Mezzo-soprano Lena Belkina’s first album garnered high praise: “She sings Desdemona’s ‘Willow Song’ from Rossini’s Otello with lyrical intensity... Nacqui all’affanno e al pianto” from La Cenerentola is sharp-witted and brilliant”, opined Das Opernglas, while WAZ (Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung) wrote: “The coloratura is splendidly placed whether she’s mobilizing Tudor fury (in Anna Bolena), questioning her heart in the Barber of Seville or letting the soul of ‘Tanti affetti’ (La donna del lago) overflow with elegant beauty.”

For her second album, “Classic Vienna”, she has recorded the most famous representatives of Viennese Classicism, Mozart (1756–1791), Haydn (1732–1809) and Gluck (1714–1787), with the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Andrea Sanguinetti. Her Mozart selections include the aria “Parto, ma tu ben mio” from La clemenza di Tito, “Il padre adorato” from Idomeneo and the concert aria “Ch'io mi scordi di te?”. She sings Gluck’s arias “Che puro ciel” from Orfeo ed Euridice and “Oh, del mio dolce ardor” from Paride ed Elena as well as Haydn’s aria “Se non piange un’ infelice” from L’isola disabitata and his Scena di Berenice. The programme is rounded off with the overtures from Mozart’s Così fan tutte, Gluck’s Armide and Haydn’s Acide e Galatea. 

ABOUT THE ARTISTS Lena Belkina grew up on the Crimean penisula and studied singing at the famous Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Kiev and at the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy College in Leipzig. At the age of 21 she became an ensemble member of the Leipzig Opera House and then of the Vienna State Opera. In the meantime, she has become an international artist, whose shimmering voice, with a touch of Slavic melancholy, inspires audiences between Vienna and Jerusalem as well as Monte Carlo and Tokyo.

The ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra is a top orchestra of world renown; the orchestra defines itself in the Vienna orchestral tradition. Cornelius Meister took over as Principal Conductor and Artistic Director in September 2010. The Vienna RSO is known for its exceptional, bold programming. By combining nineteenth century repertoire with contemporary pieces and rarely performed works of other time periods, our programming often places Romantic era classics in unexpected contexts.

Andrea Sanguineti from Liguria, studied conducting at the Vienna University of Music and the Conservatorio in Milan where, at the age of 23, became one of the youngest conductor graduates. Soon after he was appointed in Hannover and Würzburg where he worked on a large repertoire, both symphonic and operatic. A rising star, he regulary conducts in France and Italy and is guest at international festivals such as the Bejing Festival. His opera productions as Music Director of Theater Görlitz achieved such a great recognition that he was described as a genius by the German Radio.