Coloratura Craziness

Once more coloraturafan (YouTube user) surprises us with two fantastic videos with a significant number of sopranos singing the most extraordinary coloratura ornaments.

(Be advised: these videos can be quite boring for Puccini and Wagner lovers!)

Rockwell Blake - Pour mon âme

Rockwell Blake is, in my opinion, the best rossinian tenor of all time, at least from those I've heard live or in records.

In my other blog, Outras Escritas, I have several posts (in portuguese) dedicated to the tenor with my opinion about the characteristics of his voice and his performances in operas and recitals.

Today I found on YouTube a video with Blake's interpretation of the aria Pour mon âme from La Fille du Regiment by Donizetti (so, not Rossini). As you may know this famous aria for tenor includes 9 high C's, which make it very difficult to perform.

During his carrer, Blake always performed Pous mon âme not with 9 high C's but with 11, because in the end he sings the phrase "militaire et mari" instead of just the word "militaire".

In this video, Blake goes beyond himself and sings a high D flat on the phrase "militaire e mari".

Here is the vídeo (only audio is available).

About Shirley Verrett

When discussing the recent MET performances of Il Trovatore, with some os my blog followers, the name of several mezzo-sopranos was mentioned, namely the great Azucena from Fiorenza Cossotto. Another name mentioned was Shirley Verrett.

The career of Shirley Verrett is very interesting because she started as a mezzo-soprano and "moved" to soprano.

When a think in Verrett I always remember the fenomenal performance of L'Assedio di Corinto in MET in 1977 (with Beverly Sills) and the performances of Macbeth in La Scala 1975/76.

Here are two videos from those performances (for L'Assedio di Corinto follow the link).

Verrett sings l'Assedio di Corinto (live)

Rita Molão

Rita Moldão is a young portuguese coloratura soprano who is my friend on Facebook. Rita recently launched her site on the Internet with information about her and a set of audio files with live records of her performances.

The singer is now studying in Madrid, and in my opinion, she is a very promising voice.

Bel canto opera will be following Rita's carrer.

Mariella Devia will sing Roberto Devereux

I read somewhere sometime ago, that soprano Mariella Devia didn't have plans to sing the role of Elisabetta in Donizetti's opera Roberto Devereux.

When the soprano Beverly Sills sung the three Tudor Queens operas (Anna Bolena, Maria Stuarda and Roberto Devereux) she said that Roberto Devereux took 10 years off her carrer because the role of Elisabetta is so demanding for the voice.

Gruberova is today a reference in this role, and I had the pleasure to saw her in one performance in Munich.

Recently, thanks to my friend Adélia, I found out that Devia will sing the role for the first time in Marseille's opera in November (concert version). This are very good news for those who appreciate bel canto in the most beautiful and pure form.

More information here.

Dolora Zajick

Dolora Zajick is an amazing singer and, in my opinion, she is the best verdian mezzo-soprano of our days. The voice is big and dark, and the lower register very well supported.

Recently she was at the MET singing Azucena in Verdi's Il Trovatore, together with Radvanovsky, Álvarez and Hvorostovsky.

Here are some videos od one of the performances (coloraturafan on YouTube).