The greatest living interpreter of Verdi’s music, lauded by critics and audiences all over the world, Maestro Riccardo Muti celebrates his 75^th birthday today 28 July, 2016. Warner Classics marks the occasion with The Verdi Collection, a 28-CD + DVD boxed set bringing together for the first time Muti’s milestone recordings of 11 complete operas, the Requiem and the Four Sacred Pieces.

His extraordinary Verdi legacy is also explored in detail in the boxed set’s DVD documentary Riccardo Muti conducts Giuseppe Verdi, in which Maestro Muti himself takes viewers behind the scenes in rehearsals and on to thrilling concert performances, on his personal journey through the passion and drama expressed in music by the Italian greatest opera composer.

Drawn from the EMI catalogues (now part of Warner Classics) and spanning more than 20 years of collaboration between Muti and the label, each recording in The Verdi Collection is a benchmark interpretation, featuring opera legends Luciano Pavarotti, Plácido Domingo, José Carreras, Mirella Freni, Montserrat Caballé and Renata Scotto at the height of their powers.

Riccardo Muti: The Verdi Collection is out now.

The greatest living interpreter of Verdi’s music, lauded by critics and audiences all over the world, Maestro Riccardo Muti celebrates his 75^th birthday on 28 July, 2016. Warner Classics marks the occasion with The Verdi Collection, a 28-CD + DVD boxed set bringing together for the first time Muti’s milestone recordings of 11 complete operas, the Requiem and the Four Sacred Pieces.

His extraordinary Verdi legacy is also explored in detail in the boxed set’s DVD documentary Riccardo Muti conducts Giuseppe Verdi, in which Maestro Muti himself takes viewers behind the scenes in rehearsals and on to thrilling concert performances, on his personal journey through the passion and drama expressed in music by the Italian greatest opera composer.

Drawn from the EMI catalogues (now part of Warner Classics) and spanning more than 20 years of collaboration between Muti and the label, each recording in The Verdi Collection is a benchmark interpretation, featuring opera legends Luciano Pavarotti, Plácido Domingo, José Carreras, Mirella Freni, Montserrat Caballé and Renata Scotto at the height of their powers.

No composer is closer than Verdi to Muti’s heart, and the conductor’s dedication and integrity have led The New York Times to declare him “the king of Verdi conductors…For more than 40 years; the one who most makes you feel you are hearing the composer’s operas for the very first time”.

Riccardo Muti will spend his 75^th birthday, 28 July 2016, working with young conductors, répétiteurs and singers at the second edition of the Riccardo Muti Italian Opera Academy, which he founded last year in Ravenna.

The Verdi Collection

CD

1-2         NABUCCO Manuguerra • Scotto • Ghiaurov • Luchetti • Obraztsova

3-4         ERNANI Domingo • Freni • Bruson • Ghiaurov

5-6         ATTILA Ramey • Studer • Shicoff • Zancanaro

7-8         MACBETH Milnes • Cossotto • Carreras • Raimondi

9-10       RIGOLETTO Zancanaro • Dessì • La Scola • Burchuladze • Senn

11-12     LA TRAVIATA Scotto • Kraus • Bruson

13-15     I VESPRI SICILIANI Studer • Merritt • Zancanaro • Furlanetto

16-17     UN BALLO IN MASCHERA Domingo • Arroyo • Cappuccilli • Cossotto • Grist

18-20     LA FORZA DEL DESTINO Domingo • Freni • Zancanaro • Plishka • Bruscantini

21-23     DON CARLO Pavarotti • Dessì • Ramey • Coni • D’Intino • Anisimov

24-26     AIDA Caballé • Domingo • Cossotto • Cappuccilli • Ghiaurov

27-28     MESSA DA REQUIEM Scotto • Baltsa • Luchetti • Nesterenko

28           QUATTRO PEZZI SACRI Augér

DVD       RICCARDO MUTI CONDUCTS GIUSEPPE VERDI (film documentary)

Coming soon: The Verdi Collection, 28CD+DVD box of legendary recordings with a special documentary film. More information: www.riccardomutimusic.com

Ring in 2015 in sparkling style with the Vienna Philharmonic's Best of New Year's Concerts, available now.

Every year a different conductor is given the privilege to wave his baton in Vienna’s New Year’s Concert in the famous Musikverein, conjuring up a champagne mood with the Vienna Philharmonic. Two of the most famous maestri to be invited to the podium have been Riccardo Muti and Nikolaus Harnoncourt, both of whom left unique marks on the history of the concert. This release gathers together their unforgettable appearances in 1997, 2000 and 2001 – with a Viennese lilt to keep you dancing into 2015.