Gounod: La Colombe Erin Morley, Javier Camarena, Michèle Losier, Laurent Naouri, Hallé Orchestra & Sir Mark Elder

• Charles Gounod (1818 - 1893): La Colombe, Act 1:
• 1 Gounod: La Colombe, Act 1: Introduzione 03:40
• 2 Gounod: La Colombe, Act 1: "Sylvie, Sylvie! Venez-la ma mignonne!" (Mazet) 02:52
• 3 Gounod: La Colombe, Act 1: "Voila qui est fait" (Mazet) 03:50
• 4 Gounod: La Colombe, Act 1: "Qu'il garde son argent!" (Mazet, Horace, Maître Jean) 05:50
• 5 Gounod: La Colombe, Act 1: "Voyons, seigneur, ecoutez un momentLa raison" (Mazet, Horace, Maître Jean) 00:31
• 6 Gounod: La Colombe, Act 1: "Les amoureux" (Maître Jean) 03:17
• 7 Gounod: La Colombe, Act 1: "Allons retrouver madameLa comtesse" (Maître Jean) 02:10
• 8 Gounod: La Colombe, Act 1: "Je veux interroger ce jeune homme" (Sylvie, Mazet) 05:59
• 9 Gounod: La Colombe, Act 1: "Ah! Les femmes! Les femmes" (Sylvie, Mazet) 02:51
• 10 Gounod: La Colombe, Act 1: "Et ton maitre partage" (Sylvie, Mazet) 01:05
• 11 Gounod: La Colombe, Act 1: "O vision enchanteresse!" (Sylvie, Mazet, Horace) 03:32
• 12 Gounod: La Colombe, Act 1: "Bref, cher seigneur, je suis tout a fait ravie" (Sylvie, Mazet, Horace) 01:02
• 13 Gounod: La Colombe, Act 1: "O douce joie! Sylvie, Mazet, Horace, Maître Jean" 04:00
• La Colombe, Act 2:
• 14 Gounod: La Colombe, Act 2: Entr'acte 02:45
• 15 Gounod: La Colombe, Act 2: "Le grand art de cuisine" (Maître Jean) 04:02
• 16 Gounod: La Colombe, Act 2: "Les fournisseurs refusent" (Maître Jean) 01:19
• 17 Gounod: La Colombe, Act 2: "Il faut d'abord dresserLa table!" (Mazet, Horace) 09:29
• 18 Gounod: La Colombe, Act 2: "Me voila retombee dans une etrange reverie!" (Sylvie) 01:24
• 19 Gounod: La Colombe, Act 2: "Que de reves charmants emportes sans retour!" (Sylvie) 03:24
• 20 Gounod: La Colombe, Act 2: "Je vous cherche depuis une heure" (Sylvie) 01:21
• 21 Gounod: La Colombe, Act 2: "Ces attraits que chacun admire" (Horace) 02:30
• 22 Gounod: La Colombe, Act 2: "La deesse aujourd'hui se nomme Amynte" (Horace) 01:06
• 23 Gounod: La Colombe, Act 2: "Mais non, quand nous aurons dine" (Horace) 03:16
• 24 Gounod: La Colombe, Act 2: "Helas, seigneur, pardonnez-moi" (Horace) 05:43
• 25 Gounod: La Colombe, Act 2: "Apaisez, blanche colombe" (Sylvie, Mazet, Horace, Maître Jean) 02:45
• Total Runtime 01:19:43

Info for Gounod: La Colombe

Following his award-winning recording of Donizetii's Les Martyrs, Opera Rara's Music Director Sir Mark Elder turns his attention to another forgotten masterpiece of 19th century French opera, Gounod's delightful two act opera La Colombe. He is joined by a superb cast led to two of the most talked about and rapidly rising stars stars of the opera world, American soprano Erin Morley and Mexican tenor Javier Camarena. They are accompanied by Canadian mezzo-soprano Michele Losier, French baritone Laurent Naouri. Plus one dove, and one parrot.

