Alida Ferrarini

Alida Ferrarini (1946-2013) was a soprano who specialized in the lighter roles of the operatic repertory. Gilda, Adina, and Michaela were perfect fits for her voice. She also sang baroque and 18th century roles. She sang in San Francisco, but otherwise limited her performances to Europe. She may be best known for her singing of ‘Caro nome’ which was used in the soundtrack of Woody Allen’s movie Match Point. Fred Plotkin’s article written shortly after her death gives the best summation of her career available in English.

It’s surprising that an artist of her quality left so few recordings. I couldn’t find all four  of the discs credited to her in her Italian Wikipedia biography. Youtube has only a few videos featuring her, most of them with poor sound. I’ve picked three excerpts that show her to good advantage.

First is Caro nome, in which she sounds like a confused teenager possessed by first love, which is what the aria is meant to convey, rather than a coloratura soprano out to dazzle the listener with brilliant technique. Also from Rigoletto is the conclusion of Act 2 beginning with Tutte le feste. The baritone is the excellent Armenian singer Garbis Boyagian. Finally, here is the first act duet Esulti pur la barbara from Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore. The tenor is the 65 year old Carlo Bergonzi. It’s from a 1989 concert in Moscow.

With luck, more recordings by this fine artist with acceptable sound will surface.