Sol y vida is Elīna Garanča’sjourney to the South, from Spain to Italy and Latin America, and is her first album focusing entirely on non core-classical repertoire. Be ready to expect a personal album from the mezzo-soprano, whose centre of life has been Spain for many years. A selection of songs, canzone and tango pieces, both mirroring and spreading a flamboyantly emotional array of beaming happiness, passionate longing and exuberant joy. A feast of vocal colours, and a firework of passion, from the well-known Granada to the intimate world of La Llorona.

Composed for the Carnival season in Verona in 1735, Bajazet is a ‘pasticcio’ opera based on the familiar story of the eponymous Turkish sultan’s imprisonment at the hands of the Tartar tyrant Tamerlane. As such, it openly uses arias by other composers, including Hasse, Broschi and Giacomelli, as well as re-cycled pieces from Vivaldi’s own operas (L’Olimpiade, Giustino, Farnace, Semiramide and Montezuma among them). But this is no mere patchwork of recycled numbers. All the ‘borrowed’ arias are expertly placed within the dramatic fabric of the work and are held together with richly composed recitatives. What we end up with is the best of the best in terms of Neapolitan-style opera – tuneful, virtuosic and passionate. Virtually every number in this recording is a highlight. What really lifts the recording is the quality of the performances. There are no holes or flaws among the experienced cast.

Richly colourful in Mozart and Vivaldi: Her velvety, versatile timbre makes mezzo-soprano Elına Garanča one of the outstanding singers of the present day, of that there can be no doubt. She followed up her international breakthrough at the Salzburg Festival with two celebrated CD releases in 2005 that laid the foundation of her rich discography: a Mozart recital and the world premiere of Vivaldi’s opera Bajazet. The present album combines the loveliest moments from these recordings.

Meditation, mezzo-soprano Elina Garanca's 2014 release on Deutsche Grammophon, is an album of serene vocal and choral works that express religious feelings with an operatic touch and showcase the Latvian singer's warm and radiant voice. Choosing pieces from the early Baroque era to contemporary works, Garanca presents a soothing program that is consistent in its comforting tone and gentle treatment, though as a purely musical consideration, it tends to flow a bit too evenly and predictably. Insofar as the selections represent the Christian tradition, including settings of the Ave Maria, the Salve Regina, the Sanctus, the Agnus Dei, and the Regina Coeli, the character of the collection admits little variety, except for the general alternation between penitential and quietly ecstatic moods.

Elīna Garanča reflects facets of night-time on her latest Deutsche Grammophon release “When Night Falls”. The soprano chose a selection of orchestral songs, as well as works for voice and piano or guitar, that she performs together with the Orquestra Filarmónica de Gran Canaria, the Berlin Music Ensemble and the DG artists Albrecht Mayer and Raphaël Feuillâtre, among others. Commenting on the spectrum of rich colours from sunset to the silence of the night, Garanča notes: "I hope this music will allow listeners to tune out the world for a few minutes and completely immerse themselves in the special magic of the hours of night.”

Das Sommernachtskonzert der Wiener Philharmoniker ist jedes Jahr eines der meistbesuchten Klassikkonzerte überhaupt, denn es findet im festlich illuminierten Schlosspark von Schloss Schönbrunn in Wien vor 100.000 Besuchern statt.

With her sensational role debut at the Vienna State Opera, superstar diva Anna Netrebko displays a performance of rare vocal and dramatic power. The Russian soprano sings the role of the unjustly accused second wife of British King Henry VIII, ‘veering between indignant fury and tender righteousness’ and demonstrating a new level of confidence in her technique with excellent ‘passagework, particularly in trills, and seamless runs even to the lowest notes’.

Arthaus presents the Vienna State Opera’s outstandingly cast new production of Werther on DVD. The production was the Vienna State Opera debut for the young Swiss conductor Philippe Jordan – the Argentinian tenor Marcelo Álvarez, took the title role. Although he had already secured an international reputation through his performances in leading opera houses all over the world, this was his first appearance in the premiere of a production in Vienna. His Charlotte, on this occasion the young Latvian mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča, joined the Vienna State Opera in 2003.