Following his award-winning recording of Donizetti's Les Martyrs, Sir Mark Elder's second Opera Rara release of 2015 features a rare recording - Gounod's delightful opera La Colombe ("The Dove"). Sir Mark and the Hallé are joined by a wonderful cast, led by two of the most acclaimed young singers in the world today - Erin Morley and Javier Camarena along with the established French baritone Laurent Naouri and mezzo Michèle Losier.

"One hero of this admirable Opera Rara release is Mark Elder, utterly committed to Gounod's score and coaxing elegant music-making from the Hallé. There's also some properly idiomatic singing, as you'd expect from a veteran like Laurent Naouri…best of all is the young Mexican tenor Javier Camarena as Horace." (BBC Music Magazine)

"Javier Camarena has made a mark principally in Italian bel canto roles but as Horace deals ably with Gounod’s lyrical demands, although the voice can turn metallic. Erin Morley offers a splendid portrayal of the capricious Sylvie which appealingly balances the countess’s assertive moments, including a brilliant waltz (a genre in which Miolan-Carvalho specialized), with some lovely expressive singing. All unfolds smoothly under Mark Elder’s affectionate leadership." (Opera)

"La Colombe is clearly not a profound work, but it is well filled with the kind of ingratiating tunes that Gounod could turn out so effectively. Elder’s performance has just the right light touch too, always keeping its tongue ever so slightly in its cheek...Modest though it is, a rarity like this couldn’t be served much better by a recording." (The Guardian)

Erin Morley, soprano (Sylvie)
Javier Camarena, tenor (Horace)
Michèle Losier, mezzo (Mazet)
Laurent Naouri, bass-baritone (Maître Jean)
Hallé Orchestra
Sir Mark Elder, conductor

Erin Morley
is one of today’s most sought after coloratura sopranos. She has stepped into the international spotlight in recent years with a string of critically acclaimed appearances in the great opera houses of the world. Ms. Morley has brought what the NEW YORK TIMES has called the “silken clarity of her voice and the needlepoint precision of her coloratura” to the METROPOLITAN OPERA, the WIENER STAATSOPER, BAYERISCHE STAATSOPER, OPÉRA NATIONAL DE PARIS, GLYNDEBOURNE FESTIVAL OPERA, SANTA FE OPERA, LA OPERA, OPÉRA DE LILLE, OPÉRA NATIONAL DE LORRAINE, and PALAU DE LES ARTS in Valencia. Renowned for her musicality and deft phrasing, she has performed with some of the world’s premiere symphony orchestras, including the CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA, CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA, BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC, LA PHILHARMONIC, DEUTSCHES SYMPHONIE-ORCHESTER BERLIN, and ROTTERDAM PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA.

This season, Ms. Morley sings Tytania in a new production of Britten’s A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM at the WIENER STAATSOPER, followed by a return to the BAYERISCHE STAATSOPER as Gilda in Verdi’s RIGOLETTO. Ms. Morley then sings Zerbinetta in Strauss’s ARIADNE AUF NAXOS with the BAYERISCHE STAATSOPER on tour at the HONG KONG ARTS FESTIVAL, followed by a return to the MET OPERA in a role debut as Sophie in Massenet’s WERTHER. To finish the season, she will make a debut with the ROYAL CONCERTGEBOUW ORCHESTRA in Amsterdam, followed by a house debut with SEMPEROPER DRESDEN in the role of Gilda.

A graduate of the Metropolitan Opera’s LINDEMANN YOUNG ARTIST DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM, Ms. Morley has now sung more than 100 performances at the METROPOLITAN OPERA and has been featured in five LIVE IN HD broadcasts. She was hailed by critics as “a major success” when she stepped in last-minute to sing Sophie in an entire run of DER ROSENKAVALIER in the 2013-2014 season. Met audiences have also seen Ms. Morley as Sophie in Robert Carsen’s new production of DER ROSENKAVALIER, as Olympia (LES CONTES D’HOFFMANN), as Constance (LES DIALOGUES DES CARMÉLITES), and as Pamina (THE MAGIC FLUTE), among others.

