Emotions are running high in Guiseppe Verdi's eighth opera: two men are battling to win the same woman and the Incas are fighting for their freedom in the face of oppression by the occupying Spanish forces. This cultural conflict provides an exotic backdrop for the unfolding of a captivating love-tragedy, bursting with passion and heroism.

Tenor Charles Castronovo celebrates his first Delos solo album with an all Verdi programme which showcases the composer's spellbinding use of theatrical devices. Noble Renegades offers a collection of complete scenes from operas such as Don Carlos, Luisa Miller and I Lombardi which encompass the emotional arc the protagonists experience as the story unfolds, very much epitomizing Verdi's vision of opera as a true "operatic theater". This album shows Verdi's profound influence on Charles's career, featuring roles he has performed all over the world. He is accompanied by "the singer's dream collaborator" Constantine Orbelian and his Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra. Distinguished singers Kristin Sampson, Tomas Pavilionis and Tadas Girininkas, as well as the Kaunas State Choir join in.

OPERA CHORUSES

SIMON BOCCANEGRA

AIDA

RIGOLETTO

VERDI: Ballo in Maschera (Un) (Gigli, Caniglia) (1943)

VERDI: Forza del Destino (La) (Tagliabue, Caniglia) (1941)

UN GIORNO DI REGNO

VERDI: Aida (Caniglia, Gigli) (1946)

2016 release. Following Andrea Bocelli's recent smash-hit Cinema, the top-selling international tenor returns to his first love: opera. One of the world's best-loved operas, Aida offers monumental scenes and intimate drama. Taking the lead male role of Radam�s, Bocelli is joined by the award-winning American soprano Kristin Lewis as Aida, as well as Veronica Simeoni, Giorgio Giuseppini, Ambrogio Maestri and Carlo Colombara. Zubin Mehta conducts the orchestra and choir of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino.

Recorded in November 1928, this recording of La Traviata features Mercedes Capsir, Lionello Cecil, Carlo Galeffi, and the Orchestra and Chorus of La Scala, Milan. (Naxos)

Carlo Maria Giulini/Wiener Philharmoniker - "Verdi: Rigoletto" 2-CDs + Blu-ray Audio disc (2.0 LPCM 96kHz/24 Bit) deluxe hardback edition, presenting Giulini's 1980 reading of Verdi's Rigoletto with the Vienna Philharmonic, with a cast led by Cappuccilli, Cotrubas, and Domingo. The 160-page booklet includes an essay by Franzpeter Messmer on the Italian operatic tradition. 2CD/1BRA.

Claudio Abbado/Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala Di Milano - "Verdi: MacBeth" 2-CDs + Blu-ray Audio disc (2.0 LPCM 96kHz/24 Bit) deluxe hardback edition presenting Claudio Abbado's glorious 1976 recording of Verdi's MacBeth; with both casts featuring the great Shirley Verret as Lady MacBeth. 180-page book includes essays by the Tonmeister G�nter Hermanns and Richard Osborne / Peter Coss�. 2CD/1BRA.

VERDI: DON CARLOS