TDK presents a truly new way of looking at La clemenza di Tito with this famous and star-studded production from the Salzburg Festival 2003. Here Nikolaus Harnoncourt, renowned for his analytical approach to the search for the core of the music, interprets Mozart’s last opera. Martin Kušej, who is acclaimed for his theatre productions directs the production. Nikolaus Harnoncourt identifies with Mozart’s score as both an extremely knowledgeable musician and a conductor who invariably plays an active part in helping to shape the drama. Together with the Vienna Philharmonic, he savours the miracles of Mozart’s late work, bringing out its instrumental colours and effects and at the same time stimulating his singers while proving a solicitous accompanist.

It takes a long time to find such a distinguished conductor who, in his early 20s, has already conducted orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, the London Symphony Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic with great success. You will find what you are looking for in this class with the conductor Daniel Harding, who was born in 1975. After many great CD recordings, Harding's work can now be experienced in a fascinating DVD production: in the recording of Mozart's opera »Così fan tutte« at the Aix-en-Provence Festival in 2005 - staged by Patrice Chéreau, the director of the legendary Bayreuth-Rings from 1980. Elina Garança, the new star in the Mozart heavens (who released a sensational Mozart recital on Virgin Classics in November 2005), is there as Dorabella.

Artists and audiences alike felt a deep sense of loss when the pandemic put a sudden end to live performances last year. The ability to enjoy digital concerts online was some consolation, but as nothing can quite match the magic of direct contact between performer and audience, the few live concerts that were able to go ahead during this period were particularly meaningful. Set for release on 3 December, Live from Salzburg documents two such remarkable events, featuring mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča’s appearances at the Salzburg Festival in the summers of 2020 and 2021 with the Wiener Philharmoniker and Christian Thielemann.

Artists and audiences alike felt a deep sense of loss when the pandemic put a sudden end to live performances last year. The ability to enjoy digital concerts online was some consolation, but as nothing can quite match the magic of direct contact between performer and audience, the few live concerts that were able to go ahead during this period were particularly meaningful. Set for release on 3 December, Live from Salzburg documents two such remarkable events, featuring mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča’s appearances at the Salzburg Festival in the summers of 2020 and 2021 with the Wiener Philharmoniker and Christian Thielemann.

Of Rossini’s thirty-nine operas Il barbiere di Siviglia is the only one to have remained in the repertoire since its composition. When the composer met Beethoven in Vienna the great man told Rossini to only compose buffa operas like Il Barbiere. Verdi was also a great admirer of the work as he was of Rossini’s opera seria and particularly his William Tell. Il Barbiere was one of the works Rossini squeezed in during his contract as Musical Director of the Royal Theatres at Naples and where he was supposed to present two new works every year.

A Verdi Requiem with a dream line-up of soloists and the forces of La Scala, Milan, directed by one of the greatest maestros of our time. Preceding acclaimed performances at the Lucerne and Salzburg Festivals, Barenboim and his magnificent partners recorded this masterpiece around a live performance at La Scala, Milan, in 2012. This marks the first audio recording by Barenboim in his role as La Scala’s Music Director.

The 2010 New Year’s Eve concert from Berlin frames two of the most prominent stars on DG’s roster: Elina Garanca and Gustavo Dudamel. Recorded live, this gala performance sparkles with a selection of arias and orchestral works that include excerpts from one of Garanca’s most celebrated roles, Bizet’s Carmen, and Marguerite in Berlioz’s Damnation of Faust. As well as providing world-class accompaniment, the Berlin Philharmonic makes a stirring contribution to the program with the overture to Berlioz’s thrilling Roman Carnival and excerpts from Manuel de Falla’s ballet, The Three-Cornered Hat.