Cello at the Opera | Sally Maer On ABC Classics

Cellist Sally Maer has released a new album on ABC Classics Cello at the Opera giving a fresh take to operatic classics on the instrument said to be closest to the human voice.

Popularly dubbed the ‘Cello Diva’, Maer performs some of opera’s best known arias for soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor and bass on the cello with symphony orchestra backing. From triumph to tragedy, passion and heartbreak, Sally makes her cello do the singing with music by Verdi, Puccini, Mozart, Handel, Faure and many others.

Arias on this album include the seductive Seguidilla from Bizet’s Carmen and the wistful Un bel di, from Puccini’s Madame Butterfly, Dido’s Lament from Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas and the Song to the Moon from Dvorak’s Rusalka. There are duets too from Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers and Monteverdi’s Pur ti miro from the Coronation of Poppea; and she portrays some of the most memorable characters in opera, from the Spanish bullfighter, Escamillo in the Toreador’s Song from Carmen, Calaf’s Nessun Dorma from Turandot and Lauretta’s O mio babbino caro from Gianni Schicci.

Maer also plays all three voices in a new arrangement of Mozart’s trio Soave il vento, from Cosi fan tutte.

Born and bred in London, Sally Maer began her studies at the Royal Academy of Music aged just 17. Since emigrating to Australia has enjoyed a varied career, performing with Sydney Symphony, the Australian Ballet and Opera Orchestra, headlining on the Queen Mary II, touring with Delta Goodrem and as support for ‘popera’ sensation Amici, in addition to playing with Lionel Richie, Michael Buble, Tommy Lee Jones and Liza Minnelli. She lives on the Central Coast of NSW, where she founded The Fleury’s Music School with her husband, saxophonist JP Fleury.

The tracks:

1 O mio babbino caro from Gianni Schicchi/ 2 The Pearl Fishers: Duet/ 3 Pie Jesu from Fauré’s Requiem
4 Voi che sapete from The Marriage of Figaro/ 5 Pur ti miro from The Coronation of Poppea/ 6 Un bel dì from Madama Butterfly/ 7 Flower Duet from Lakmé/ 8 Toreador’s Song from Carmen/ 9 Nessun dorma from Turandot/ 10 Time to Say Goodbye/ 11 Brindisi from La Traviata/ 12 Seguidilla from Carmen/ 13 Song to the Moon from Rusalka/ 14 Evening Prayer from Hansel and Gretel/ 15 Where’er You Walk from Semele/ 16 Dido’s Lament from Dido and Aeneas/ 17 Soave sia il vento from Così fan tutte/ 18 La donna è mobile from Rigoletto/ 19 Lascia ch’io pianga from Rinaldo (Digital exclusive bonus track)

1CD | ABC 481 5098