Equally at home on the concert stage, Ms. Morley has appeared on tour with Harry Bicket and THE ENGLISH CONCERT, Louis Langrée and the MOSTLY MOZART FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA, with the CHAMBER MUSIC SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER, and with the MET CHAMBER ENSEMBLE in Carnegie’s ZANKEL HALL. Ms. Morley has also appeared in recital with pianist Vlad Iftinca (Salt Lake City’s VIRTUOSO SERIES, Carnegie’s WEILL HALL, and FESTIVAL DU LIED in Fribourg, Switzerland), and with pianist Ken Noda (at the PHILADELPHIA CHAMBER MUSIC SOCIETY, BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY, and in the ALICE TULLY HALL VOCAL ARTS HONORS RECITAL).

In commercial recording, Ms. Morley can be seen as Sophie in the Met’s GRAMMY NOMINATED DER ROSENKAVALIER on DVD/Blu-Ray for the DECCA label; as Sandrina (LA FINTA GIARDINIERA) with conductor Emmanuelle Haïm in Opéra de Lille’s production for the ERATO label; as Woglinde (GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG) with conductor Fabio Luisi in the Metropolitan Opera’s GRAMMY AWARD WINNING Lepage Ring Cycle for DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON; and can be heard as Marguerite de Valois (LES HUGUENOTS, live from Bard SummerScape) for the AMERICAN SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA; in Carl Nielsen’s SYMPHONY NO. 3 “ESPANSIVA” with Alan Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic DA CAPO RECORDS; as Sylvie in Gounod’s opéra-comique LA COLOMBE with Sir Mark Elder and The Hallé Orchestra for the OPERA RARA label, and as the Mater Gloriosa (MAHLER’S 8TH SYMPHONY) with Gustavo Dudamel and the LA PHILHARMONIC for the DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON label (soon to be released).

Javier Camarena
Mexican tenor Javier Camarena is the preeminent Mozart and bel canto specialist of his generation. Praised for his burnished tone, gleaming high notes, flawless coloratura, and veracious portrayals, he regularly appears in leading roles alongside today’s foremost stars at the world’s top opera houses, and was the face of Opera News’s 80th anniversary edition this past January. Last season, as Ernesto in Donizetti’s Don Pasquale, he became only the second singer in Metropolitan Opera history to perform encores in multiple productions at the house, after the audience demanded a repeat of his aria “E se fia che ad altro oggetto.” This followed his triumph in 2014, when he joined the ranks of Luciano Pavarotti and Juan Diego Flórez to become only the third singer in 70 years to give an encore on the New York stage, having stopped the house in consecutive performances of Prince Ramiro’s aria “Si ritrovarla io guiro” in Rossini’s La Cenerentola. Camarena went on to repeat the same feat in La fille du régiment at Madrid’s Teatro Real, marking only the second time that a singer had given an encore there since its reopening.

Javier Camarena starts off his 2018-19 Season at the Gran Teatro del Liceu as Arturo Talbo in I puritani before returning to the New York Metropolitan Opera for Les pêcheurs de perles – which he also sings in Bilbao later that season – and La fille du regiment. At the Opéra National de Paris he will be singing Ernesto (Don Pasquale) and star at the Bavarian State Opera in Lucia di Lammermoor, having been highly acclaimed after his role debut at Teatro Real in June 2018. He ends the season at the Royal Opera House with La fille du regiment.

Camarena continues his run of recitals with Ángel Rodríguez in great houses such as the Zurich Opera House or the Dallas Opera and will be seen on the concert stage in major cities in Spain and Mexico, as well as in New York and Paris.

In 2017-18 Javier Camarena sang his debut at the LA Opera as Nadir in Bizet’s Les pêcheurs de perles, followed by his role debut as Fernando (La Favorite) and as Edgardo (Lucia di Lammermoor) at Madrid’s Teatro Real. He then returned to the Metropolitan Opera for his role debut as Idreno in Rossini’s Semiramide. 2016-17 also brought a number of key firsts: Camarena launched the season with his house debut at London’s Royal Opera House, singing Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia, before reprising the Rossini role at the MET and Zurich Opera. At Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu, he gave his first performances as the Duke of Mantua in Verdi’s Rigoletto. He made his house debut at Spain’s Opera Bilbao as Don Ramiro, and made further house role debuts as Lord Arturo Talbo in Bellini’s I puritani at the MET and in Andreas Homoki’s production for the Zurich Opera. While in Zurich, he gave his recital debut on the house’s main stage, where recital partner Ángel Rodríguez joined him for a pairing of Donizetti and Rossini arias with Mexican song.

