Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 22 [András Schiff]

Accompanied by the Cappella Andrea Barca, Hungarian-born British classical pianist and conductor András Schiff performs Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 22 in E-flat major, K. 482. Schiff also conducts the orchestra. Recorded during the 2015 Mozart Festival in Salzburg (Mozartwoche Salzburg).

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Monti: Csárdás [Alana Youssefian, Voices of Music]

Accompanied by the award-winning early music ensemble Voices of Music, the American violinist Alana Youssefian performs Csárdás by the Italian composer Vittorio Monti. Written around 1904, Monti’s piece is based on a traditional Hungarian form of folk music and became very popular, played by almost every gypsy orchestra. Recorded during Voice of Music’s 2018 December concert in San Francisco.

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Pavarotti sings Chitarra Romana at the Madison Square Garden, New York [1987]

Legendary Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti sings Chitarra Romana (which means “Roman Guitar”), a 1934 Italian folk song composed by the Italian composer Eldo Di Lazzaro (21 February 1902 – 29 November 1968) with lyrics by the Italian lyricist Bruno Cherubini (1897-1947) and Eldo Di Lazzaro. Recorded during a concert at the Madison Square Garden, New York, in 1987. New Jersey Symphony Orchestra conducted by Emerson Buckley.

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Mozart: Symphony No. 1 [Folkwang Kammerorchester, Johannes Klumpp]

Conducted by Johannes Klumpp, the Folkwang Kammerorchester Essen (a chamber orchestra historically formed mostly by students of the Folkwang University in Essen, Germany) performs Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Symphony No. 1 in E-flat major, K. 16. The symphony was written in 1764 when Mozart was only eight years old. This performance was recorded on March 15, 2014.

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Bach: Erbarme dich, mein Gott from St Matthew Passion [Tim Mead, Netherlands Bach Society]

Accompanied by the Netherlands Bach Society, the English countertenor Tim Mead performs Erbarme dich, mein Gott (English: Have mercy, my God), one of the most celebrated arias from Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Matthäus-Passion” (St. Matthew Passion), BWV 244. Conductor: Jos van Veldhoven. Violin (solo): Shunske Sato.

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The Three Tenors: Libiamo, ne’ lieti calici [From Verdi’s La Traviata]

Accompanied by the L.A. Philharmonic and the L.A. Music Center Opera Chorus, the most celebrated operatic singing trio of the late 1990s and early 2000s, The Three Tenors (Luciano Pavarotti, José Carreras, and Plácido Domingo) perform “Libiamo ne’ lieti calici” (English: “Let’s drink from the joyful cups”), a famous duet with a chorus from Giuseppe Verdi’s La Traviata, an 1853 opera in three acts. Conductor: Zubin Mehta. This performance was recorded during The Three Tenors’ legendary concert at the Los Angeles Dodger Stadium in July 1994.

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Mario Lanza sings “Drink, Drink, Drink” [From the 1954 film The Student Prince]

The legendary American tenor and Hollywood star of Italian origin, Mario Lanza sings “Drink, drink, drink”, a spirited tenor aria from the operetta “The Student Prince,” which premiered in 1924. The operetta itself, with music by Sigmund Romberg and book and lyrics by Dorothy Donnelly, is based on Wilhelm Meyer-Förster’s play “Old Heidelberg.” In this video, which is an excerpt from the 1954 American musical film directed by Richard Thorpe, also named “The Student Prince”, the English actor Edmund Purdom (19 December 1924 – 1 January 2009) is lip-synching to Mario Lanza’s recordings.

During production, original star Mario Lanza left the project before principal photography, necessitating his last-minute replacement by the lesser-known Purdom. Because of the contractual agreement between Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Lanza, songs that Lanza had recorded were dubbed over Purdom’s voice.

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Pavarotti sings Nessun Dorma during The Three Tenors concert [1994]

Accompanied by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, the legendary Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti sings Nessun Dorma, a very famous tenor aria from Giacomo Puccini’s opera Turandot. Conductor: Zubin Mehta. Recorded during The Three Tenors concert at the Los Angeles Dodger Stadium in July 1994.

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Händel: Sweet Bird [from L’Allegro] [Amanda Forsythe, Emi Ferguson & Voices of Music]

Accompanied by the award-winning Early music ensemble Voices of Music, the American light lyric soprano Amanda Forsythe and the American flautist Emi Ferguson (baroque flute) perform Georg Friedrich Händel’s “Sweet Bird”, a beautiful and well-known aria from the secular oratorio “L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato.” Recorded during the ensemble’s “As Steals the Morn” concert in March 2019. During filming, birds gathered outside the window and started singing! You can hear them in the video!

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Brownlee and Spyres sing “All’idea di quel metallo” [Rossini] from Il barbiere di Siviglia

American operatic tenor Lawrence Brownlee and the American baritenor (the opera singer who can sing both baritone and tenor arias) Michael Spyres sing “All’idea di quel metallo”, a famous duet from Gioachino Rossini’s 1816 comic opera “Il Barbiere di Siviglia” (The Barber of Seville).

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