The Album explores the artistic legacies of the two legendary singers (Francesca Cuzzoni and Faustina Bordoni) and the heights of inspiration to which their rivalry moved the leading composers of their era.

A thrilling recording, in which Simone Kermes and Vivica Genaux sing arias and duets composed at the height of the rivalry between Eighteenth-Century singers Francesca Cuzzoni and Faustina Bordoni.

June 1727 was witness to the mother of all theater scandals. Francesca Cuzzoni (alias Simone Kermes) and Faustina Bordoni (alias Vivica Genaux), arch-rivals and both superstars of Italian opera, had a fight on stage at London’s Haymarket Theatre.

Featuring music by Bononcini, Händel, Leo, Lotti, Pollarolo, Porpora, and Porta, most of which has not been heard since the careers of Bordoni and Cuzzoni, Rival Queens explores the artistic legacies of the two legendary singers and the heights of inspiration to which their much-fêted competition moved the important composers of the era.