Past seasons saw his homecoming at Mexico City’s Palacio de Bellas Artes, for his role debut as Talbo in a new production of I puritani, he made headlines, selling out all five performances. At the Zurich Opera, he gave his first performances as the Conte di Libenskof in a new staging of Rossini’s Il viaggio a Reims, and reprised both his star turn as Ernesto and his portrayal of Fenton in the company’s season-opening production of Verdi’s Falstaff. He sang Almaviva and returned to the Bavarian State Opera and Vienna State Opera, where his appearance in a new treatment of Il barbiere di Siviglia streamed live to audiences around the world. With a program of Beethoven, Liszt and Tosti, he made recital debuts at Chicago’s Harris Theater and Washington’s Kennedy Center in company with Ángel Rodríguez, who also joined him for the prestigious Rosenblatt Recital Series at London’s Wigmore Hall.

It was at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City that Camarena made his professional debut, as Tonio in a 2004 staging of La fille du régiment, and he has since returned to the house for three further productions. In 2007, he joined the ensemble of the Zurich Opera, where he has appeared in a full 15 productions to date. Four years later, he made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera as Rossini’s Almaviva, which is one of the signature roles for which he is best known; others include the same composer’s Don Ramiro and Comte Ory; Mozart’s Belmonte and Ferrando; Donizetti’s Nemorino and Arturo; Verdi’s Fenton; and Bellini’s Elvino. Equally celebrated for appearances at San Francisco Opera, Paris Opera, Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu, Dresden’s Semperoper, and the Vienna and Bavarian State Operas, the tenor has collaborated with such eminent conductors as Claudio Abbado, Marco Armiliato, Maurizio Benini, Bruno Campanella, Giuseppe Finzi, Daniele Gatti, Fabio Luisi, Zubin Mehta, Evelino Pidò, and Franz Welser-Möst.

Camarena’s discography includes three solo titles for Sony: Recitales (2014), a live recording of arias by Rossini, Scarlatti, and Donizetti with songs by Mexico’s Agustín Lara, María Grever, and others; Serenata (2015), a collection of songs by Lara and his compatriots; and a Latin pop album titled Javier Camarena Canta a Cri Cri (2016). He appears on numerous operatic DVD/Blu-ray releases, captured live at Europe’s leading opera houses. Filmed at the Zurich Opera are Mozart’s Così fan tutte (EuroArts, 2010), Verdi’s Falstaff (C Major, Unitel Classica, 2012), and, with Cecilia Bartoli, Rossini’s Le Comte Ory (Decca, 2014) and Otello (Decca, 2014). Captured at the Salzburg Festival are Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail (ArtHaus Musik, 2014) and Verdi’s Falstaff, with Zubin Mehta leading the Vienna Philharmonic (EuroArts, 2014), and from Opéra Bastille comes Bellini’s La somnambula, starring Natalie Dessay (France Télévisions, 2010). The tenor may also be heard on live concert recordings of Gounod’s La Colombe, with Mark Elder conducting the Hallé (Opera Rara, 2015) and of Schubert and Mozart masses under Claudio Abbado’s leadership at the Salzburg Festival (Accentus, 2013).

Born in Xalapa in Mexico’s State of Veracruz, Javier Camarena studied with mezzo-soprano Cecilia Perfecto at the Universidad Veracruzana before completing his musical studies with honors under Hugo Barreiro and Maria Eugenia Sutti at the University of Guanajuato. In 2004, he took first prize in Mexico’s Carlo Morelli National Singing Competition, and the following year he won the Juan Oncinas Award at Barcelona’s Francisco Viñas Competition, after which he was invited to join Zurich’s International Opera Studio under the mentorship of fellow tenor Francisco Araiza. From 2013 to 2016, Lideres Mexicanos included Camarena in their list of Mexico’s most prominent leaders, and in the 2014-15 season, Quién magazine named him as one of 50 leaders transforming the nation. Married with children, he lives in Zurich, where his hobbies include cooking, movie-going, video-gaming, and sightseeing.

