Spotify celebrates Maria Callas' 100th birthday with new Spotify Singles

Today, December 1 – In celebration of Maria Callas' 100th birthday on December 2, Spotify released a pair of brand-new Spotify Singles honoring Callas' renowned career and legacy in partnership with her official label, Warner Classics. The singles will feature GRAMMY-nominated opera singer Lawrence Brownlee, star cellist Gautier Capuçon, and pianist Anastasia Rizikov paying tribute to Callas on her centenary by bringing new life to two songs from her legendary catalog: "O mio babbino caro" and "Libiamo, ne' lieti calici". 

“Libiamo, ne’ lieti calici”, the famous Brindisi from La Traviata by Giuseppe Verdi, is an innovative duet that pairs Callas’ voice with Brownlee’s. The past and present unite with Callas’ original, emotive vocals at the front-and-center, while the signature tenor role features a newly imagined interpretation by Lawrence Brownlee. “O mio babbino caro” is a captivating instrumental cover by Gautier Capuçon and Anastasia Rizikov of the aria from Giacomo Puccini’s opera Gianni Schicchi, famously performed by Callas. 

Says Lawrence:
"The great Maria Callas has always been someone I've admired for her contributions to classical music, specifically the Bel Canto genre. Someone who is about expressivity, artistry, always wanting to be in great detail with everything that she puts out. I've learned so much from her and she has shaped so much of what we understand are the traditions of Bel Canto practice, performance practice, and so listening to her is truly like a master class. You're always learning, you're always understanding and appreciating the details she gave to the music, to the text. The text was equal to the music and expressivity was always at the forefront. I have the greatest deal of respect for the great Maria Callas and all she contributed to our wonderful art form and I am honored to be part of this project."

Says Gautier:
“The voice of Maria Callas is still very much alive and continues to move us today. I'm delighted to play “O mio babbino caro”, an aria she loved so much, to celebrate her centenary and her memory.”

Says Anastasia:

“Having grown up with Maria Callas’ recordings, her phrasing, her rubati, and her distinctive personality strongly impacted my personal view on music. As a pianist, my most important goal is to make our percussive instrument sing, and there is no finer example of a perfect melodic line than that of Maria Callas, so I’m grateful to have her as an inspiration in my formative years.”

Driving more than seven billion streams since the program began in 2017, Spotify Singles was created to give artists an opportunity to record new versions of their own songs, the songs of the artists they love, or an original song. To date, there have been over 700 recordings from more than 300 artists across all genres. The complete list of Spotify Singles can be found HERE.

About Maria Callas

Maria Callas was born to a Greek family in New York in 1923. Her vocal training took place in Athens, where her teacher was the coloratura soprano Elvira de Hidalgo, who had sung with Enrico Caruso and Feodor Chaliapin. After early performances in Greece, Callas’s international career was launched in 1947 when she performed the title role in Ponchielli’s La Gioconda at the Arena di Verona in Italy. 

Her voice defied simple classification and her artistic range was extraordinary. In her early twenties, she sang such heavy dramatic roles as Gioconda, Turandot, Brünnhilde and Isolde, but over the course of her career, her most famous roles came to be: Bellini’s Norma and Amina (La sonnambula); Verdi’s Violetta (La traviata); Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor and Anna Bolena, Cherubini’s Medea and Puccini’s Tosca. Though her timbre was not always conventionally beautiful, Callas’s musicianship and phrasing were in a class of their own. She brought characters to vivid life with her skill in coloring her tone and making insightful use of the text. She is credited with changing the history of opera: by placing a perhaps unprecedented emphasis on musical integrity and dramatic truth, and by transforming perceptions – and reviving the fortunes – of the bel canto repertoire, particularly Bellini and Donizetti. 

The 1950s marked the height of Callas’s career. Its base lay in the opera houses of Italy, and she became the prima donna assoluta of Milan’s legendary La Scala – notably in the productions of Luchino Visconti – but her operatic appearances also encompassed London’s Royal Opera House, the New York Metropolitan Opera, Paris Opéra, the Vienna State Opera, and the opera houses of Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Lisbon, and, in the early 1950s, Mexico City, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. 

From 1959, when she started a life-changing love affair with the Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, her performing career slowed down and her voice became more fragile. Her final stage performances came in 1965, when she was only 42. There were many plans for a return to the stage – and for further complete recordings – but they never reached fruition, though in 1974 she gave a series of concerts in Europe, North America and Japan with the tenor Giuseppe Di Stefano; he had partnered her frequently in the opera house and in the studio, not least in the 1953 La Scala Tosca under Victor de Sabata, considered a landmark in recording history. Callas died alone in her Paris apartment in September 1977.

About Lawrence Brownlee
Lawrence Brownlee is a leading figure in opera, both as a singer on the world's top stages, and as a voice for activism and diversity in the industry. He has been hailed as “an international star in the bel canto operatic repertory” (The New York Times), “one of the world’s leading bel canto stars” (The Guardian), and “one of the most in-demand opera singers in the world today” (NPR).

