Écho
$42.00
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DONIZETTI / MEYERBEER / ROSSINI / HALEVY / BERLIOZ / etc
Écho
Joyce El-Khoury (soprano), Michael Spyres (tenor) / The Hallé, Carlo Rizzi
[ Opera Rara / CD ]
Release Date: Sunday 10 February 2019
Born in the Lebanon and brought up in Canada, Joyce El-Khoury studied in Ottawa and Philadelphia, before graduating from the Metropolitan Opera's Lindemann Young Artist Development programme. Today she is one of the brightest young stars in the opera world, recently receiving universal acclaim for her landmark performance of Violetta in La Traviata at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. As well as singing extensively in America, she appears widely in opera and concert throughout Europe, including the Bayerishe Staatsoper. She returns to Covent Garden in 2018, but before then will star in Glyndebourne and Madrid, as well as singing extensively in concert.
Joyce has starred in two Opera Rara recordings to date: Donizetti's Belisario and the award-winning recording of Les Martyrs. Joyce's album Écho features music associated with the great 19th century soprano Julie Dorus-Gras, including arias by Berlioz, Donizetti, Meyerbeer and Weber. She also duets with her co-star from Les Martyrs, Michael Spyres, whose own recital disc is also released in September 2017, and is available from Opera Rara exclusively from 14th July 2017.
"El-Khoury is never less than stylish with precisely the vocal agility that this repertoire requires. So there's nimble and accurate coloratura and a full complement of brightly burnished top notes…the vocal fireworks at the top of the voice are supported by a velvety middle range….She is splendidly supported by The Hallé on their very best behaviour for Carlo Rizzi." BBC Music
"She is particularly suited to the gentle Alice, whose 'Va, dit-elle' anticipates Micaëla's 'Et tu lui diras' in Carmen by more than 40 years. Mathilde's air from Guillaume Tell is just as simple and unaffected. El-Khoury catches Agathe's tenderness in 'Ma prière' from Le Freyschutz and phrases 'I miei sospiri' in Lucia to perfection…Rizzi and the Hallé provide lively accompaniments, with some fine solos." Gramophone Awards 2018 Shortlisted - Recital
"Musical history aside, these discs deserve a place on the shelves due to the extremely high quality of singing...El-Khoury supplies firm, sensitively coloured tone and technical finish in everything she does...she is nigh-on technically immaculate as well as remarkably eloquent...Rizzi conducts with a blend of security and stylistic authority, while the Hallé plays wonderfully for him." Opera - Recording Of The Month Oct 2019
"El-Khoury is especially lovely in her limpid account of Lucia's Fountain aria, the rare Berlioz transcription of Agathe's aria from Weber's Der Freischütz, and arias for both heroines, Alice and Isabelle, from Meyerbeer's Robert le diable" Sunday Times
