The latest CD to feature Bayrakdarian is called Cleopatra, produced by CBC Records. It confirms the Canadian soprano not as a rising star on the operatic and concert stages, but one who has matured into one of the finest voices going. Her range, musically, vocally and emotionally, leaves no doubt that she has a long and glorious career ahead of her.

Cleopatra, despite its baroque music origins, makes one forget ones dislike of period instruments as employed by the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra. Bayrakdarian's vocal strength, coloration and fine timbre pleasantly overshadow the orchestra to make this a very likable CD. Its recording quality picks up the emotional as well as the well-placed pitch of her singing. The orchestra, under the direction of Jeanne Lamon, shows why baroque music fans place it at the top of their list. The orchestra knows when to shine and when to give Bayrakdarian space and remain in the background. The performers know their instruments, and Lamon's direction and understanding of the scores makes me want to give this CD five stars—if I were to hand out such ratings.

As the liner notes explain there are about 70 operas written about the life of the last Pharaoh of Egypt, who died on August 12, 30 BC by suicide at the age of 39. Bayrakdarian, who has all of the qualities of an operatic diva—in the nicest sense—chose four German baroque composers (well, really three because Handel had British citizenship, although German-born) to tell us in song some of Cleopatra's tempestuous, and ultimately sad story.

There is little one need say about Handel. The composer is perhaps one of the best-known of his age (1685-1759). The others require a bit of introduction. The CD's first three tracks feature arias from Graun's Cleopatra e Cesare<, premiered in Berlin in 1742. Graun (circa 1703-59) was the Royal Kapellmeister for Frederick The Great. The composer used a libretto by Giovanni Bottarell, Frederick' s court poet, who based it on Pierre Corneille's "La mort de Pompée". Cleopatra e Cesare was performed at the official opening of the new Königliches Opernhaus (Royal Opera House) in Berlin. Graunwrote more than 20 major Italianate operas for this venue.

Tracks four to six feature arias from Marc'Antonio e Cleopatra by Hasse. This opera premiered in Naples in 1725. Hasse (1699-1783) began his musical career as a tenor. In his early 20s he was sent to Italy by his employer to study singing, but within a very short time turned his talents to composing. And so it came about that he premiered his 'serenata' in Naples with a libretto by Francesco Ricciardi. The cast included the famous castrato, Carlo Broschi (better known as Farinelli), in the role of Cleopatra, and the alto Vittoria Tesso in the role of Marc'Antonio (talk about role reversal.

Handel's Giulio Cesare in Egitto, which premiered in London in 1724, is featured on tracks seven to nine. At the time of the premiere Handel was the director of the Royal Academy of Music in London. The opera's libretto was written by Nicola Haym. It opened at the King's Theatre and starred the legendary castrato, Senesino, as Caesar, and the soprano Francesca Cuzzoni—a famously tempestuous diva—as Cleopatra.

Mattheson (1681-1764) was like his colleague, Hasse, both a singer and a composer. He premiered his Cleopatra in Hamburg in 1704 with him in the role of Mark Antony. What makes his opera different from the other three is that he chose to feature a libretto written in German by Friedrich Christian Feustking. Its subtitle is "Die unglückselige Cleopatra, Königin von Egypten, oder Die betrogene Staats-Liebe", which in the liner notes is not too well translated. I will give it my translation, which I think is more appropriate to the meaning of the German text, "The Unfortunate Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt, or The Betrayal of a Public Love Affair". The opera is represented on the CD by six tracks (10 to 15). It begins with an aria from Act III, jumps back to Act I for one aria, and then returns to Act III with tracks 12 to 15.

Singing in German is at no time easy, but I have to say that Bayrakdarian's pronunciation is very good, and every word is clearly understood. It is seldom that one understands the German text in operas, even when sung by Germans, so kudos to the singer for her mastery of the tongue.

The CD begins on an emotional high note and ends with Cleopatra's sad, brief bidding to the asp to bite deep into her flesh. Bayrakdarian's ability to portray the varied emotions of the last queen of Egypt makes this CD a musical adventure.

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