Brownlee’s 23-24 season includes Opera Rara’s Donizetti Song Project, where he joined pianist Carlos Rizzi at Wigmore Hall for a recital and recording of Donizetti's rarely-performed repertoire, in addition to a gala concert at the 2023 George Enescu International Festival and duo recital with Levy Sekgapane at Grand Théâtre Genève. Brownlee also travels to Wiener Staatsoper to perform as Count Almaviva in Il Barbiere di Siviglia ahead of his role as Tonio in the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s La Fille Du Regiment in November. In December, Brownlee joins the Wiener Konzerthaus for their 2023 Christmas in Vienna Gala before reuniting with Michael Spyres for the Game of Tenors - concert in Bratislava. Brownlee kicks off 2024 with recital engagements at the Dallas Opera and the La Jolla Music Society, before bringing his acclaimed Rising program to San Francisco Performances in February 2024 and the Concertgebouw in June 2024. Brownlee will also return to Teatro alla Scala as Ernesto in Don Pasquale before ending his season as Don Ramiro in Rossini’s La Cenerentola at the Bayerische Staatsoper.

About Gautier Capuçon
Gautier Capuçon is a true 21st century ambassador for the cello. Performing internationally with many of the world's foremost conductors and instrumentalists, he is also deeply committed to education and support for young musicians from every background. In summer 2020 Capuçon brought music directly into the lives of families across the length and breadth of France during his musical odyssey 'Un été en France'. The fifth edition of the project, featuring young musicians and dancers, takes place in July 2024. In January 2022 Gautier Capuçon launched his own Foundation to support young and talented musicians at the beginning of their career. Capuçon is also a passionate ambassador for the Orchestre à l'École Association which brings classical music to more than 42,000 school children across France. A multiple award winner, Capuçon is acclaimed for his expressive musicianship, exuberant virtuosity, and for the deep sonority of his 1701 Matteo Goffriller cello 'L'Ambassadeur'. He performs with world leading orchestras each season, working with conductors such as Semyon Bychkov, Gustavo Dudamel, Charles Dutoit, Christoph Eschenbach, Andrès Orozco-Estrada, Pablo Heras-Casado, Paavo Jarvi, Klaus Mäkelä, Andris Nelsons, and Christian Thielemann. Collaborations with contemporary composers include Lera Auerbach, Karol Beffa, Esteban Benzecry, Nicola Campogrande, Qigang Chen, Guillaume Connesson, Bryce Dessner, Richard Dubugnon, Henry Dutilleux, Danny Elfman, Thierry Escaich, Philippe Manoury, Bruno Mantovani, Krzysztof Penderecki, Wolfgang Rihm and Jörg Widmann.

About Anastasia Rizikov
Canadian-Ukrainian pianist Anastasia Rizikov made history when- at age sixteen- she won the Jaén Competition in Spain, becoming the youngest winner in the competition’s 57-year history. "In Jaén we discovered a young, exceptional pianist. Some jurors speak of her as the new Martha Argerich, no less” (RITMO Magazine). From then onwards, she won half a dozen more adult competitions before turning eighteen. 

Now 24, the young artist mainly focuses on raising money for victims of the ongoing war in Ukraine, as well as “demonstrating Ukraine’s rich culture and heritage”. Over the past year, Ms. Rizikov raised 30,000 euros by giving benefit recitals of all-Ukrainian repertoire internationally, and plans to continue in the near future. 

Since her orchestral debut at age seven with the Kyiv Philharmonic under the direction of Mykola Diadyura, Anastasia has played on countless occasions with internationally recognized orchestras, accumulating a repertoire list of over 20 concerti. She has performed at the Verbier Festival, Chopin and His Europe Festival, and Festival Chopin Nohant. At sixteen, Ms. Rizikov released her first CD with NAXOS Records. 

In June 2022, she became a laureate of both the Fondation Banque Populaire and Fondation Gautier Capuçon. This year, Anastasia and cellist Lisa Strauss co-founded the ensemble Shum, a piano-cello duo focusing primarily on Eastern-European repertoire, with concerts beginning in spring 2023. 

Now based in France, Anastasia is working towards her Master’s degree at the Paris Conservatory under the tutelage of Frank Braley

About Warner Classics
Based in Paris, Warner Classics and its sister label Erato together comprise one of the world’s leading global classical music recording companies, with an artist roster covering all genres of classical music. It is home to the fabulous classical music catalogs from EMI Classics, Virgin Classics, Teldec and Erato, featuring many iconic albums which have made history in the world of the record industry.

The company boasts an unrivaled catalog of legendary artists – Maria Callas, Herbert von Karajan, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Yehudi Menuhin, Mstislav Rostropovich, Maurice André, Jacqueline du Pré, Otto Klemperer, Samson François – and of international superstars such as Itzhak Perlman, Daniel Barenboim, Nigel Kennedy, Hélène Grimaud, and Natalie Dessay, amongst many others.

Today, the labels exclusively record acclaimed artists such as Sir Antonio Pappano, Piotr Anderszewski, Gautier Capuçon, Alison Balsom, Joyce DiDonato, Philippe Jaroussky, Bertrand Chamayou, Alexandre Tharaud, the Quatuor Ébène, Beatrice Rana, Elisabeth Leonskaja, Emmanuel Pahud, Vilde Frang and Augustin Hadelich. They nurture upcoming classical talents such as Jakub Józef Orlinski, Fatma Said, Marianne Crebassa, Lea Desandre, Sabine Devieilhe, Lucienne Renaudin Vary, Jean Rondeau, Yoav Levanon and Abel Selaocoe. Pushing genre boundaries, the labels explore new horizons with modern classical artists such as RIOPY, Matteo Myderwyk and Carlos Cipa.