Michèle Losier
Critically acclaimed mezzo-soprano Michèle Losier has distinguished herself on the most prestigious stages of the world, including the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Metropolitan Opera, Paris Opera, Teatro Real in Madrid, Vienna State Opera, Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam and Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona. In the 2018/19 season, she debuts at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan singing her first Idamante in Idomeneo, debuts as Ascagne in Les Troyens at the Paris Opera, and makes her role and house debut as Giovanna Seymour in Anna Bolena at the Opéra National de Bordeaux. On the concert platform, Losier sings Chausson’s Poéme de l’amour et de la mer with the Toledo Symphony, appears with the Orchestre Metropolitain in Bluebeard’s Castle under Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Philadelphia Orchestra singing Mozart’s Requiem, and performs recitals in Montreal and Brussels.

Next season, the mezzo will make her debut at the Staatsoper Berlin as Octavian in the new production of Der Rosenkavalier, conducted by Zubin Mehta. She will also make her role and house debut as the title role in Carmen at the Royal Danish Opera in Copenhagen, appear for the first time debut at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich as Nicklausse in Les contes d’Hoffman, and return to the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels as Octavian and Nicklausse.

In the 2017/18 season, Losier made both her role and house debut as Angelina in La Cenerentola at the Opéra de Lyon. She also sang Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Orchestre Métropolitain in Montreal and returned to the Paris Opera as Dorabella in Cosi fan tutte, Ascanio in Benvenuto Cellini, and her first Conception in L’Heure Espagnole. In the 2016/17 season, Losier debuted at the Glyndebourne Festival, singing her first performances of Annio in La Clemenza di Tito. She also debuted at the Paris Opera as Dorabella, sang Marguerite in a concert version of La Damnation de Faust with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, and appeared in concert performances of L’enfant et les sortileges with the Seattle Symphony.

In the 2015/16 season, Losier sang Mercedes in Carmen at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Béatrice in Berlioz’s Béatrice et Bénédict at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels, and Roméo et Juliette at the Barbican with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Sir Andrew Davis. She also appeared in Montreal to sing Brahms in concert at Bourgie Hall and Ravel’s Shéhérazade with the Montreal Metropolitan Orchestra. In the summer of 2015, Michèle took part in the Classical Spree Festival with the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, where she sang the title role in Carmen under the baton of Kent Nagano. She also performed in the Festival d’Opéra de Québec with the Violons du Roy and in the Festival International de Lanaudière, where she sang in Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with Maestro Nagano and in Schumann’s Der Rose Pilgerfahrt with Jean-Marie Zeitouni.

Highlights from recent seasons include Siebel in Faust at Covent Garden and the Metropolitan Opera, Ascanio in Benvenuto Cellini at the Dutch National Opera, the title role in Medea at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées and Lille Opera, Prince Charmant in Cendrillon at the Gran Teatre del Liceu and Opéra-Comique, Nicklausse and the Muse in Les Contes d’Hoffmann in Barcelona and in concert at Salle Pleyel in Paris, Phoebe in Castor et Pollux at the Théâtre des champs-Élysées and Opéra-Comique, Sesto in La Clemenza di Tito at the Vienna State Opera and Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, and Dorabella in Cosi fan tutte at Covent Garden, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, and the Salzburg Festival. Losier has also sung Charlotte in Werther with Opera Australia and Opéra de Montréal, Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro at the San Francisco Opera and Washington National Opera, and Ruggiero in Handel’s Alcina in concert with Marc Minkowski and Les Musiciens du Louvre.

An alumna of McGill University, Michèle Losier was also a member of the San Francisco Opera’s Merola Program, the Opéra de Montréal’s Atelier Lyrique and the Juilliard Opera Center in New York. Her achievement at the Metropolitan Opera Auditions in 2005 led to her house debut in 2007 as Diane in Iphigénie en Tauride under the baton of Louis Langrée. Her success at the Queen Elisabeth of Belgium International Competition in 2008 won her a recital tour of Europe and a recording of the Chansons of Henri Duparc with pianist Daniel Blumenthal, released in April of 2009 on the Fuga Libera label.

Booklet for Gounod: La Colombe