INTERNATIONAL SUPERSTAR TENOR
JONAS KAUFMANN ANNOUNCES
‘NESSUN DORMA – THE PUCCINI ALBUM’
SET FOR RELEASE FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 18TH, 2015
JONAS KAUFMANN DEVOTES HIS NEW ALBUM TO PUCCINI – ‘THE PEOPLE’S COMPOSER’
Sony Music Entertainment Australia is proud to announce NESSUN DORMA – THE PUCCINI ALBUM, the new studio album from international superstar tenor Jonas Kaufmann, is set for release Friday September 18th 2015.
After years of singing Giacomo Puccini’s heroes on stage to vast critical and audience acclaim, Jonas Kaufmann finally records an album entirely devoted to the world’s most-loved opera composer. His new album NESSUN DORMA – THE PUCCINI ALBUM includes a selection of the composer’s stupendous tenor arias drawn from Puccini’s greatest operas, including Turandot, Manon Lescaut, Tosca, La Bohème, Madama Butterfly and La fanciulla del West, amongst others. Spanning the breadth of Puccini’s output from the early operas Le Villi and Edgar, the album culminates in the mighty aria ‘Nessun Dorma’ from his final opera Turandot. Jonas Kaufmann is joined on this album by Maestro Antonio Pappano, the Orchestra dell’ Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and soprano Kristīne Opolais.
In September this year Jonas Kaufmann will also make his first appearance at the Last Night of the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, London, broadcast to millions as part of the world-famous finale of the BBC Proms. Along with a selection of Puccini arias, Jonas will also sing ‘Rule, Britannia!’ – which, according to records, will be the first time this song has been performed by a German singer in the concert’s history.
In October Jonas Kaufmann will bring a selection of Puccini arias to cinemas worldwide with the release of an exciting new film. This special cinema event produced by Arts Alliance will present Jonas Kaufmann’s concert from Teatro alla Scala, Milan with the Filarmonica della Scala and Jochen Rieder conducting, along with a behind-the-scenes glimpse at the busy life of “the greatest tenor of our day” (The Daily Telegraph UK). The film will be released in more than 1000 cinemas and 40 countries.
Puccini’s music made a deep impression on Jonas Kaufmann from an early age, as it has done on many people. But few people are aware of the unparalleled popularity the composer enjoyed in his own lifetime and how this fame came about. As Jonas explains, “Nowadays every-one knows ‘Nessun Dorma’ – not least as a result of the legendary first concert given by The Three Tenors on the eve of the FIFA World Cup final in Rome in 1990. But during the last twenty years of his life Puccini was already as famous as Madonna is today. His arias were such popular hits that everyone knew them – at the beginning of the 20th century he was the composer who captured the hearts of each and every one of his listeners.”
A century ago the arias from Puccini’s operas were whistled in the streets. Millions of listeners from every walk of life were moved to tears by La Bohème and Madama Butterfly. His music had mass appeal and was accessible to and loved by all. But Puccini had a gift for reaching out to all the men and women of the modern world. His operas no longer contain heroes of a Verdian stamp, which is what makes his characters so fascinating, precisely because they combine such apparently contradictory qualities.
Puccini’s music became even more popular than Verdi’s thanks to Enrico Caruso and the invention of the gramophone record. It was the legendary Italian tenor who turned the record into a medium of mass communication. Everyone who owned a gramophone knew who Caruso was, and everyone who listened to Caruso also listened to Puccini. By the standards of his time, Puccini earned as much as Hollywood stars today and he lived the high life.
Jonas Kaufmann regards it as a stroke of luck that he was able to record his Puccini album in Rome. “First, I love the city. Second, it is here that the wonderful Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia performs. Third, the orchestra’s principal conductor is Antonio Pappano, to whom I owe many hours of happiness on the operatic stage. I was also extremely lucky that Kristīne Opolais, my partner in two stage productions of Manon Lescaut, was able to record a number of scenes with me.”
“No aria is as loved today as ‘Nessun Dorma’,” continues Kaufmann. “The legendary first concert of The Three Tenors took place only a few days before my twenty-first birthday, and I really envied Luciano Pavarotti, Plácido Domingo and José Carreras for this hit of theirs. For a long time I didn’t dare sing ‘Nessun Dorma’ myself, since I was so in awe of the aria’s magic and its incredible appeal. Even today, whenever I hear and sing this aria, I still get goose-bumps.”
NESSUN DORMA – THE PUCCINI ALBUM will be released on Friday September 18th, 2015 in deluxe limited edition, standard, vinyl and digital formats.
NESSUN DORMA – THE PUCCINI ALBUM Track listing
MANON LESCAUT
1 Atto I: “Donna non vidi mai” (Des Grieux) 2:28
2 Atto II: “Oh, sarò la più bella! … Tu, tu, amore? Tu?” (Manon, Des Grieux) 7:41
3 Atto II: “Ah! Manon mi tradisce” (Des Grieux, Manon) 2:39
4 Atto III: “Presto! In fila! … Non v’avvicinate! No, pazzo son!” (sergente, Des Grieux, capitano, coro) 3:36 Kristīne Opolais Manon· Antonio Pirozzi sergente, capitano
LE VILLI
5 Atto II: “Ei giunge! … Torna ai felici dì” (coro, Roberto) 7:26
EDGAR
6 Atto II: “Orgia, chimera dall’occhio vitreo” (Edgar) 5:08
LA BOHÈME
7 Atto I: “O soave fanciulla” (Rodolfo, Mimì) 4:13
Kristīne Opolais Mimì
TOSCA
8 Atto I: “Recondita armonia” (Cavaradossi, il sagrestano) 2:55
Antonio Pirozzi il sagrestano
MADAMA BUTTERFLY
9 Atto III: “Addio, fiorito asil” (Pinkerton, Sharpless) 1:47
Massimo Simeoli Sharpless
LA FANCIULLA DEL WEST
10 Atto II: “Una parola sola! … Or son sei mesi” (Johnson) 3:30
11 Atto III: “Risparmiate lo scherno … Ch’ella mi creda libero” (Johnson, Rance, Sonora, coro) 4:37
Massimo Simeoli Rance, Sonora
LA RONDINE
12 Atto I: “Parigi! È la città dei desideri” (Ruggero) 2:58
IL TABARRO
13 “Hai ben ragione” (Luigi) 2:29
GIANNI SCHICCHI
14 “Avete torto! … Firenze è come un albero fiorito” (Rinuccio) 2:58
TURANDOT
15 Atto I: “Non piangere, Liù!” (Calaf, Liù, Timur) 2:38
16 Atto III: “Nessun dorma” (Calaf, coro) 3:07
Kristīne Opolais Liù · Antonio Pirozzi Timur
Jonas Kaufmann tenor
Orchestra e Coro dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia
Antonio Pappano conductor
ARTIST NAME: JONAS KAUFMANN
ALBUM: NESSUN DORMA – THE PUCCINI ALBUM
RELEASE DATE: FRIDAY 18TH SEPTEMBER 2015
WEBSITE: www.jonaskaufmann.com
FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/kaufmannjonas
