Opera nominations

Handel Acis and Galatea Soloists; Early Opera Company/ Christian Curnyn Chandos CHSA 0404(2) (hybrid CD/SACD) Reviewed August 2018

An enraptured couple, a lovelorn monster and a happy ending – of sorts! Handel’s beguiling bitesized serenata never fails, and in Christian Curnyn’s infectiously zippy reading it’s an irresistible triumph. His Early Opera Company is on sparkling form, and soprano Lucy Crowe and tenor Allan Clayton shine as the eponymous twosome.

John Adams Doctor Atomic Soloists; BBC Singers; BBC Symphony Orchestra/john Adams Nonesuch 7559793107 Reviewed August 2018

This disc impressed the jury for both the musicality of the performance and the high quality of the sound engineering: it is the first studio recording of John Adams’s 2005 opera Doctor Atomic and you won’t want to miss it. Adams, conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra and BBC Singers, coaxes colour and emotion as the score builds to its painful conclusion.

Rossini Semiramide Soloists; Opera Rara Chorus, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment/sir Mark Elder Opera Rara 9293800572 Reviewed December 2018

This benchmark recording presents the complete, four-hour Semiramide – Rossini’s longest opera and the last he wrote in Italy – with epic dramatic sweep, clean-limbed period-instrument flair and thrilling bel canto from an exceptional cast. Attention to expressive detail is astonishing under Sir Mark Elder, and the ensemble sublime.