The release of another opera of Stanisław Moniuszko on Chopin Institute label is an exceptional event. Firstly, it is the first complete recording of the work in the history of the recording industry, and secondly, it is another opera that Fabio Biondi, enamoured in the music of the father of the Polish national opera, reached for after the sensational Halka and the globally acclaimed Raftsman.

The concert performance of The Countess (Polish title: Hrabina) at last year’s Chopin and His Europe Festival with the dazzling Karen Gardeazabal from Mexico in the title role, showed all the aspects of the unique value of The Countess reinforcing our conviction that it belongs to the prime works of the 19th-century opera together with Halka and Straszny dwór / The Haunted Manor. Fabio Biondi with his Europa Galante, consummate soloists, and the Choir of the Podlasie Opera and Philharmonic revealed before us a world of lavish music, brimming with wit, wisdom, and emotional depth.

The 2 CDs contain the opera with the dialogues recorded by finest Polish actors: Andrzej Seweryn, and Danuta Stenka.