At Radio Romania Music you will have, for the first time, the opportunity to listen to one of the latest recordings which showcase the talents of tenor Rolando Villazón - Mozart's The Abduction from the Seraglio, released by Deutsche Grammophon record label in July 2015. This new record is part of a larger project with the purpose of relaunching the Mexican artist's career; this recording was preceded by the performance of Don Giovanni, recorded in 2012 and Cosi fan tutte one year later. Also ubiquitous in this project of recording seven of Mozart's operas is Yannick Nézet-Séguin's presence at the conductor's podium of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. Villazón's next recording was a performance of The Marriage of Figaro, which took place this summer.

The cast includes Diana Damrau and Thomas Quasthoff

The cast for The Abduction, the third in this seven-opera series, includes Diana Damrau in the soprano role of Konstanze and the bass-baritone Thomas Quasthoff - who can be heard in an exclusively spoken role - Pasha Selim (in fact, the artist had decided to retire from the concert stage in 2012, following his brother's demise). Rolando Villazón is cast as Belmonte, while other roles are interpreted by collaborators of Deutsche Grammophon record label, namely Paul Schweinester - Pedrillo, Anna Prohaska - Blonde and Franz-Josef Selig - Osmin.

"I dreamed of singing Celeste Aida, but my professor assigned me works by Mozart"

In an interview published in Die Welt, Rolando Villazón recounted how he wanted to sing Verdi at the beginning of his musical studies, but he was instructed by his professor to forget his dreams, and received from him a volume of arias in which the Mexican artist came across the musical moment entitled Ich baue ganz auf Deine Stärke, sung by Mozart's character Belmonte. "I was devastated. Then I sang arias from The Shepherd King, never knowing that in 20 years I would perform this opera at Salzburg. It nearly ruined my throat at the time. But my canto professor was right to insist I should take on this repertoire, because precisely this technique was important in my evolution as a musician."

'The Abduction from the Seraglio' on the October 25^th edition of Great Opera Performances

Villazón has his first German role in The Abduction from the Seraglio, which is yet another reason you should tune in for Sunday's edition of Great Opera Performances, October 25^th, 2015, at 9 pm.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - "The Abduction from the Seraglio" with Thomas Quasthoff, Diana Damrau, Rolando Villazón, Anna Prohaska, Paul Schweinester, Franz-Josef Selig, Rastatt Vocal Ensemble, conductor: Holger Speck, The Chamber Orchestra of Europe, conductor: Yannick Nézet-Séguin.