Opera star Angela Gheorghiu released a new album to mark the 100th anniversary of the death of famous Italian composer Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924). Recorded with the pianist Vincenzo Scalera, the album brings together 17 songs composed by Puccini for voice and piano between 1875 and 1919, including a world premiere recording of the recently rediscovered Melanconia.

The album A te, Puccini is Angela Gheorghiu's tribute to the composer, being named after the title track composed by Puccini at just 16 years old. 

"This album is my tribute to Giacomo Puccini, to whom I have been deeply grateful all my life. Together with Vincenzo Scalera, I had the pleasure of recording 17 classical songs that Puccini composed from the age of 16 to 61. Some of them have a force and style reminiscent of arias from his works, others are more romantic and pure," said Angela Gheorghiu.

The recording brings together a collection of lesser-known songs specially composed for voice and piano, including some that Puccini later used as inspiration for his famous operas, such as Manon Lescaut, La bohème, or La rondine.

"Angela Gheorghiu's distinctive interpretations of Puccini's music are admired around the world, and we are delighted to be able to release this new album of hers, featuring recordings of lesser-known works, on Signum Classics," said Steve Long, founder and director of Signum Classics.

Born in Adjud, Romania, Angela Gheorghiu graduated from the National University of Music in Bucharest. She made her international debut in 1992 at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in La bohème, at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, and at the Vienna State Opera. Since then, she has performed on all the world's great stages, from New York, Philadelphia, London, and Paris to Tokyo, Amsterdam, Kuala Lumpur, or Shanghai.

For her extraordinary career, Angela Gheorghiu received several awards, including La Medaille Vermeille de la Ville de Paris, and was appointed Officier and Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture. In Romania, King Michael I conferred the Nihil Sine Deo royal decoration to Angela Gheorghiu for promoting Romanian cultural values abroad, but she also received the Order of the Star of Romania, the country’s highest civil order.

Angela Gheorghiu is currently back in London for a series of performances at the Royal Opera House, singing Mimì in Puccini's La bohème, a role with which she debuted on the same stage in 1992.

irina.marica@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: PR)