus nun drei späte Kantaten, ein Cembalokonzert sowie eine Sonate dieser herausragenden Komponistin des 18. Jahrhunderts aufgenommen, darunter drei Weltersteinspielungen.

Tasso’s masterpiece inherited the entire western literary legacy starting with Homer, and at the same time it comes to constitute the inspiring model of future generations of musicians, painters, and, of course, poets. In sum, working with Tasso allows us to communicate with a vast universe in time and space.

A 20 ans, avant d'être célèbre dans toute l'Europe et de venir à Londres se mesurer à Haendel, ce natif de Modène (1670-1747) composa cet oratorio précoce. Il y témoigne d'une capacité évidente à dépasser ses modèles: les airs sont inspirés, l'écriture instrumentale habile et la figure de Marie-Madeleine ainsi mise en musique a toute l'ambiguïté de la sensualité séductrice et du repentir édificateur.

What a strange, wondrous work this is! Dealing almost exclusively with emotions–paternal, filial, and romantic love, sacrifice, jealousy, hatred, spite–there is very little “action” per se. But in Handel’s Tamerlano we are smack in the middle of these people’s hearts and it’s more suspenseful and moving than operas with battles, great political themes, wind machines, and exotic dancers. In short, absolute ruler Tamerlano has conquered and taken the Turkish Emperor Bajazet captive. Despite his engagement to Irene, Tamerlano loves Bajazet’s daughter Asteria; Andronicus, his Greek ally, loves her too and Asteria returns Andronicus’ love. Although it appears as if Asteria also has accepted Tamerlano’s love (to the horror of Bajazet, Andronicus, and Irene), in fact she plans to kill him. She and her father are condemned to death when her plot is discovered, but Bajazet commits suicide and in a last minute change of heart, Tamerlano allows Andronicus and Asteria to wed, while he takes Irene as bride.

In drama as well as in musical theater, the monologue is often used to express and illustrate the smallest nuances of emotions - even those that cannot or should not be expressed. In this recording, mezzo-soprano Anna Bonitatibus and her piano accompanist Adele D'Aronzo devote themselves to this very interesting aspect of opera and song culture. Using selected works by Donizetti, Respighi, Rossini, Zingarelli, Viardot and Wagner as examples, the diverse narrative and expressive approaches of the monologue are exemplified.

The culmination of a three-year Monteverdi project led by conductor William Christie and director Pier Luigi Pizzi at Madrid's Teatro Réal, L'incoronazione di Poppea brings a potent blend of sex and politics, high drama and comedy. Leading the cast are Danielle de Niese, Philippe Jaroussky, Max Emanuel Cencic and Anna Bonitatibus.

Written in 1724, just after Giulio Cesare and just before Rodelinda, Tamerlano comes from one of the most fruitful periods of Handel’s career, full of compelling inspiration, yet it has been relatively neglected on disc. This Avie recording was made live at Sadler’s Wells in London in collaboration with the BBC in June 2001, marking a welcome return to disc of Trevor Pinnock and the English Concert. The result is delicate on a smallish scale, less sharply focused than Pinnock’s Archiv recordings, but with unerring judgement on style and pacing.