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
Giacomo Puccini remained popular. "Turandot", Puccini's final opera, was left unfinished, and the last two scenes were completed by Franco Alfano based on the composer's sketches. The libretto for "Turandot" was based on a play of the same name by Carlo Gozzi. The music of the opera is heavily inflected with pentatonic motifs, intended to produce an Asiatic flavor to the music. Unlike "La fanciulla", "Turandot" contains a number of memorable stand-alone arias, among them "Nessun dorma". The libretto of "Edgar" was a significant factor in the failure of that opera. Thereafter, especially throughout his middle and late career, Puccini was extremely