Opera Babes Opera Babes The Opera Babes are a crossover classical music duo, consisting of Karen England (born 1974), mezzo-soprano, and Rebecca Knight (born 1970), soprano. The duo came to wide attention when they sang "Un bel dì vedremo" (from the opera "Madame Butterfly") on television sports programmes, beginning in 2002. In addition to performing with major orchestras in Britain and touring with their own shows, they released their first album, "Beyond Imagination" in 2002 and their second album, "Renaissance", in 2006. The Opera Babes met in Cambridge while performing Mozart's "The Magic Flute" in a touring opera company. England studied at
Insertion aria engaged by the opera house for the season. A highly regarded singer would not randomly choose arias to insert in whatever opera was to be performed but would make reasoned decisions based on the dramatic context and the compositional style. Poriss tells of the soprano Carolina Ungher's decisions on which aria to insert at the entrance of Elena in Donizetti's "Marino Faliero". For her performance in Florence, May 1836, she inserted the aria "" from Donizetti's "Sancia di Castiglia" for her entrance. Later that year she inserted the aria "" from Donizetti's "Ugo, conte di Parigi". In the fall of