Tag Archives: soprano
Vissi d’Arte
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 1st December 2021Giacomo Puccini knew as much about the workings of the theater as anyone whoever entered one. Accordingly, his mature works are models of dramatic cohesion. He lashed his librettists like galley slaves until they gave him scripts that satisficed his very high standards. These standards are why he produced only 12 operas in 40 years…
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Rosanna Carteri
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 2nd May 2021Rosanna Carteri (1930-2020) was an Italian soprano who achieved great renown at a very young age. Born in Verona, she was raised in Padua. She began vocal studies before she was a teenager. By 14 she was learning complete roles under the tutelage of Ferruccio Cusinati who was the chorus master of the Verona Arena…
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Megan Marie Hart
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 25th December 2020Megan Marie Hart (b 1983) is an American soprano based in Germany. [Thanks to a German reader (Franco) who alerted me to Ms Hart’s impressive voice] Born in Eugene Oregon, she studied with Mignon Dunn and then with Marilyn Horne. She won Horne’s Song Competition in 2010. She began her career more than a decade…
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Leyla Gencer
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 14th November 2020Leyla Gencer (1928-2008) was a Turkish soprano who made most of her career in Italy. She was a lirico-spinto who like Maria Callas could sing just about anything in the Italian repertory. Unlike Callas, because of an outstanding technique she was able to do so for a long career. To my ears she had a…
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Raina Kabaivanska
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 15th September 2020A regular reader asked why I had never written about Raina Kabaivanska. I had no reason apart from inadvertence and said I would put something together about her. This is it. Ms Kabaivanska (born 1934) is a Bulgarian soprano now retired. She currently devotes her time to teaching. She was a lirico-spinto (with more emphasis…
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The Verdi Soprano – Pace, Pace, Mio Dio!
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 11th August 2020Verdi wrote soprano parts for a variety of vocal types. The roles of Abigaille (Nabucco), Violetta (Traviata), and Leonora (Trovatore and Forza) have quite different requirements. The first asks for a spinto capable of both forceful declamation and great agility, but floated high notes and a velvet tone are not needed. Traviata seems as though…
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Angel Blue
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 6th February 2020Angel Blue is a young (b 1984) American soprano who opened this season at the Met as Bess in Gershwin’s opera. Thus far she has sung 31 performances at the New York house all in La Bohème or Porgy and Bess. Oddly for such a gifted singer who is headed for the pinnacle of opera’s…
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O Mio Babbino Caro
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 5th December 2019Puccini’s only comic opera, Gianni Schicchi, moves like a torrent. In its skill and vitality it’s up to the best of Rossini and is evocative of Verdi’s Falstaff. But no matter the pace, the master from Lucca could, and seemingly was compelled, to write a great tune for his leading lady. And unlike Tosca’s Vissi…
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Hilde Zadek
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 27th July 2019Hilde Zadek (1917-2019) had one of the most interesting lives of the past century. Interesting has its downside. For example, in medicine about the worst that can happen to you is to be an interesting case. Born in Bromberg when it was in Prussia (today it’s in Poland), she grew up in Stettin which like…
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Lisette Oropesa
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 9th June 2019Lisette Oropesa (b 1983) is an American soprano who recently has been making news on the world’s opera stages. This year she was awarded both the Beverly Sills and Richard Tucker prizes. She’s on the cover of this month’s Opera News. Inside there is a six page spread devoted to her career. She’s been associated…
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