Sicilienne
The Cast

IMELDA - Nicole Cabell
BONIFACIO - James Westman
LAMBERTO - Massimo Giordano
ORLANDO - Frank Lopardo
UBALDO - Brindley Sherratt

Geoffrey Mitchell Choir
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
CONDUCTOR - Mark Elder
BBC Music Magazine

‘… there is drama, driven forward by Donizetti's rhythmic invention and an ear for melody. This is a composer trying to break the mould. Opera Rara fields a strong cast… James Westman is a properly heroic Bonifacio… And Nicole Cabell's Imelda is pretty stylish too… Massimo Giordano is a stylish bel canto tenor.

The disc features Mark Elder in charge of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, both conductor and players on tip-top form.
There's vigour in every number and glorious clarinet solos from Antony Pay. Opera Rara is, as ever, to be congratulated for its faith in Donizetti as a maker of music dramas and for rescuing this fine work from the operatic doldrums.’
The Guardian

‘This recording was made in tandem with Opera Rara's revival in London last year. Its strengths lie in powerhouse performances from James Westman as Bonifacio and Massimo Giordano as Imelda's appalling brother Lamberto...
Mark Elder's conducting is wonderfully insistent, while the dark, period sound of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment adds immeasurably to the oppressive atmosphere of it all.’