It is only since the bel canto era in the 19th century that the tenor voice really took off as a leading character in operatic roles, often playing the heroic figure against a love-interest soprano and a villain baritone. This collection of some of opera’s most iconic arias takes us from the dark emotional crises of Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci and Puccini’s Tosca, to the seductive Rodolfo in La Bohème and Donizetti’s showstopping high Cs in La Fille du régiment. Tenor showpieces that are so famous they have taken on a life of their own include ‘Nessun dorma’, made immortal by The Three Tenors at the 1990 World Cup.