Aigul Akhmetshina - Aigul

Aigul Akhmetshina - Aigul cover $43.00 In Stock add to cart

BIZET / MASSENET / ROSSINI / BELLINI
Aigul Akhmetshina - Aigul
Aigul Akhmetshina (mezzo), Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Daniele Rustioni; with Freddie De Tommaso (tenor), Elisabeth Boudreault (soprano), Kezia Bien

[ Decca / CD ]

Release Date: Friday 16 August 2024

Aigul Akhmetshina is the fiery young mezzo taking the opera world by storm. In her debut album Aigul, the illustrious young opera singer Aigul Akhmetshina finds her voice in the role of Carmen and traces a path through her own remarkable journey. Her story is one of determination and perseverance against the odds, starting in a rural village in the mountains of Bashkortostan. She left home aged 14 to pursue her singing career. Despite facing rejection from a conservatory in Moscow, where she was told she lacked the right voice and appearance, at the age of 27 Aigul has already etched her name in history. She has become the youngest artist ever to take on the title role of Bizet's Carmen at both the Royal Opera House and the Metropolitan Opera, both of whom have created new productions around her. Performing the role all over the world, Aigul feels an affinity with the character.

"Some operatic voices do not respond well to the recording process, but Akhmetshina sounds as gloriously full-voiced from high to low as she does in the opera house...Her Carmen is vivid primarily for the glowing vocal colours, sensuously teasing in the "Seguidilla" (with Freddie De Tommaso as Don José), dark enough to bring fateful shades to the Card Trio." Financial Times Five Stars

"She has a superb voice, no question, warm and even in tone, admirably agile, with a full, effortless top, and a tangy lower register...It all adds up to a fine recital, and a most auspicious debut." Gramophone September 2024 Editor's Choice

"A striking aspect of her debut solo recording, which unsurprisingly kicks off with three extracts from Bizet's opera, is how at ease with herself she sounds: her insouciance is irresistible. The most arresting thing, though, is her voice. It's glowingly expansive in Charlotte's soliloquy from Massenet's Werther, poised and electric as Rossini's caged Rosina, entreating and then swaggering as Bellini's Romeo, with big high notes any soprano would be proud of." Guardian Five Stars

International Opera Awards 2024
Shortlisted - Recording (Solo Recital)

Tracks:

Bizet: Carmen
Habanera. L'amour est un oiseau rebelle
Seguidilla. Près des remparts de Séville
Act 3 Trio. Mêlons! Coupons!

Massenet: Werther, Act III
Werther! Werther! Qui m'aurait dit la place...
Va! Laisse couler mes larmes

Bellini: I Capuleti e i Montecchi
Act I Ascolta! Se Romeo t'uccise un figlio
La tremenda ultrice spada
Act II Deh! Tu, bell'anima

Rossini: La Cenerentola, Act II
Aria. Nacqui all'affanno

Rossini: Il barbiere di Siviglia, Act I
No. 5, Cavatina. Una voce poco fa

trad.: The Nightingale (Orch. Rachimov)