Rosenblatt Recitals – London’s only international opera recital series – announced today that it is moving to the Wigmore Hall from the beginning of its 2012-13 season. Rosenblatt Recitals was founded in 2000 by Ian Rosenblatt, who wanted to present established and emerging singers from the world’s leading opera stages in an intimate recital environment for London audiences.

The series provides many singers with their London recital debut and has helped to establish the careers of major opera stars including Joseph Calleja, Anna Caterina Antonacci, and Juan Diego Flórez, who has become a close friend of the series since he made his London recital debut at the Rosenblatt Recitals in 2001. Flórez’s fifth Rosenblatt Recital is at the Royal Albert Hall on 8 May, when he will become the first tenor since Pavarotti to give a solo recital at the venue. Ten singers who made their London recital debut at the Rosenblatt Recitals between 2009 and 2011 have gone on to star in leading roles at the Royal Opera House.

The Rosenblatt Recitals is currently resident at St John’s, Smith Square, where soprano Sylvia Schwartz will close the current season on 20 June. 

Rosenblatt Recitals 2012-13 season:

Lawrence Brownlee (24 September) opens the season. The acclaimed Ohio-born tenor made his London recital debut at the Rosenblatt Recitals in 2010 and recently showed off his high-Cs as Tonio in La fille du régiment at the Metropolitan Opera House. His programme includes new work by Ben Moore alongside Verdi, Poulenc, Rossini and Mozart. He is accompanied by pianist Iain Burnside.

Joel Prieto (22 October) returns following a joint Rosenblatt Recital in 2010 with Sara Hershkowitz. The young Spanish-born tenor, raised in Puerto Rico, makes his Royal Opera House debut as Fenton in Verdi’s Falstaff this May. His programme includes Beethoven’s song cycle An die ferne Geliebte (To the distant beloved) and works by Puerto Rican composers Narciso Figueroa and Ernesto Cordero. Iain Burnside provides accompaniment.

Greek soprano Dimitra Theodossiou (12 November) is known on the international opera scene for her interpretations of Verdi and the bel canto repertoire. She brings a programme of popular opera showstoppers from La bohème, Tosca, Cavalleria Rusticana and Macbeth, accompanied by Simone Savina on the piano.

Leading Italian tenor Fabio Armiliato (14 January), who has been garnering acclaim on the world’s leading opera stages and is soon to star in the new Woody Allen film, makes a highly anticipated visit to the series after he had to withdraw last year due to illness. His programme includes arias from Giordano’s Andrea Chenier, Puccini’s La Fanciulla del West, and Verdi’s Otello. His pianist is Marco Rimicci.

Later in the season, the Rosenblatt Recitals welcomes Italian bass Alex Esposito (5 February), Sicilian baritone Damiano Salerno (18 March); Sicilian tenor Ivan Magrì (23 May); and rising young Italian soprano Rosa Feola (6 June).

• Tickets for the first four Rosenblatt Recitals in the 2012-13 season go on sale on 1 June. Visit www.rosenblattrecitals.com or call the Wigmore Hall box office on 020 7935 2141.