Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor

Natalie Dessay (Lucia), Piotr Beczala (Edgardo), Vladislav Sulimsky (Enrico), Dmitry Voropaev (Arturo), Ilya Bannik (Raimondo), Zhanna Dombrovskaya (Alisa) & Sergei Skorokhodov (Normanno) Mariinsky Orchestra & Chorus, Valery Gergiev The Mariinsky label’s opera recordings have garnered acclaim and awards from around the world, most recently for Valery Gergiev’s recording of Parsifal released in 2010. For the label’s fifth opera, Gergiev conducts Donizetti’s masterpiece with a magnificent cast led by Natalie Dessay. Natalie Dessay is one of the world’s most sought-after sopranos and an admired interpreter of lyric heroines. She is particularly renowned for her interpretation of the role of Lucia, which she has performed at the Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera House and the Mariinsky Theatre. Future engagements include Verdi’s La Traviata with the LSO at the Aix-en-Provence Festival in July and at the Vienna State Opera in October. Piotr Beczala is rapidly establishing a reputation as one of today’s leading lyric tenors. He has recently sung Edgardo at the Met and on tour in Japan, and this summer will perform at the Bavarian State Opera and Salzburg Festival. Valery Gergiev recently won the Disc of the Year Award from BBC Music Magazine for his LSO Live recording of Prokofiev’s Romeo & Juliet. In July, Gergiev will conduct the Mariinsky Ballet at New York Metropolitan Opera and in August he conducts at the Edinburgh Festival and BBC Proms with the Mariinsky Orchestra before opening the LSO’s 2011-12 concert season. In October he embarks on a major tour of the USA and Canada with the Mariinsky Orchestra, including residencies at Carnegie Hall and Berkeley. Forthcoming releases include the final instalment in his Mahler cycle on LSO Live featuring Symphony No 9 and the Mariinsky label’s first DVDs and Blu-Ray Discs. Natalie Dessay appears courtesy of Virgin Classics.