The prolific and versatile Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti, one of the central figures of Italian bel canto opera, also wrote around 200 solo songs. Most of them are rarely performed and some, until recently, were completely unknown.
These recordings by Michael Spyres (Oper! 2024 Artist of the Year) and Marie-Nicole Lemieux (winner of the Lied Prize at the Queen Elisabeth Competition) mark the third volume of the complete solo songs in a series of eight recital albums. The project makes a powerful case for Donizetti as a key figure in the 19th-century song repertoire, and for the importance of the Italian school in a field long-dominated by German and French composers.