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
Maria Maksakova Jr. de Perles" by Georges Bizet), among others. In 2002 Maksakova was among the Yelena Obraztsova Young opera singers competition's winners and a year later she joined the Bolshoi as a guest soloist, appearing as Oscar ("Un ballo in maschera" by Giuseppe Verdi) and Musetta ("La Boheme" by Giacomo Puccini). In 2006 she joined the Moscow Helikon-Opera and there appeared as The Princess in Antonín Dvořák's "Rusalka", Rosina in "II Barbiere di Siviglia", Susanna in Mozart's "Le nozze di Figaro" and others. In 2011 Maksakova joined the Mariinsky Opera Company where she sings Dorabella ("Cosi fan tutte"), Cherubino ("Le nozze di